Measure yourself?
Hi, Dan: Why not measure for the sail yourself? If you need a 110 jib, just measure your max hoist (headstay length) and your "J" (measurement from the tack fitting to the base of your mast). With those two measurements, you can figure out what a 110 should measure. For example, assume your "J" measurement is 10 feet (I'm not sure what it is for your boat--get out the tape measure and find out). The percent of overlap for headsails (i.e., the 110% or the 155%, etc., is based on a measurement called the "L/P"). The 100% measurement of your L/P (luff perpendicular) is 100% times the "J" measurement--i.e., the L/P is 10 feet or 100% of your 10' "J" measurement. A 155% genoa would have an L/P of 15.5 feet (i.e., 15 feet 6 inches). As such, a 110% jib would have an L/P measurment of 110% of 10 or 11 feet. O.K., you're saying "so what?" Well, the L/P is the key to measuring the sail. Using the same example (10' "J"), the 110% L/P measurment (i.e., 11') will be a line 11' long drawn perpendicular to the headstay from the clew of the jib (where the jib sheets attach). If you measure your "max hoist"--this is the highest your jib halyard will go from the tack fitting--you can then figure out what the foot and leech measurements should be, based on your preferences for clew height. To measure "max hoist", take a 100' tape measure and securely hook/tape the end onto your jib halyard's shackle. Hoist the jib halyard and tape measure to the top of the mast and pull the bottom end of the tape taut to the tack fitting (where the jib attaches to the deck at the bow). That measurement is going to be your "max hoist" measurement. Now, if you take the same tape, still hoisted to the top of your mast, and pull it back towards your cockpit, you can pretend it's the leech (back end) of your jib. Here's where helper(s) would be valuable. If you have (2) more tape measures (or two pieces of non-stretching string), you can attach one tape measure/string to the tack fitting and pull the other end back to meet the long tape hanging down from the mast head. Your helper can then take a builder's square, hold it up to the headstay and attach the other tape measure/string to the headstay, using the square to get it perpendicular to the headstay. By pulling its other end back to intersect the other two tape measures/strings (back by the cockpit), using the 10' "J" example, where the top tape and the tack attached tape intersect at the 11' mark on the headstay/perpendicular tape--that's your sail. you can move the clew up or down for a hi-cut jib or a deck sweeper style, which, in turn, will change the luff and foot measurements--as long as the L/P stays the same and its perpendicular to the headstay, you're still at 110%. It just depends on how you like the clew to be and how your boat is set up. The bottom measurement is the "foot" measurement and the top down to clew measurement is your "leech" measurment. That's all you need for a new jib--you can give those measurements to any sailmaker and get a new jib made or an old one cut to your specs. You can also look around for used jibs that measure the same or close to your measurements--it does not have to be an O'Day 23 OEM jib to work on your boat (unless you're just a purist and have to have an OEM jib). I found several great used sails for my OD'22 that were never originally designed for an OD'22 but the measurements were right on and the sails work fabulously. Good luck. Rich s/v Time Bandit, OD'22
