Asym suggestions
Here are some suggestions. Use as light of a line for the sheets as possible. They should be twice the length of the boat. Ours are 5/16. Remember to route the sheets out board of the forestay. The tack line should be lead back to the cockpit from a snap block on the bow pulpit. Put it on the winch used for the jib. When starting out, have about 4' of it attached to the tack of the sail. On gybing, fall off slightly and release the sheet completely. Allow the sail to flow ahead of the forestay, then come around while pulling in the other sheet. Works like a snap. Just be sure you don't begin the turn until the sail is full ahead of the forestay or it will wrap itself and that is another issue to contend with. In light air, it may help to have a bowsman foreward and assist with getting the clew out and around. The sail will work the best when the wind is never less than about a 100 degrees off the bow. And as much as maybe 150 plus or minus. When you get it close to 90, unless in light winds, the boat will easily get overpowered and become difficult to handle. She'll want to round up and your weather helm can be substantial. Ours does very well from between 100+ to 130 When raising the sail, fall off so that it is blanketed by the main. If it has a sock, then this becomes much easier. Do the same when dousing. Adjust the tack line so that the horizontal seam is parallel with the horizon. And the luff leach should be perpendicular. Ideally, the top of the luff may have a very slight curl when properly adjusted. When you are sailing closer to the wind, the tack can be brought down to the boat to act more as a conventional jib. But again, don't try to sail too close until you are familar with the sail and how the boat handles with it. As for wind conditions, we've had ours up in three knots with the boat going thee knots COG. And in as much as 17 to 19 knots. The stronger the wind the more you have to really concentrate on preventing the boat from getting overpowered. All in all, you won't believe how much fun sailing can be until you play around with this this sail. There was a very good article on this subject in this months "Sail" magazine. John Richard s/v Jack's Place
