My jib is removed for stitching so......
Anyone sail with just the main?
10-15 knot winds, 2-3 foot waves.
Anyone sail with just the main?
10-15 knot winds, 2-3 foot waves.
Main sail only
- Thread starter actnuts
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Years ago I sailed a 1975 O'Day 25 keel/centerboard sloop from an area near the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal in Buzzard's Bay Ma., to the mouth of the Sakonnet River in Newport RI with winds in that range with just the Mainsail and she sailed great. I've sailed my 1986 O'Day 222 with just the Main sail quite a bit and she sails great also. She tacks and maneuvers well with just the main. As long your boat will come about when you go to tack, I don't see why you shouldn't sail it.
My boat is a masthead rig, so going without the headsail is a loss of a lot of sail area. It is a little sluggish and I need to make sure to have enough speed to tack when going upwind, or it will lose way. Generally, I only sail under the main by itself if the wind is too much for the genoa and a reefed main, or if I'm doing something close quarters, like passing a beer to another boat ;-)
My girl will, in light wind, tack from a reach at speed with the keel board UP. The main drives her to the wind, as the jib makes her fall off the wind. You should do fine.
I have sailed a 1979 O'DAY 25 Fin-Keel model (with OMC Zephyr inboard, not sure which prop) with just the main in a decent breeze, she did pretty well! You may find it best not to try to point up as close to the wind as when under full sail (main and jib) but she should still do fine, just might not accelerate as fast as usual.
We often sailed out old CAL 21 under just Mainsail if hte wind was up, or if we had guests aboard who were new to sailing and might not be comfortable with the heeling. Again, worked fine.
My DS II (and the Widgeon that preceded her) sails fine under just main (or just reefed main on a windy day!) but like Joe's 222 the proportion of Main to jib is larger than on a masthead rig (our boats have bigger mains, smaller jibs, CAL 21 was fractional rig, but main and jib were stil lalmost equal in area) so we are losing less total sail area without the jib.
But, as I mentioned first, I sailed a 25 under just main once and found her very able.
We often sailed out old CAL 21 under just Mainsail if hte wind was up, or if we had guests aboard who were new to sailing and might not be comfortable with the heeling. Again, worked fine.
My DS II (and the Widgeon that preceded her) sails fine under just main (or just reefed main on a windy day!) but like Joe's 222 the proportion of Main to jib is larger than on a masthead rig (our boats have bigger mains, smaller jibs, CAL 21 was fractional rig, but main and jib were stil lalmost equal in area) so we are losing less total sail area without the jib.
But, as I mentioned first, I sailed a 25 under just main once and found her very able.
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