New Main Sail?
- Thread starter joecool911
- Start date
I also have a sail pack with a loose -footed main. Both by Quantum. I loosen the sail pack halyards about six inches before raising the sail. THere is no performance loss. I tighten them before dropping the sail. I am probably over-orking it; many people just leave them in one position. FYI, going to install a TIDES track and slides (I think, if the loft ever gets back to me...)
A sailpack can be used with a loose footed mainsail. It does, however, created drag and turbulence. That's the trade off for the convenience of not using a separate mainsail cover. If you are super concerned about extra drag and turbulence, a sail pack isn't for you. If your boom is up high, and it's difficult to reach it for putting a sail cover over the mainsail, then a sailpack is a wonderful convenience.
As for the sailpack interfering with easing the outhaul: If you install adjustable lazy jacks holding the sail pack up, you can slack them so you can ease the outhaul without the sailpack interfering with the foot.
If you want to get the sailpack out of the way to minimize drag and turbulence for higher performance, you can order the sailpack with include straps/ties that permit you to roll the sides up and strap them to the boom. This usually requires retraceable lazy jacks lines. And it takes more time to roll up the sailpack flaps than using a separate mainsail cover.
Personally, I don't want the extra drag and turbulence. So I have retractable lazy jacks, on my boat, and I use a separate mainsail cover. The main drops right into the lazy jacks and I put the mainsail cover on later. But my boat is small, and I can reach the boom easily to put the cover on.
My Corsair Trimaran's mainsail has 7 full battens and needs a Tides Track (or similar car system) for it to drop quickly and easily. Full battens create a lot more friction than partial battens, so this mainsail requires it, especiallly in high wind.
Dropping the mainsail is nearly idiot proof. It comes down by itself in a couple of seconds in winds up to about 20 kts, as long as I remember to steer above a beam reach and the mainsail is eased. In higher winds, I need to help the last few feet come down with a gentle tug, but I never struggle to control it.
When hoisting the mainsail, the battens don't catch in the lazy jacks as long as I'm on a close reach or higher, and the mainsheet is eased.
(PS. In the video below, the diagonal top batten has been removed, which I need to do to lower the mainsail completely and to fit the mainsail cover.)
Judy B
Semi-retired sailmaker
As for the sailpack interfering with easing the outhaul: If you install adjustable lazy jacks holding the sail pack up, you can slack them so you can ease the outhaul without the sailpack interfering with the foot.
If you want to get the sailpack out of the way to minimize drag and turbulence for higher performance, you can order the sailpack with include straps/ties that permit you to roll the sides up and strap them to the boom. This usually requires retraceable lazy jacks lines. And it takes more time to roll up the sailpack flaps than using a separate mainsail cover.
Personally, I don't want the extra drag and turbulence. So I have retractable lazy jacks, on my boat, and I use a separate mainsail cover. The main drops right into the lazy jacks and I put the mainsail cover on later. But my boat is small, and I can reach the boom easily to put the cover on.
My Corsair Trimaran's mainsail has 7 full battens and needs a Tides Track (or similar car system) for it to drop quickly and easily. Full battens create a lot more friction than partial battens, so this mainsail requires it, especiallly in high wind.
Dropping the mainsail is nearly idiot proof. It comes down by itself in a couple of seconds in winds up to about 20 kts, as long as I remember to steer above a beam reach and the mainsail is eased. In higher winds, I need to help the last few feet come down with a gentle tug, but I never struggle to control it.
When hoisting the mainsail, the battens don't catch in the lazy jacks as long as I'm on a close reach or higher, and the mainsheet is eased.
(PS. In the video below, the diagonal top batten has been removed, which I need to do to lower the mainsail completely and to fit the mainsail cover.)
Judy B
Semi-retired sailmaker
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Here's a picture of a sailpack in Race Mode. Lazy jack lines are retracted and pulled to the front of the mast, and the sailpack canvas is rolled up and strapped to the boom.
This is not something you want to do for every day sail, because it's time consuming. For a day sail, you will want to leave both the sailpack and the lazy jacks fully deployed.
Judy B
This is not something you want to do for every day sail, because it's time consuming. For a day sail, you will want to leave both the sailpack and the lazy jacks fully deployed.
Judy B
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The photographs that DrJudyB posted with the sail cover wrapped to the boom is how I set up my (first) sail pack for distance races. That pack was a PITA though, and I ditched it for retractable lazy jacks. However, a few years ago, with most racing in my past, I purchased a new sail pack that is far more convenient, although I still do need a TIDES system. I'm short and the boom is high.
Precision did a great job on my new main. I went with a tri-radial dacron as it was only slightly more and looks cool. (You can laugh but isn’t that at least 10% of the fun of sailing!?!) The pricing was excellent so did pretty much all their upgrades for blue water sailing. A+ customer service experience.
$1,600 for entry level and $2,400 for tri radial for a main and jib is more than slightly. LOL. Do you feel the tri radial design made a marked improvement over the cross cut?
I wasn't looking at the "entry level" sails with the lofts I reached out to. Pretty much everywhere, I was looking at a "mid-level" to "best" depending on what the loft would offer, so that was the basis of my comparison. At the time, the tri-radial pricing was very comparable to the upgraded Dacron options at Precision. (within 10%).
I believe that I would also have gotten excellent sails had I gone with North/Doyle/etc. but with Precision I was able to get a considerable amount of upgrades that may or may not have been standard with these lofts and their service was outstanding.
Does it make a marked improvement? It's hard for me to say as I was replacing a sail that was considerably beyond its years. That said, having gone through every inch of the sail when I first received it, I'm confident that the construction of the sail will last, which was key for me.
I recently saw a post on the Facebook group for Hunter Owners that recommended Sailcare, https://sailcare.com. They are suppose to "rejuvenate" sails. I'm considering them. Does anybody here have any experience with them?