To reef or not to reef

The cut of the sail is important, I can hang onto full sail with my triradial im cruising laminate a lot longer than my normal genoa
 
sailorman said:
we had a "Reef in " saturday going up the Wallet
pissed passed a Jen 42:rolleyes:
we pointed higher & faster boat spd:D
when he tacked we were a mile up on him as he passed our transom:o
Click to expand...
I was impressed with my Cutlass 27 on Sunday beating in the Wallet - No3 genoa (could have done with a little more sail at times) and 1 slab in main and overtook a relatively modern 38' cutter to windward over 3 or 4 tacks. Maybe the windvane was just helming a better course!
 
Cutlasses are decent sea-boats, like all the Folkboat derivatives. I was gently sailing in the other direction on Sunday as my just reward for having had to sail upwind on Saturday.
 
Slow_boat said:
My genny is a good shape with a padded luff and the main, though a bit baggy, is quite nice when reefed. The bottom of my boat is clean.

What was I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
The nerdy reply is to question your sail shape and control but I think human factors are at play here. I have noticed that when in chop, other boat boats seem to be sliding elegantly through the water whereas my boat is plunging up and down and everything is getting shaken.

The bloke in the other Sadler was probably hanging on for life exhausted through fighting the helm and de-powering the main in gusts. He probably looked at you and chastised himself for not reefing earlier.

Sorry if this has been mentioned... I did not have time to read the thread.
 
I had roller reefing fitted two years ago and as an economy measure, used the old Genoa No 1 cut down to fit. As a result, our Sabre 27 is undercanvassed mostly, but in a blow as well as in 'normal' mode, the boat goes a bit faster now.

Racing as crew on a Bene 35s5, an early reef (and I mean 'early'!) in the main was essential to keep the speed up (and to keep control of the boat!)

When I had a Sabre 27 before, I got it to go faster when I had the main re-cut to flatten it.

It seems to me that it is all about matching the sail area to the boat/conditions, not just "how much" sail is up.
 
It seems to me that it is all about matching the sail area to the boat/conditions, not just "how much" sail is up.
Click to expand...
Exactly! Racing the RS400 I have the same sail up in a F3 as I did in the F7 last thursday - just slightly depowered the rig ... until we put the kite up, then we flew quite nicely! ;)
 
I was also out on Monday/tuesday and had a single reefed main and a half rolled genoa which I gradually unrolled as the wind was nowhere as strong as forecast. Most boats were similarly reefed. Good day on Monday but not quite as warm as forecast, Tuesday was good with a fast run back to the Deben, even SWMBO helming enjoyed herself as we sailed over the bar at 7.5 knots.
 
I am not really convinced that a partly-rolled genoa is ever going to be a good windward sail, even with a padded luff. I tend to think that hard on the wind it is "all or nothing" with the genoa - although once a few degrees off the wind it is not so much of a problem.

The approach I sometimes take when out with too much foresail is to "pinch"
 
Trouble with depowering by pinching with the genoa is that it tends to move the CE backwards .. precisely when you want it as far forwards as possible.
 
Pinching can be quite effective in a short squall but care has to be taken not to lose too much boat-speed and stall the keel. If the wind hits a near-stationary boat it seems to have a greater heeling effect and in a small boat can be uncomfortable or hazardous. I am more inclined to take in what I call an "Irish reef" and just ease the mainsheet a bit and keep speed up with the jib. Moving the traveller would probably be better but I am not set up to do this easily enough.

One reason I keep my 110% jib instead of a genoa is that I can put up a better sail shape in most conditions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top