Trimming the foot of the genoa

[Ric]

I have a 30m2 genoa with 140% overlap. The visibility around it from the cockpit is very poor. The visibility would be greatly improved if I could raise the clew by just 20cm - this would allow me to easily see under the sail when seated at the helm. If I get a sailmaker to remove a small triangle from the foot of the sail to raise the clew I would only lose about 0.5m2 of sail area which I am not too worried about.

My main concern is whether I would then find that the genoa tracks needed to be moved back to correctly sheet the genoa when close-hauled. At the moment, they are positioned so that with the car at its aft most position, the sail is nicely trimmed. Would raising the clew by about 20-25cm make much difference?

 

[blackdogsailing]

If it did I don't think it would be significant (unless you are a serious racer). Have you thought about having a window put in the sail ? A sister boat to mine (First 435 with a 150% overlapping genoa) has one because of the same problem.

Chris

 

[caiman]

Could you make a 'tail' to attatch to the tack and so raise the whole sail 20cm?This could give an indication of what you might gain visability wise,and the set of the sail,before doing any cutting?
Hope this helps.
Cheers.

 

[johnphilip]

I have a 30m2 genoa with 140% overlap. The visibility around it from the cockpit is very poor. The visibility would be greatly improved if I could raise the clew by just 20cm - this would allow me to easily see under the sail when seated at the helm. If I get a sailmaker to remove a small triangle from the foot of the sail to raise the clew I would only lose about 0.5m2 of sail area which I am not too worried about.

My main concern is whether I would then find that the genoa tracks needed to be moved back to correctly sheet the genoa when close-hauled. At the moment, they are positioned so that with the car at its aft most position, the sail is nicely trimmed. Would raising the clew by about 20-25cm make much difference?

I think it would be significant. If I picture the geometry correctly then shortening the leech by 20cm would require the track to lengthen by a bit more than that to get the same trim. What does the current sail look like if the cars are set 20 or 30 cm forward of the end stop? Surely this would be a reasonable equivalent of what you will end up with.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I had to do the same with my big genoa; the sail foot was reduced by 250 mm to give me more visibility which I badly needed when started sailing in the Solent. I was going to change the position of the tracks by about 400 mm to suit the new geometry but when I tried with the new cut shape sail, I found that I could still trim the sail well, without having to change the track positions. I suggest you try after you cut the sail and go from there.