23 wk, will roller furler affect performance?

[Michael Slough]

Will adding a roller furler and new headsail affect boat peformance, or am I better off to stay with my hanked on headsails. I want to race boat phrf, but the added ease of furler would be great. Also, any reccomendations on headsails for furling would be appreciated.

 

[Rob Morton]

Interested to see what others say

as we have been considering furling but decided for now to stay with a hank on headsail. We are adding a downhaul run back to the cockpit for a little easier use. We don't race but just use it for daysailing and cruising some of the time. Rob Morton

 

[mike]

not for me

I used to have roller furling on a smaller boat and didn't like it. It would jam in heavy air and of course furled sail shape is far inferior to the appropriate sized jib. Hanked on sail is no problem to pop loose or drop to the deck. You could install a downhaul line to help with this. In heavy air you'd rather use a small headsail and reef the main. I can understand furling for cruising but not for racing. You need a suit of headsails from 90 to 150 and maybe even an assymetrical spinnaker if your racing. Don't count on good racing performance from a roller furled headsail.

 

[Darrel]

Hank On

Michael, As a former h23 owner and club racer I would highly recommend you stay with hank on head sails for your h23. If you are planning to race in a PHRF fleet on Lake Mead you will want to have the best sail shape you can get. If you go to roller furling you stand to lose some of the performance of your head sail do to UV cover and so on. On the h23 the sail handing is not a big deal. Get your self a good inventory of good sails, go to a double slotted head stay and go sailing.Good luck.

 

[Cliff]

Not good

I raced our 23 for a long time and we did very well racing. A RF rolled up to any point will have terrible sail shape and you will be slow. This boat needs 3 sail's to sail well. a 148 a 130 and a 98 Blade. Allot depends on what boat you have the wide spreader or the short spreader boat. Plus where the T Track for the head sail is located. If you check the Archives ther should be allot on racing the 23. I wrote quite abit about it a few years ago.Cliff

 

[Jim21895]

What kind of furler

May depend on what kind of furler. The Harken, for example, has a removable drum and twin slotted foil. Take the drum off for racing and use the foil. You can then use the furler for casual sailing. You can also use racing sails on a furler, but you cannot reef them, like the J80s and J105s. If so, you will want a furler that allows you to change sails easily. Don't go with a CDI for racing. A properly installed racing furler with good sails will make it easier to race shorthanded. Moreover, it will likely penalize you less than one bad tack or jibe.