Is my foresail too big?

[Bluebonnet87]

I recently bought a hunter 26.5 with pretty new sails. The foresail is a genoa with a luff length of 30'-2". The "I" length for this boat is 29'-5". The "j" length is 9'-5". When I do the math, the usable forestay length is about 30'-10". So this means the sail is taking up about 98% of the forestay.

It's hitting the life line a bit more than I'd like which is why I ask. Is there an ideal luff length with my dimensions or am I OK with this sail and just need to skirt it?

 

[rgranger]

Can’t you just leave a few turns on the furler?
The extra sail area might be nice on a run.

 

[Bluebonnet87]

Ah forgot to mention... I don't have a furler

Can’t you just leave a few turns on the furler?
The extra sail area might be nice on a run.

 

[Davidasailor26]

It’s pretty typical for a genoa to lay on the lifelines and need to be skirted. That’s just a compromise for the performance it provides. Going to a smaller sail gives less power, and having the sail higher on the forestay leaves the center of effort up higher which is its own compromise.

Can’t you just leave a few turns on the furler?
The extra sail area might be nice on a run.

I never found a partially furled sail to be very efficient or good for pointing. A foam luff can help but still a pretty substantial drop off from the designed performance.