Loose foot Mainsail or not?

[johnsons185]

Hi All,

Hope your all enjoying the nice weather its still foggy and drab up here in Shetland at the moment.

My post is regarding my mainsail, I have en route a Stackaway system from quay sails (very good to deal with by the way) currently my main foot is a bolt rope which I have no problem with and have no fears that it will still work fine when the Stackaway is fitted.

After much discussion with various folks it has been suggested I would be better with a loose foot as not only would it be better for the Stackaway but it can shape the mainsail better and will perform better.

Does anyone have a loose foot main or any of the above combinations, that they could pass comment on, ie right, wrong, good, bad, no difference?

Look forward to your thoughts

regards

Scott Johnson
Vega 891 "Mistral"

 

[gurkin42]

Scott. Yes I have a have a loose footed main on my boat (Albion 3319) and it indeed helps the shape at the foot of the sail curve and forms an airfoil. This does not in any way effect windward performance and I am quite capable of obtaining hull speeds with a double reefed main. This is the same reason that when I reef I tie the bag but not to the boom as it shapes better and puts less wear and tear in the cringles. I hope this is helpful. Sincerely John

 

[johnsons185]

Thanks for that, may look into doing this with our main.

 

[tomfentonvega2977beowulf]

Hi Scott, we had a new mainsail made this year. It came loose-footed,
though I had not specified it either way. It certainly looks a better shape
at the foot, but our previous sail was so worn out I could not say how much
of the improvement in performance came from being loose footed, how much
from having it fully battened , and how much from just being new. All i can
say is I am pleased with the loose foot. Best wishes. Tom Fenton, Beowulf
V2977