mizzen staysails

S

SeaVenture

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I show my ignorance--we have a ketch and are still experimenting with its vast array of sails, but I do not think it has ever flown a mizzen staysail. Could someone kindly tell me how we would fly one? How would we measure to have it made? Attachment points? Sheet lines? At what points of sail does it work best? Do you use it as a light air sail?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Normandie
 
Here is a (not very clear) of Stormy Weather stomping along under spinnaker and mizzen staysail :

Stormy.jpg


It was taken by John Maclay at the start of the 1993 Fastnet Race.
Other photos of her (including this one) can be found at http://www.stormy.ca/marine/album.html

Even though her mizzen mast is rather small in comparison to the main, the mizzen staysail still has a noticeable effect on speed - and it is good fun to play with to boot!
The clew is sheeted to the end of the mizzen boom, while the tack is taken to a deck pad eye on the windward side, approximately amidships.
 
Its basically a sail that flys loose from the mizzen top.. ideal is to have a forward facing halyard in the mizz,,,,,

then, look at obstructions etc.. its a tad like a little genny flown from the mizzen top, loose footed, no stay et al..
sort of imagine a triangle of sail from the mizzen top with halyard brought forward.. sheets back...hope that makes sesne.

anytime the wind is on the beam is good to fly it, a bit like a chute... if its good for the chute it is "usually" good for the MS...

Joe.
 
I have used a staysail + fisherman on a schooner where it is rigged exatly like any other headsail and worked very well. Dont see why you cant do the same on a ketch using a tempary stay?
 
Our forward-facing line on the mizzen goes through the radar support, so we'd have to rig something that wouldn't chafe or get in the way of the radar. I suppose we could rig a line that acts as a temporary stay/halyard but that lives outside the radar rig area.

We have a pilothouse, though it's not a high one. Do you have any ideas for attaching the forward halyard that takes this into account? I was looking at it this morning and trying to imagine how we'd do it. I suppose we could attach at the foremost part of the pilot house, which is about midway between the main and mizzen masts. Does this sound feasible?

I greatly appreciate all the advice.

The fisherman looks as if it would work, hauling up with both the topping lift and the forward line at the mizzen mast, but it wouldn't have the same volume as that lovely large, loose-footed sail in the photo.
 
Because it flies loose the staysail will never adopt a 'forward-facing' line, it will be well off to leeward, especially if the tack is on the leeward rail. You can't tack it so it would only hit anything on the face of the mast if it was back-winded and you should be far enough off the wind for that to be almost impossible.
 
As you can see on the picture we have more or less the same arrangement. The main mast backstay is split and looks like being in the mizzen stays'l 's way, but in practice, it never touches the stay once filled. Sheet runs trhough a block attached to the end of the mizzen boom, tack to the aft lower shroud chainplate.

It is a very handy sail and we use it often, sailing shorthanded between the two of us. Our boat is a 48 ft heavyweight, but the mizzen stays'l is no problem to handle up to approx 15 kts of wind.

cheers
 
Again, thank you all so much!!!! We have a very heavy 50-footer, so, Peter, what weight is your staysail? Someone mentioned 2.5 oz--I suppose that was nylon? Some of these look like nylon light weights, some like Dacron. Suggestions?

Blessings
Normandie
 
Sorry, SeaVenture, haven't got a clue, the sail came wit the boat. It is dacron, though, and not very heavy but certainly not nylon or spinnaker cloth. The sail is not on board now, as we won't be using it in winter, so I cant even weigh it to make an estimate.
The sail is old now and the shape is not what it once was, so we are thinking of having a new one made. As we use the sail in light conditions only, we are considering having the new one made of spi cloth though, and give it a much fuller shape. This will make it useless on a beam reach, but ours blankets the main on a beam reach already, so that does not matter. We really notice the difference in speed on a broad reach. Where we need tranquilizers when we use the huge cruising chute, the mizzen stays'l is a doddle to handle.


anyway, whatever you want on your boat, it is very much dependent on the exact layout of the rigging, the position of the mizzen mast, the main mast back stay etc.
Our mizzen stays'l 's foot is above the wheel shelter, which is ideal because it does not block the helmsman's view.

tip: hoist your storm jib like you would hoist the mizzen stays'l (top to lower shroud chainplate, tack to top of mizzen and clew to sheet to end of mizzzen boom) and look how it sets and you will be able to see where possile problems may arise.

cheers
 
FWIW, I think ours (pics above) is about 4 or 5oz dacron - it's certainly not a spinnaker material weight. Anything more than about 6kts is enough to get it to set and we fly it up to about 15kts apparent.
 
Hi there, no we hoist an Aquair in wind mode when we're at anchor. That said, I don't think a mast mounted genny would be a problem for us; you can't tack/gybe the staysail, so it should not be in close proximity to the centreline anyway and our jumper struts and forward lowers tend to hold the sail clear of where a genny would be. It's difficult to say yes or no without seeing/trying it I'm afraid.
 
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