On 8/18/23 21:33, Lawrence Winiarski via montgomery_boats wrote:
Why not roll it down?
On Friday, August 18, 2023 at 08:57:40 PM PDT, Henry Rodriguez <heinzir@gmail.com> wrote:
Great question re storm jibs and roller furlers. We do what we have to do in a pinch but it is generally not the best to roll a 150% Genoa down to storm jib size.
Good question. And brings up some other thoughts about the dual solent stay and furled jib, versus just a reefed furling jib... Even a well made furling jib with well designed luff padding will lose some performance as it reefs down. Partly due to change in shape as it rolls up. Though if the sail is well shaped this will be the lesser problem. My two reefable jibs keep quite good shape even when significantly reefed relative to their full size. That's a best case though. Partly because the leading edge (luff) of the sail will generate increased turbulence, due to having some amount of rolled up jib as the 'fat' leading edge when reefed. So the sail will not perform as well, for both those reasons, to different degrees. Plus, sail performance aside, there will be just plain added windage at the bow from the thickness of the furled portion of the jib. That makes me curious where the break-even point is between the performance hit from having the furled jib in place while using a storm jib on separate stay, compared with just using the partly reefed jib on furler. If it's a Genoa, probably in favor of the separate stay for storm jib. But if it's a working jib, maybe not...? I think it also depends on how often one sails in winds where a storm jib really is required. And whether that is most of the time, or just once in a while, or just in gusts, etc. And if one is out for the day and can just head home if it gets too crazy, or is on a cruise/passage where that is not really an option. The furled jib - especially the bigger it is when fully deployed - adds a non-trivial amount of windage at the bow. Which, even if the turbulence doesn't much affect the storm jib, could make a big difference when it's blowing hard enough to want a storm jib in the first place. My only direct experience with the effects of an 'extra' furled headsail on windward performance was one time in Hawai'i - heading from La Perouse bay (SW corner of Maui) back towards north end of Hawai'i island. Which is upwind, in the typically intense 'Alenuihaha channel, close reach all the way if one wants to take the "high road" option and try and clear the north end of Hawai'i island in one reach (we did, we were heading back to Hilo). The boat was a Corsair F-31 (Farrier designed tri) with a furling "screacher" foresail on a stay to front of bowsprit, and then the regular working jib on a stay to the bow. Due to combination of high wind and close reach needed, we couldn't use the screacher, so we furled it. However the windage from that furled screacher - even though it was relatively slim furled, since it had no luff padding, was only designed for use fully deployed - was so much that it majorly affected our ability to stay close on the wind. After heading out into the channel and assessing the situation, the skipper turned us back into the bay and we doused the screacher completely, removing it and stowing it below. Made a huge difference. Obviously that's not any direct boat-to-boat comparison, but sure showed me how much impact the windage alone of a furled foresail can have in those kinds of conditions. cheers, John -- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com