genoa question

[awking]

I have a newbie question regarding my genoa. I have a 27' boat which came with a jib and a 155% genoa (hank-on). When I run up my genoa, I am setting it up by hooking the tack to a bow eye, then running the sheet through the lead and back to the cockpit. My question is, when I let the sheet out when reaching, quite a bit of the forward section of the foot of the sail is, for lack of a better term "folded or overlapped" over the top of the lifeline. It doesn't seem to effect the performance of the sail, but it just doesn't look right. Am I doing something wrong, or is this overlap normal.

 

[agolden]

No..your not doing anything wrong...its the size of your sail. For a 27ft boat, and being a newbie, you should think about a 110% size sail. Because it will shorter (after you hank it on) you'll need a wire cable extension in order to raise it to the top. Then depending on the height of your mast, the bottom of the sail could be at or slightly above your lifeline. This makes for better sail shape and greater forwardd visability.

 

[blewispunk]

Can alter lifelines

It can also depend on how your lifelines are setup. If at the bow they come to the top of your bow rail the lines will be high and therefore hang up a lot of the sail. Most bow rails have clips lower down also so you can have the lifelines dive towards the deck after the forward-most stanchion. This will hang up less of the sail.

 

[Tim C350 April IV]

Outside of Everything

When I rigged my Genoa on my previous C27, I would run the sheet from the clew of the sail, outside of everything (lifelines, shrouds, stays) and then come back into the car and then back to the winch. Keeping it "outside of everything" (my little reminder when rigging) would make it a little more difficult to sheet in hard for going to weather - I just had to be careful to make sure that the foot of the sail wasn't hung up on the lifelines or stanchions.When we raced, we would run the sheets inside the lifelines - in order to get that little bit more advantage to weather - although with the "decksweeper" (low footed genoa) we still had to be careful when grinding it in to make sure that it wasn't hung up on the lifelines/stanchions. We used a whisker pole downwind, so the sheets would become less important, and would just ride up over the lifelines.Running the 110, we sheeted inside the lifelines - again making sure that everything was led clear of the shrouds and stays. All part of the good habits we develop over time. Another was to always check that the halyard ran clear up to the top of the mast before attaching it the the head of the sail. One wrap and everything gets more difficult in raising and lowering the sail. Just get in the habit of looking up and ensuring a clean run before you clip it on.Tim BroganApril IV C350 #68 (ex Inamorata C27 #6111)Seattle