Sadler 26 Genoa Size & Sheeting.

[Varne27]

Hi All,
After 7 years boatless I succumbed to temptation & bought an old Sadler.

Came with 2 Genoa’s————one with uv. strip I put on foil and went for a first sail. I would say this sail is a good 150%. And it seems to be far to long in the foot for the Genoa car track, with the sheets standing up perpendicular and an extremely “full” shape. There is a turning block at each stern quarter which I presumed was for spinnaker. Should I be sheeting via these ?

The other Genoa, I have measured and is 115%. Both are in reasonable condition but look old and may be very stretched. I plan to give this smaller one a try next and sheeting must be OK. But........ no uv. strip.

Any thoughts on size would be appreciated. I want, like most, an all weather/year sail. 80% of my sailing is single handed, and I was previously happy to go out locally in force 5. I suspect 150% to be for“light airs” which may often be part furled, but previous owner seems to have used it as his stock sail (never met him - bought via broker). On the other hand, 115% may be a bit underpowered in light conditions.

Any advice from Sadler 26 owners gratefully received.

 

[VicS]

I have an original Sadler 26 brochure. ....... Sadly I never bought the boat though

Mainsail ........ 12.3 m²

No1 Genoa ..... 22.48 m²
No2 Genoa ..... 17.7 m²
No3 Genoa ...... 13.7 m²

Storm jib ....4.2 m²

Spinnaker ..... 50.9 m²

High-cut Genoa .... 22.3 m²

Cruising chute ....28.9 m²

See also https://www.lucasyachting.co.uk/sadler-and-starlight/sadler-26-yacht/

and https://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/archives/sadler-26/sadler-26.htm

 

[Tranona]

Hi All,
After 7 years boatless I succumbed to temptation & bought an old Sadler.

Came with 2 Genoa’s————one with uv. strip I put on foil and went for a first sail. I would say this sail is a good 150%. And it seems to be far to long in the foot for the Genoa car track, with the sheets standing up perpendicular and an extremely “full” shape. There is a turning block at each stern quarter which I presumed was for spinnaker. Should I be sheeting via these ?

The other Genoa, I have measured and is 115%. Both are in reasonable condition but look old and may be very stretched. I plan to give this smaller one a try next and sheeting must be OK. But........ no uv. strip.

Any thoughts on size would be appreciated. I want, like most, an all weather/year sail. 80% of my sailing is single handed, and I was previously happy to go out locally in force 5. I suspect 150% to be for“light airs” which may often be part furled, but previous owner seems to have used it as his stock sail (never met him - bought via broker). On the other hand, 115% may be a bit underpowered in light conditions.

Any advice from Sadler 26 owners gratefully received.

You have in a sense answered your own question. one of the downsides of this type of rig with the emphasis on the foresail, there is an assumption that you will regularly change genoas to suit conditions as the IRO at the time did not penalise overlaps and furling headsails were not common. So they do not adapt very well to furling headsails and single handed sailing. If you use the No1 on the furler you get light airs performance but for much of the time you will want reduced sail and particularly old sails are poor when furled. If you use a No2 size you will be OK in average winds, but poor in light airs.

So perhaps you have to come to your own compromise to reflect the normal conditions you sail in and accept there are times when this will be sub optimal.

 

[ditchcrawler]

My own boat a Moody 31 came with a 150% genoa and it had to be reefed in anything over a F3. When I had new sails I opted for a 130% triradial genoa which was
much easier to handle and I did not need to reef until around 18 knots apparent. I have now ordered a new genoa and have decided on a 115% as age is catching up with me and hopefully it will be even easier to handle. A friend who had a Westerly Storm sailed a lot single handed and had a blade jib and I sailed with him and did not
notice much difference from his larger sail. You may loose out in light airs but much of that time you may put the motor on anyway if you are trying to get somewhere rather than just out drifting for the day.

 

[Varne27]

Thanks, men, for your thoughts.
That makes my 115% a 2 1/2 then Vic.
Yes, all compromise. But I can’t see myself using a sail too big for the track which will be part furled on a regular basis.
I’ll try the 115% for a while & see. Like ditchcrawler, I’m not as young as I once was. No uv. strip though so I’ll have to make my mind up.

 

[Poecheng]

Think you will find the number 2 (115%) will be good for all but the lightest wind conditions.