Which sails to take on a circumnavigation?

[Tim Good]

With my boat came 10 sails and I haven't frankly had time to check exactly what was what during my refit.. My friend kindly allowed me access to his workplace to use a clean open floor and I discover I had:

2 Mains - One very heavy duty Hood + one brand new South West.
3 Staysails - One very heavy duty Hood with standard clew + 2 x brand new South West with high clew (one with hanks and one for roller)
2 Yankees - 2 x South West, one used and one identical brand new. High Clew.
1 Genoa - A new large very heavy duty Hood Genoa unused.
1 Storm jib - new unused bright orange storm staysail with integral stainless stay
1 Spinaker - multi purpose Hood with snuffer and can be used like a cruising chute

We setoff on a circumnavigation* in 4 weeks and I'm curious what arsenal people would advise taking. Here are my delimmas:

1. I could rig the boat entirely with new South West Sails but they are not as heavy duty as the Hood ones which ridiculously thick. But new sails would match and well.... be new
2. What are South West sails like? Lightweight sails would furl more easily and maybe better in lighter airs. Or would older bomb proof hoods be better?
3. I think it would pay to take both Yankees as I could use the twistle rig which people seem to rave about.
4. It is a cutter rig with every sail on furling gear so do I really need a storm jib given the amount of sail options available? Will it likely just stay in the bag.
5. Spinnaker - easy to use, enjoyable to use but takes up masses of space. Would we use it if we have the twistle rig?
6. Genoa? Well it is either the yankees or the genoa. We can't take both. But a genoa on a cutter rig? Doesn't that kind of defeat the point as you can't have a staysail and a genoa up at the same time.

* of the world

 

[awol]

All seems a bit overkill for once round the Isle of Wight!

 

[vyv_cox]

There was a post on the Sadler Owners forum about a year ago from someone who had circumnavigated with one mainsail and one genoa. He said he never had need for anything else.

I have Hood Vectran, bought following their excellent review after the first British Steel RTW race. My sails are now about 15 years old and I can detect no change of shape in them.

 

[Kelpie]

If you're doing the tradewinds route, I would fly the older sails, as on downwind legs the shape isn't so critical and y d't want chafe damage on brand new sails.
Have y had a chance to play with all these sails yet? Seems essential towards making an informed decision.

 

[Tim Good]

If you're doing the tradewinds route, I would fly the older sails, as on downwind legs the shape isn't so critical and y d't want chafe damage on brand new sails.
Have y had a chance to play with all these sails yet? Seems essential towards making an informed decision.

Unfortunately not. I have sailed for a year with the Hood Main, Hood Staysail and SouthWest Yankee. For example the pic below. You can see the SW sail is slightly lighter in colour.

I like the setup but there are a few things:

1. the main is so dam thick that is really hard to furl.
2. the Yankee is certainly cut as an off wind sail. Hard on the wind it flutters at the top of the leach and prevents stops us from pointing as high as I feel it should. Just a few degrees off and she is a power house.
3. the Hood staysail is smaller that the SW stailsail so someone decided that when they got these SW sails made that the Staysail should be larger. They also cut the staysail with a high clew on the SW sails. Maybe when flying yanke and staysail that is a better format which explains the Hood Genoa. I.e. they intended it to be either genoa or staysail, not both.

 

[[70521]]

What route are you planning?

Are you intending to stop?

With four weeks before the off do you have a sail maker with capacity to do any additional work for you? I'd want a trusted sail maker to look over them knowing your plans.

 

[Boo2]

If you take them all then you will have a chance to try out different combinations as circumstances change. Anything you leave behind Mr Sod's law dictates you will regret...

You may find you can sell or swap stuff on the journey from what I've heard/read.

Boo2

 

[oldvarnish]

A well-known cruising couple with some impressive cruising under their belts - http://www.bethandevans.com/index.htm - did a wind analysis of their voyages and found that for something like 70 per cent of the time there was too little wind, and the frequency of gales was very small.
Plan your sail wardrobe accordingly.

 

[alant]

With my boat came 10 sails and I haven't frankly had time to check exactly what was what during my refit.. My friend kindly allowed me access to his workplace to use a clean open floor and I discover I had:

2 Mains - One very heavy duty Hood + one brand new South West.
3 Staysails - One very heavy duty Hood with standard clew + 2 x brand new South West with high clew (one with hanks and one for roller)
2 Yankees - 2 x South West, one used and one identical brand new. High Clew.
1 Genoa - A new large very heavy duty Hood Genoa unused.
1 Storm jib - new unused bright orange storm staysail with integral stainless stay
1 Spinaker - multi purpose Hood with snuffer and can be used like a cruising chute

We setoff on a circumnavigation* in 4 weeks and I'm curious what arsenal people would advise taking. Here are my delimmas:

1. I could rig the boat entirely with new South West Sails but they are not as heavy duty as the Hood ones which ridiculously thick. But new sails would match and well.... be new
2. What are South West sails like? Lightweight sails would furl more easily and maybe better in lighter airs. Or would older bomb proof hoods be better?
3. I think it would pay to take both Yankees as I could use the twistle rig which people seem to rave about.
4. It is a cutter rig with every sail on furling gear so do I really need a storm jib given the amount of sail options available? Will it likely just stay in the bag.
5. Spinnaker - easy to use, enjoyable to use but takes up masses of space. Would we use it if we have the twistle rig?
6. Genoa? Well it is either the yankees or the genoa. We can't take both. But a genoa on a cutter rig? Doesn't that kind of defeat the point as you can't have a staysail and a genoa up at the same time.

* of the world

On a west - east atlantic crossing from long island, I insisted the owner buy a storm jib since we didn't have one. The one we bought, was a little large, but the best we could get. About a week out, it was the only headsail we had, the others all shredded, but it got us back to UK.

 

[Woodlouse]

How much space you got? I'd think long and hard about leaving one main, and one staysail but the rest I'd keep. If space wasn't an issue I'd probably take the lot.

It's one thing wrecking a sail on the far side of the world and knowing it was the only one you had, it's even worse knowing you've got another in the shed back home.

 

[AndrewB]

The list looks like serious overkill. There are sailmakers/repairs right the way round who'll keep you fixed up, you don't need to carry the proverbial kitchen sink. Besides which, you have all the time in the world to make your own fixes. But as Alant says, do take the storm jib and make sure you can rig it up easily in bad conditions. I used mine far more than I ever thought I would.

 

[dunedin]

What's the rush to leave. Spend a few days hoisting and preferably sailing with them before you leave.

I would be tempted to carry a spare mainsail, and try out the Genoa before leaving it behind. It might give better performance upwind and down than a Yankee.

 

[roblpm]

Take your mates car instead? Home in just over a day!!

 

[Tim Good]

Ok thanks for all the feedback but the main questions are ...

1. For downwind what is best, a poled genoa, 2 yankees on twistle rig or a spinnaker? Or a combination of 2?
2. Would the lighter weight sails really make a lot of difference in predominately lightish airs?

I'm thinking that this might be best which is a combination of redundancy and

2 Yankees as it gives me both redundancy and a solid downwind strategy which is safe at night.
1 new high clew staysail + storm staysail
2 mains. Hood for Norway and SW when we get down past Biscay.
1 Spinnaker if space permits because its fun and easy.

 

[Woodlouse]

You can go downwind with a Genoa and a Yankee. Did that last year on a crossing, had the Genoa on the pole and the Yankee flying, the Genoa kept the Yankee filled so there was hardly any flapping even with the Yankee shielded by the main.

 

[lw395]

I tend to think towards making good progress in light winds.
It makes a bigger difference than losing half a knot because you don't have the exact right sails in F5.

So I would absolutely take the spinnaker and the biggest genoa.
I guess you have balance storage space against possible cost of getting sails sent out to wherever.
A lot of sails seem to go around the world without leaving the locker, other people trash things on leg 1.
A difficult call.

 

[Tim Good]

The Genoa is a difficult one as yes it is bigger but would a big Genoa provide more power than a Yankee and staysail together? Probably not if have thought.

Plus the Genoa is seriously heavy weight. It'll need some wind to get it filled I'd have though.

 

[KellysEye]

We carried Hood sails for long distance sailing because they have the highest content of fibre to glue than any othe sail brand and thus they will last longer before stretching. If you want to check that get some sail cloth samples including Hood, a magnifying glass and put a bright light behind the cloths. You will see noticeable differences in the fibre content of the cloths. That's what I did before choosing Hood. As backup we also caried the sails the previous owner used that were in good condition. The sail seams should also be triple stitched, which Hood does. Ours hadn't stretched after over 10,000 nms

 

[Monique]

We are setting off for RTW this year. (We'll watch for you) We are a ketch and the sails are in good condition.

I will have a furling main, furling Genoa and Mizzen. Additionally, we have a "ballooner", raised in a second groove on the forestay. "Ballooner" furls inside the genoa when sail reduction is needed. (Used in 20 kts or less) We expect to sail with the two foresails most times. "Front wheel drive??"

 

[dom]

We carried Hood sails for long distance sailing because they have the highest content of fibre to glue than any othe sail brand and thus they will last longer before stretching.

I don't think the OP needs more sails; for the record Hood certainly used to make high quality Dacron, but this statement is simply not true.