Under genoa alone

Our SO33i was perfectly happy on genoa alone.

The thing which really surprised me was close quarters sailing under sail. On our Dayskipper practical, the instructor told us to pick up a trot buoy under sail. We were sailing on a Sun Odyssey 36 with a hanked on genoa and he told us to drop both the genoa and main, then he got me to stand in the bows holding up a few square feet of genoa in my hands while my wife stood forward with a boat hook and the third student took the helm. We could move the boat forward at a crawl under full control just by me adjusting the scrap of sail that I was holding - it was far more controllable than under power.
 
OR4751 said:
To windward, ours is very hard/impossible to move with just the main up.
She gets most - if not all - of her power from the genoa.
When the wind picks up, I will reef the main before the genoa.
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Seems a bit odd if you dont mind me saying....if nearly all the power is in the genoa, why not reef that first?
 
mtb said:
I only used the genoa on my colvic 26 from ramsgate to harwich single handed and choppy, I thought it best not to struggle with the main On leaving ramsgate, I struggled to get sea room as my main engine was not running so only had the 5hp outboard. Stay safe in the cockpit is my thinking.

mick
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At this time of year I have a cockpit tent up for comfort, so as it is held up by the end of the boom, no mainsail for me. I guess by the size of the genoa it's a number 1, so provided I don't pinch it, I can manage fairly well on genoa alone. So I do. Lazy I admit but what the hell, anything over 7 or 6 kts on the beam and she goes well enough for me. A leetle weather helm (OK a LOT then!) but I'm quite happy that way.
 
sailorman said:
the main sl is providing a slot , balancing the rig & reducing weather helm, on a mast hd rigged boat.
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Ive sailed a number of yachts that seemed to balance better with 1 reef and full headsail. However if the genoa is that much more effective than the main as in this case, why not roll it up a bit, move the genoa car forward a bit and drop main a little down track?
 
capnsensible said:
Ive sailed a number of yachts that seemed to balance better with 1 reef and full headsail. However if the genoa is that much more effective than the main as in this case, why not roll it up a bit, move the genoa car forward a bit and drop main a little down track?
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my boats furlley whorley is really a No 2 Genoa, & less area than even a heavy No 1, so one is starting out with reduced sail plan anyway
 
OR4751 said:
I reef the main to reduce heel and weather helm without losing any of the power.
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Sorry for being questioning, but you said that you get most if not all the power from the headsail.... Anyway you will know your boat much better than me so its your experience that counts.

On my Jenneau, the main track is probably the best trim controller on board, especially to control weather helm. On my Moody, an old one, there is a big overlapping genoa that really must get rolled in first, then track, then reef main. My wife is very good at suggesting the main needs reefs in....

I used to sail a lot on a Gibsea 402 and in heavier airs she went really well upwind with full genoa and one reef in main.

They are all different, guess thats why its fun!
 
capnsensible said:
Sorry for being questioning, but you said that you get most if not all the power from the headsail.... Anyway you will know your boat much better than me so its your experience that counts.

On my Jenneau, the main track is probably the best trim controller on board, especially to control weather helm. On my Moody, an old one, there is a big overlapping genoa that really must get rolled in first, then track, then reef main. My wife is very good at suggesting the main needs reefs in....

I used to sail a lot on a Gibsea 402 and in heavier airs she went really well upwind with full genoa and one reef in main.

They are all different, guess thats why its fun!
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I don't know why, but all our sailing in heavier weather seems to have been to windward. :eek:

Anyway, our standard genoa is the rather 'conservative' Number 2 (130%) rather than the Number 1 (150%) which we near use.
Number 1 is great in lighter airs, but once wind picks up that sail gets too big very fast. And I've found that once furled it never really set well.
And, we've got the cruising chute for light airs.

Like you, when the boat starts heeling, we first tweak the main track. After that, the main gets reefed before I start thinking of furling the genoa.
If we furl the genoa, we lose power fast. And we need plenty of power to keep 13 tons of boat going.

Like the Gibsea 402 you sailed on, in a blow our boat really flies with one reef in the main and full genoa.
 
While furling a jib can never improve it, I can still remember my amazement on my last boat when I used a replacement genoa with a padded luff for the first time - how well it pulled. A good quality foresail is worth paying for.

I have been known to reef the jib/ genoa befo the main when I'm going to be tacking in a river, since it makes the job much easier and improves visibility.
 
I often sail under genoa alone. What amazes me is that I get a lot of weather helm when close hauled...
Easily rectified by moving the sheet to the stern quarter but slightly surprising nonetheless.

(and yes, my genoa is a bagged out pile of laundry)

I have another one: newer, flatter, but far heavier, which gets used as a staysail. Superb downwind.
 
SAPurdie said:
I often sail under genoa alone. What amazes me is that I get a lot of weather helm when close hauled...
Easily rectified by moving the sheet to the stern quarter but slightly surprising nonetheless.

(and yes, my genoa is a bagged out pile of laundry)

I have another one: newer, flatter, but far heavier, which gets used as a staysail. Superb downwind.
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And by moving the sheet aft you are opening the leach spilling / dumping the wind
 
My boat is a 44ft cutter with a fairly large main and is often sailed single handed. Sure I use the genoa on its own for short trips. But tacking that 120% genoa past the inner forestay is not easy.

The one time I had to manouvre in close quarters sans engine I used the main on it's own as I knew it would tack quite comfortably even in light airs.
 
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