geem
Well-Known Member
Interesting that it's so small. We had our asymmetric spinnaker, hoisted on a pole, today for a few hours heading for the Scillies. 44ft boat 165m2 sail. 85m2 seems tiny by comparison. No wonder it can stay up in a squall!
Parasailer experience?
- Thread starter Blue Seas
- Start date
Cdicko
Active Member
well if you take time to research you'll find for a 35ft boat its at the upper end of recommended spinnaker size. My asymmetric is 75s sq meter. So on my boat its not that small, I'm quite happy with my SMALL BOAT. im reminded once again why I dont comment on forums very often.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Quite right. Does not seem small to me. The asymmetric on my Bavaria 33 was 65sqm. Maybe some people like to willy wave, but of course if one has a boat that is over 16 tonnes displacement (nearly 3 times a typical 35') it takes a lot of sail area to shift it. However us mere mortals with more modest boats are quite capable of working out the appropriate size of gear for our boats.
geem
Well-Known Member
Wow! Bad night sleep,or something!
Cruising shutes tend to be small compared to spinnakers. I am not a fan of parasailors as you can probably guess. I have heard so often that they can be left up in a squall. It's nonsense. They are under powered, over priced waste of sail cloth. Why would you buy a sail with a hole in it.
Emperors new clothes.
Cdicko
Active Member
I respect your dislike for parasailors. In return I would expect respect for our views and comments
the parasailor has advantages that I like and have enjoyed, after all sailing is a sport to be enjoyed and everyday is a learning day, we cant all be experts overnight. research shows a spinnaker size for my boat would typically be 70 to 90 sq mt. which was the original debate.
geem
Well-Known Member
My post wasn't meant to be a dig. I apologise if it came across like that. Might be something to do with a lack of sleep having just done an overnight sail.I respect your dislike for parasailors. In return I would expect respect for our views and comments
I was genuinely surprised that your sail was so much less area than mine. You suggested it was suitable for boats up to 38ft. My boat is only 6 ft longer but carries a spinnaker of almost double the area. Mine is definitely on the larger end of a selection table but we specifically wanted it to improve light wind performance.
Yesterday we flew it for several hours in 10kts true wind speed, DDW and we were making 5 to 6kts.
Spinnaker size is only limited by forestay length. The longer the forestay, the larger sail you can fly. We have used it winds up to 20kts True but would normally drop it at 18kts. We do this as just a couple. No gorilla crew and it's quite manageable
Cdicko
Active Member
Accepted, and I can totally understand why people dont like the parasailor.
It is quite a difference in size, in fact quite considerable, like what was mentioned before my displacement (which is 5250kg) might be half of yours? so when considering that factor the sizes make more sense. and yes for a 38' boat it would be at the lower end of recommended size so if you added in the (lets say) under performance of the parasail then maybe I was pushing my luck. I might just be able to do 4.5kts DDW in 10kts true, so you would be sailing past me and waving good bye
)
Fr J Hackett
Well-Known Member
In all wind speeds and directions and sail configurations his 44 foot boat would be sailing past you and waving good-bye.Accepted, and I can totally understand why people dont like the parasailor.
It is quite a difference in size, in fact quite considerable, like what was mentioned before my displacement (which is 5250kg) might be half of yours? so when considering that factor the sizes make more sense. and yes for a 38' boat it would be at the lower end of recommended size so if you added in the (lets say) under performance of the parasail then maybe I was pushing my luck. I might just be able to do 4.5kts DDW in 10kts true, so you would be sailing past me and waving good bye
Cdicko
Active Member
relevance and point?
Tranona
Well-Known Member
No. Size is related to displacement and your boat displaces well over 3 times that of the OP so on that basis your sail area is small. While you mat dislike Parasailors there are clearly people who value them for what they are as posts on this thread illustrate. do you know what the recommended size is for your boat so that you can make a real comparison?
bergie
Well-Known Member
On our (old, slow, heavy) 31ft double-ender, the original sail plan called for a 80m² spinnaker, which sounds quite ambitious given that our working sails are 40m².
Istec specified 68m² for the Parasailor. I think the size is good. The boat moves in light airs, meaning that we didn’t run the engine at all on our Atlantic crossing. But you're still not totally screwed if caught out by a squall.
geem
Well-Known Member
If you have a look at some of the selection charts for spinnakers, they often relate to forestay length. That is the limiting factor. You then decide if you are a cruisers or a racer. That will vary the cut and the size. Mine is slightly over sized. The original symmetrical spinnaker was 155m2. The asymmetric we now use would be classed as racing, at 165m2. We are not a race boat but the sail area is optimised for light winds. Being a ketch with a large rig, we already have a very generous sail area so there is little point in having an undersized spinnaker. Off the wind, we can already fly 1500ft2 of sail without resorting to the spinnaker.
Suggesting our sail area is small is laughable. Our mainsail is the same size as a Ben 473 and we are a ketch not a sloop
TiggerToo
Well-Known Member
.... we just had a great little cruise from Castlebay (Barra, Outer Hebrides) to Canna (Inner Hebrides). The parasailor went up just outside Castebay once passed Sgeir a Scape) and was dowsed once we passed the eastern tip of Sanday. That's about 35M and took us 6hrs-ish. Once up, and trimmed, we did not touch it for the duration.
The wind was a steady 12-18 kn (with very few gusts) from ~160o relative to us.
I don't think I will be selling it any time soon.
Did we go as fast as we could? Probably not. But I am cruising, and comfort/relax is important to me. I will leave racing to others.
The wind was a steady 12-18 kn (with very few gusts) from ~160o relative to us.
I don't think I will be selling it any time soon.
Did we go as fast as we could? Probably not. But I am cruising, and comfort/relax is important to me. I will leave racing to others.
