Self Tacking Jibs. The YM Response??

[rotrax]

Our new boat has a self tacking 100% jib with a Hoyt boom.

The boat is 8 years old but has been little used. The sails, which were left on the boat for over 5 years, are really good.

She is much closer winded than our previous boat, a cutter, which carried a 100% high cut yankee and a self tacking staysail, also on a Hoyt boom. This is, I am sure, due to the better sails-the new boat has 10 sq. feet less, but through two, not three sails.

For cruising, especially the way First Mate and I like to do it, what is not to like about a good self tacking jib.

 

[Kelpie]

Our ST is a flat track, not curved, so outside of a fairly narrow range of wind strengths it will not actually self tack. I will at some point remedy this by introducing a curve into the track, raising it at the ends. In the meantime I have a line fixed either side of the car, led to the cockpit, and use this to yank the car the final foot or so to the end of the track. The same line can be used to back the jib as well.

 

[dunedin]

Great weather over the weekend had a lot of boats out enjoying the sunshine - and an unusually high percentage enjoying tacking to windward in a gentle breeze.
One observation from observing the boats actually sailing - a self tacking jib is not particularly compatible with that other labour saving device, a furling mainsail. It is best accompanied by a fully battened mainsail.

This at first seemed a bit counter intuitive - most would want both. But in fact a self tacking jib's advantages are entirely wasted if you end up motoring when the wind goes ahead. So need an efficient mainsail shape, particularly position of maximum depth and leech shape, to allow use of the pointing ability the blade self tacker gives - and a decent bit of area for power. Some Hanse seem to have this combination.
But in yesterday's light breeze, at least where we were, all the boats enjoying sailing to windward had conventional jibs and, with one exception, mains. The self tacker jib boats were motoring upwind, perhaps lacking power in the 6-8 knot breeze.