Main VS Genoa Preformance

[thaeni]

I have a '84 27' Hunter and have been sailing with just the main and
then just the Genoa to get a feel of the characteristics of both. I find
that I get allot more boat speed with the Genoa than with the main. I was wondering why that was. My Genoa is a 150.

 

[Alan]

On a masthead rig like yours the genoa is the engine that drives the boat. On a fractional rig the engine is the main and it will produce better performance.

 

[Manny]

Geez... Your doing better than I am. I can't sail on main only at all, my 27 will just go around in circles from all the weather helm! In addition to what Alan stated, since the 27 is notorious for weather helm, using the main alone you would probably need a lot more rudder to compensate thereby slowing you down. Plus a 150 would have a lot more sail area than the main. I've hit 7.4 knots on genny alone and prolonged sustained speeds over 7 knots!

Manny

 

[Hugh4753]

Alan, question for you. On my 35.5 sometimes I don't want to raise the main but I've got so much weather helm with the headsail that I worry about doing some damage to the rudder or something else. Is this a needless worry.

 

[Alan]

Hugh,
Yes it is a needless worry. The rig (assuming it is tuned properly) is more than capable of sustaining any loads you could apply.

I'm curious though about how you would have too much weather helm with just your genoa up?? When beating the sail needs to be trimmed with a rather flat entry. As the course bears away the sheets are eased and the sheeting angle moved forward to maintain good sailing performance and proper sail trim.
I suspect you are over-trimming the sheet and are not using enough halyard tension to control draft position. Also, I would suggest you try to get a measure of the amount of headstay sag the rig has when going to weather.
Let me know what you find.

 

[Hugh4753]

Thanks, will do. You're probably right that I'm overtrimming now that I think about it. Probably the positioning of the genoa cars makes a significant difference too. I'm guessing that moving them back would reduce the force.

 

[Alan]

Hugh,

I can't advise this strongly enough. You need to have three sets of telltales on all headsails and your main. Without them you are totally guessing at sail trim. There is just no way to 'see' the air flow over the sails without them. They only cost a few bucks and are worth their weight in gold.
Genoa car lead angles are critical to proper trim and you will be surprised that just a few inches will make a HUGE difference.