Greetings,
I've been sailing every chance I get this summer and have the fortune of a friendly and knowledgeable group of sailors at my marina. I have been paying close attention to my sail shape compared to the more experienced sailors and noticed that my headsail never has been able to achieve that outward curl at the top I see the other boats sails a set at during the gustier days. I described the situation to one of the gents on the dock and he happily came over to asses the situation. He explained to me that in order to de-power the top of the sail, I need to move my genoa block as further back on the track in order to give more of a horizontal pull on the genoa instead of a vertical pull, and that for "normal" sailing conditions the angle of the jib sheet coming off the block should intersect the luff of the headsail at its midpoint. I have a roller furling 150 genoa, so we unfurled it and surveyed the situation. What we found is that the angle of the jib sheet with the block in the furthest back position still intersected the luff above the midway point. I am not able to de-power the headsail unless I furl the genoa, and cause it to loose a good sail shape. (see photos) Here are the options we came up with to remedy the situation:
1. Buy a smaller genoa, maybe a 130 or 140, any suggestions?
2. Because the sail is in relatively good shape, keep it, but slide it lower on the headstay. I like this option, but with the current configuration of the lifelines on the boat, it is not doable. I would need to move the lifelines from the attachment at the top of the bow pulpit to the bottom of the bow pulpit, and possible install some shorter stanchions, or have the existing reworked by a welder.
I'm open to suggestion.
Thanks,
Chris
I've been sailing every chance I get this summer and have the fortune of a friendly and knowledgeable group of sailors at my marina. I have been paying close attention to my sail shape compared to the more experienced sailors and noticed that my headsail never has been able to achieve that outward curl at the top I see the other boats sails a set at during the gustier days. I described the situation to one of the gents on the dock and he happily came over to asses the situation. He explained to me that in order to de-power the top of the sail, I need to move my genoa block as further back on the track in order to give more of a horizontal pull on the genoa instead of a vertical pull, and that for "normal" sailing conditions the angle of the jib sheet coming off the block should intersect the luff of the headsail at its midpoint. I have a roller furling 150 genoa, so we unfurled it and surveyed the situation. What we found is that the angle of the jib sheet with the block in the furthest back position still intersected the luff above the midway point. I am not able to de-power the headsail unless I furl the genoa, and cause it to loose a good sail shape. (see photos) Here are the options we came up with to remedy the situation:
1. Buy a smaller genoa, maybe a 130 or 140, any suggestions?
2. Because the sail is in relatively good shape, keep it, but slide it lower on the headstay. I like this option, but with the current configuration of the lifelines on the boat, it is not doable. I would need to move the lifelines from the attachment at the top of the bow pulpit to the bottom of the bow pulpit, and possible install some shorter stanchions, or have the existing reworked by a welder.
I'm open to suggestion.
Thanks,
Chris
