is this sail is baggy or still good to go?

[nuxer]

hi everyone.
i am in vancouver bc and started sailing this year with new (to me) catalina30
i am not a racer, just family cruiser. so, i am not so keen about speed.
but sometimes with 10-12 knot wind, boat heeled uncomfortably.
i am suspecting a old looking main sail.
here is pics, can anyone tell me the how good or bad shape is ?
thanks in advance.

 

[justsomeguy]

Maybe soften the clew outhaul a little, but it looks good to me. Let the main out a little more if you're heeling too much?

I think.

 

[Joe]

I think it would be worthwhile to get a local loft to take a look at it, they might be able to recut the baggy part, perhaps giving you a few more years. Racing or not..... stretched out sails will be aggravating when you get some breeze. You might also ask whether adding a shelf foot would be economically feasible for the remaining life of the sail.

 

[Don Guillette]

Nuxer: I'd follow Joe from San Deigo advise and have a sail maker take a look at your mainsail. It's hard to tell from pictures but the sail doesn't look too bad overall but the foot looks a little funny. Sailmakers don't charge a lot, compared to the cost of a new sail, to perform a "nip and tuck". I had one performed a number of years ago in Long Beach, Ca and was able to get about 3 more years out of the sail. The jib, from what I can see, loooks pretty good. Aditionally, my sailmaker gave the sail a bath. I don't know why but dirty sails just look inefficient. You could wash the sail yourself. Wait until your wife leaves for a few hours and wash the sail in the tub then let it dry on the living room floor!!! Just kidding -- let the sailmaker clean the sail.

I assume you use all your sail trim controls for the main and jib, at least I hope you do. The easiest and quickest way to get the boat back on its feet is to drop the traveler down. The advantage of using the traveler, as opposed to the mainsheet, is by using the traveler you don't change the shape of the sail. After the gust of wind passes you merely crank the traveler back to its origingal position and sail nicely on your way.

One last item: there is no difference between racing sail trim and cruising sail trim -- there is only a right way and a wrong way to trim your sails.

 

[s sauer]

I wonder how the tack of the sail is fastened to the boom at the goose neck. My mainsail has three different 'fast pin' holes and the luff of that sail looks a little tighter and the foot at the goose neck end looks a little tight. Is there any adjustment to have that Luff grommet an inch or so higher. Don't know if the Cat 30 has a backstay adjuster or if that mast would bend at all but that would take some of the depth out of the forward part of the sail so you could flatten it in higher wind speeds. The leach of the sail looks flat and not scalloped or cupped so It seams reasonably shaped but again I don't sail a Catalina 30.

 

[RichH]

The leech is 'tight' which causes an artificial 'over-drafted' / too much draft along the 'cord length' of the sail; or, as an alternative the mainsheet tension is very excessive causing essentially the same effect along the leech.
My Guess: That 'tight' leech is most probably because the lufff bolt rope is 'shrunken' and/or the sail was raised with insufficient halyard tension.
The most common cause - Possibly this sail has a VERY shrunken luff boltrope and that is the main cause of the poor sailing characteristics (aggressive heeling and SLOW BOAT) with this sail.

For the MOST COMMON shape problems with mainsails made of woven dacron .... Go to and follow the instructions to evaluate .... http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=120970

There is NO difference in a good/decent shape/set between racers and 'cruisers'. An improperly 'raised' and shaped sail is potentially unsafe in 'boisterous' wind/wave conditions. A sail with such a over-drafted shape will be 'cranky' and subject to sudden and unexpected 'power ups' which can cause a 'dunking' in a lightweight boat. A mainsail made of woven dacron MUST be stretched out along the luff with additional halyard tension .... AFTER 'just raising' such a sail. If you dont you will invariably get such an over-draft shape. I'll betcha also that you have LOTS of 'weather helm' as well as aggressive heeling with this sail.



BTW - If you dont already have these, get some tell tales and apply them to your sails and suggest also getting Don's "sail trim users guide" .... so that you KNOW that youre not 'cross controlling' your sails. Without tell tales .... you'll only be 'guessing' http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?
51999/Sail%20Trim%20Chart%20and%20Sail%20Trim%20Guide

))))

 

[Stu Jackson]

Don't know if the Cat 30 has a backstay adjuster or if that mast would bend at all but that would take some of the depth out of the forward part of the sail so you could flatten it in higher wind speeds...but again I don't sail a Catalina 30.

Good idea, BUT, C30s are masthead rigged boats with telephone poles for masts. All a backstay adjuster will do on our boats is to help tighten the forestay. Just for the record...again.

 

[RichH]

Any masthead boat with forward lower and aft lower aux. shrouds and a light cross section mast can be 'prebent' to affect a certain amount of inbuilt flattening in the sails' original design. For instance, just about for ALL mast head rigs the sailmaker shapes the luff to accommodate a specified amount of 'mast prebend' ... and the 'usual' cruiser unaware of the such mast prebend never sets the correct set of mast bend and lives with a 'floppy' telephone pole mast .. and then begins to think his/her sail is 'somewhat baggy'.

 

[nuxer]

thanks for all your inputs. i will talk to local sailmaker soon since it can be related with safety issues.
i also followed "How to properly RAISE a woven dacron mainsail" and realized that i didnt easy the outhaul line when i set or drop the main sail. i guess that's why "foot is little funny" as Don said.
i will do follow up post later.

 

[Don Guillette]

Years ago, when I was trying to figure out sail trim, which incidently confused the hell out of me, I had few places to go. I could talk to dock neigbors and YC friend but number one was I "didn't know what I didn't know" and I wasn't even asking the correct question. As RichH says, talk about "cross controlling the sail trim controls" you should have heard some of the answer I received but I tried them all but got nowhere. I could have looked up the questions in sailing books if I knew where to look but I had the cart before the horse. The major break through came when I realized I had to focus on what the sail trim controls for the main and jib were actually adjusting. Once I figured that out I was home free.

But I digress -- the point I wanted to make was NUXER started out on the morning of 10/7 with a question and by the afternoon he had a complete answer and all the info, and then some, that he needed to formulate a plan. Where was the sail trim forum when I needed them years ago!?!! Unfortunately, it didn't exist. If it had I wouldn't have pulled out half my hair trying to figure out sail trim.

Going to the "ask all sailors" section, where I cruise to sometimes, reminds me as to all the times I talked to my dock neighbors and YC friends about sail trim questions. Their heart was in the right place but they mixed me up and had me "cross controlling". With some of the sail trim questions I see on other sections on this site I want to tell them to pop on over to the sail trim forum with their question. They'll get the straight skinny and even if they don't know the question guys like RichH, Joe from San Deigo, StuJ and sometime myself have heard every possible sail trim question one could ask and they'll figure out what a mate is asking or should be asking. I think it's great that sailboatowners.com provides this forum. There is none other like it that I know of.

 

[chasmoyer]

Going to the "ask all sailors" section, where I cruise to sometimes, reminds me as to all the times I talked to my dock neighbors and YC friends about sail trim questions. Their heart was in the right place but they mixed me up and had me "cross controlling". With some of the sail trim questions I see on other sections on this site I want to tell them to pop on over to the sail trim forum with their question. They'll get the straight skinny and even if they don't know the question guys like RichH, Joe from San Deigo, StuJ and sometime myself have heard every possible sail trim question one could ask and they'll figure out what a mate is asking or should be asking. I think it's great that sailboatowners.com provides this forum. There is none other like it that I know of.[/quote]


What is also GREAT is that experienced sailors like RichH, Joe, StuJ, and DonG continue to be willing to take the time to share their experiences with the rest of us who want to gain lots more experiences while minimizing the pain of doing so! My hat is off to them, and others, for their patience and advice.