Sailing 272 without headsail

[Cabasa 83]

My headsail is being repaired but Sunday was supposed to be beautiful so we went sailing anyway. Found that boat will not point or maintain course as well without headsail. Should be back on this week, does anyone have any tips for sailing with mainsail only if I have to do it again?

 

[Sunbird22358]

Most keel boats will not point as well under just the main as under full sail. Centerboard boats do a bit better because the CB can be raised slightly to move the center of lateral resistance (basically center of CB or keel) aft to match the new center of the sail area.
Back to the 272....I have a feeling that the hydrokeel (wing-keel) on a 272 needs to have some water flowing past it to really develop lift to prevent leeway, until that happens pointing is harder. So, try laying off a bit more to gain speed, then as the boat picks up a bit of speed, try pointing a bit higher. Even so, you won't be likely to point as high as under full sail.... but should do OK.
Sailing just a bit further off the wind usually generates more speed, at hte expense of needing to make more tacks to gain distance to windward....but due to the gain in speed, might result in getting to your destination almost as fast. Of course, in winds where you would normally be under full sail, you will never gain hte same speeds as under full sail, simply less "horsepower", but you will make headway! The nice thing about sailing without the jib is that tacking is easier..... just turn the wheel or the tiller.... no jib sheets to tend!

 

[Cabasa 83]

Yes tacking was easier, it did seam that I was skidding almost asynchronous as I was going forward. Thanks for the reply

 

[Sunbird22358]

That sounds like what I thought.....boat needs to get moving for the keel to generate lift to reduce leeway. It is amazing how just laying off a few degrees will help..... once speed builds, try pointing up a bit.

 

[Joe11688]

Most keel boats will not point as well under just the main as under full sail. Centerboard boats do a bit better because the CB can be raised slightly to move the center of lateral resistance (basically center of CB or keel) aft to match the new center of the sail area.
Back to the 272....I have a feeling that the hydrokeel (wing-keel) on a 272 needs to have some water flowing past it to really develop lift to prevent leeway, until that happens pointing is harder. So, try laying off a bit more to gain speed, then as the boat picks up a bit of speed, try pointing a bit higher. Even so, you won't be likely to point as high as under full sail.... but should do OK.
Sailing just a bit further off the wind usually generates more speed, at hte expense of needing to make more tacks to gain distance to windward....but due to the gain in speed, might result in getting to your destination almost as fast. Of course, in winds where you would normally be under full sail, you will never gain hte same speeds as under full sail, simply less "horsepower", but you will make headway! The nice thing about sailing without the jib is that tacking is easier..... just turn the wheel or the tiller.... no jib sheets to tend!

I've never tried raising my centerboard, Rod. I'll have to give that a shot. My boat has always handled very well with just the Mainsail, particularly in close quarter sailing such as picking up my mooring or sailing up to our club dock. I wouldn't dare to try it with both sails working. I'd probably crash into a dock or another boat.

I found out several years ago that my boat maneuvers horrible under the Genoa alone. It handles OK out in the bay where there's plenty of room but I'll never try to come up to a dock with it again. I had to look around that day to make sure that no one saw me. Luckily I didn't crash into anything and I was able to get out of there in time before I did.

Many times I just prefer to sail under just the Main alone because I can control the speed of the boat when I'm trolling for Stripers and Blues. Also, it's hard enough trying to play a Striper with the Main flapping away and the boom moving around from side to side without having to worry about the Gennie.
Probably the worse thing that can happen is to have the boom jumping up and down while she's headed into the wind and have it come down on top of your head while your playing a fish. I finally smartened up and started setting my boom vang to prevent this from occurring.

I think that a good cure for less than favorable upwind ability in a 272 with no foresail would be to break out the fishing pole and do some trolling. The real challenge comes when you have to head her up into the wind and play a big fish.

 

[Cabasa 83]

That is a great idea, but who will clean the fish?

 

[Joe11688]

That is a great idea, but who will clean the fish?

I've got to admit that it's hard to clean a large fish on a sailboat especially a 272 with it's high free board. Most of the time I'm able to board the fish and get the boat back on course with my autopilot steering.
If the fish isn't too large I just grab him in between the gills and lower him over the side and gut him outside of the boat. I bleed him and stick him head first into a buck of water for a while. It's still hard to fillet a large fish on board though and I always wind up cutting myself.

Two years ago I caught a 40" Striper in the river as I was running before the wind. I sailed into one of my favorite coves and anchored. Then I tied the Striper to my kayak and paddled to shore where I was able to fillet him on a flat rock. Our state laws prohibit having striper fillets on board a boat and that complicates things quite a bit. I just don't have the room to put a whole Striper on ice in my boat and I like my fish edible.

It's hard to deal with a large fish on a sailboat of any kind but I suppose you could gut and bleed him and tie a rope to him and tow him to your favorite cove. It would be nice to have the French Fries and cole slaw ready to cook up once you got him filleted.