Sail on, sail off

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Gary Wyngarden

What ARE these sails?

Mains, jibs, genoas, spinnakers, mizzens, staysails, ok. Blades, lappers, bloopers, mules, drifters, huh? Somebody's got some explaining to do. Gary Wyngarden S/V Shibumi H335
 
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Ben

Like Gary said. . .

I guess I didn't want to look like I wasn't an old salt, but since Gary brought it up. . .I don't know what those sails are either. I don't think any of my sails "bloop".
 
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Jim LeBlanc

Cruising sails in Texas

For cruising in my S2 7.3, I use a roller furling 150 jib, a reefable main and a cruising spinnaker (for light wind days). All you will ever need, unless you race.
 
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George B. s/v Freya

Sail Terms

O.K., I'll give it a shot. Remember, there is a lot of interpretation in these terms, so someone else might define them a little differently. Lapper is a jib that slightly overlaps the mast. Most commonly, it has a LP of 110%. It can also be known as a working jib. A blade is a headsail that fits entirely within the fore triangle. They are for higher winds and are usually cut out of heavier cloth and have a high clew placement. They can have a batten in them to hold out the leach. They are typically 90% LP, although I have a cheater 95% that's cut to fit inside of the spreaders. Bloopers were popular during the IOR days of the 1980s. Not used much anymore. They are a free flying sail made out of spinnaker cloth and fly on the opposite side from the spinnaker. They plug the gap between the spinnaker and mainsail. On multi-mast boats, they are flown off of the aft mast. Drifter - I've heard this refer to both extremely large genoas like a 170% or above as well as a reaching spinnaker. Mule - you got me. A cross between a horse and a donkey.
 
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Tom

So far, only two...

My Hunter 260 came with a full batten main and about 100% working jib that is hanked on. They are sufficient for Boston harbor most the time, and I'm not too adverse to using the iron genny (4 stroke outboard) when I want to go faster, or more directly, than the wind can accomodate. Sometimes I consider getting an Aysm. chute or 135 genoa for lighter air. The Aysm Chute is probably the more logical choice, except in the PHRF fun races I occasionally compete in, the Asym is not allowed, and my club doesn't differentiate between jib and genoa; although, they do make allowance for furler vs. hank on -- figure that one out! So a genoa would give me better light air performance with no PHRF penalty. Then I would need to add a genoa track, or at least another set of blocks for the genoa sheets... it never ends. Fair winds, Tom
 
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Jim Morrison

Simplicity is Good: Sometimes

I have had sailboats and raced sailboats most of my life. I have had three keel boats with a variety of sails. Now that I am only crusing I find I don't want to deal with sail changes and storing extra sails on board. I have only a main (one set of reef points) and 135 genny with furling gear. I just got back from a great trip into Canada where we had a wide variety of wind conditions and the set up worked flawlessly and required a minimum of effort on our part. I have been of the foredeck of sailboats in big seas, and I would like to avoid it if possible. Also the engine should not be underestimated in crusing. We made good speed and keep the boat steady across the Strait of Juan de Fuca (20 miles) in fair size swells by runing the motor at low RPM with all the sail up. I believe in simplicity in sail plan. I have tried to concentrate in good quality strong equipment and controls (vang, out haul, cunningham, jeffy reefing, furling system, halyards, winches etc.) rather than just loading up with a bunch of sail inventory that doesn't really get used much crusing.
 
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Mike

Basics

Have four sail at this time. Main (duh!) Cruising (asymetrical) spinnaker 155 roller furling genoa Storm size roller furling genoa Mostly I use the main and the 155 and ocassionally the cruising chute. If and when I get a whisker pole for the chute I will probably use it more for light winds at the stern or off the quarter. However a whisker pole and the required hardware to go with it are not CHEAP. So the $$ priortiy list may put that purchase after other more-needed items.
 
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Allan Timms

Standard issue inventory.

That's not to say I would'nt love to have an extensive sail inventory. I'm sure necessity plays a big part of sail inventory and these boats don't need any.
 
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Mark

Nineteen (correction)

The lapper is a 120% (typo). Its clew is high so it still trims to the genoa track. It's essentially a #2. No track for a blade so I don't have one. Blades trim from a track inboard of the shrouds and are fastest beating in higher winds. Modern racers must have one to be competitive. I was just quoting what's written on the bags. Following is an explanation of the others: The "drifter" is a nylon (spinnaker cloth) genoa with a loose luff and luff tensioning tackle at the tack. The luff is really stretchy, about 1 1/2 foot tensioning range. Useful in calm up to about two knots wind. It has removable plastic carabiner style hanks (5) so it can be used double headsail downwind. The "mule" is a heavy partial hoist genoa. It has reef points above the foot and second tack and clew rings, which reef it to about 110%, but then all the sail on the deck catches water, and it becomes a *very* partial hoist sail, kinda useless reefed. The staysails tack either on a center track on the foredeck or to the foredeck rail when broad reaching or running. The tack passes through a hole in the bottom of the bag so you just hoist them out of the bag and stuff them back in the bag as they come down. They're both light Dacron. They're meant to fly inside the spinnaker at certain wind angles and speeds. The "banana staysail" is bigger, has short battens sewn into the sail and is best when tight reaching in light-moderate winds. As the wind goes aft the sheeting point moves too far outboard and it cannot be used. The bag is shaped like a banana. The "tallboy staysail" is much narrower, can be flown from a reach to dead downwind, when it's tacked across the foredeck with the sheeting point at the same position on the other side of the foredeck. It also can be used with the lapper when reaching as a double headsail setup. And when there's no wind and a leftover chop it can be tacked to the stemhead and sheeted both sides at the mast to decrease rolling. The "blooper" is a standard racing sail from the seventies, nylon, usually flown under the main in windy conditions with a spinnaker dead downwind to balance the sailplan laterally so the boat doesn't roll as much, ostensibly to prevent broaching. Modern boats aren't so broach sensitive, so the sail is no longer popular. Also can be used as a double headsail setup downwind, or alone, even without the main for fun. Most of the specialty sails are for light air, where you could go faster with the engine. But I have just as much fun doing two knots when boats around me are motoring or bobbing. Any sails hoisted beyond the main-genoa-spinnaker standard are good for only 1/4 to 1/2 knot more speed at best, though. Here's a picture of the drifter hard at work, about 1/4 knot boatspeed.
 

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Pirate

New Sail = New Engine

How many people expect the engine of their car to run forever with no attention? Why should we expect the engines of our boats to be different? I just replaced the Main on Befana, this is the third main in 28 years (assuming the sail that was on the boat when I got her in '95 was not the original). Sail design and construction has changed in the last 10 years, the new sails produce more drive and less heel than the ones built in the early 90's. I almost cannot believe how bad the old main was, or how much better the new sail is! The new sail is a "Code 5", as big as possible with no rating penalty. Works out to almost 50ft^2 bigger. Also remember that Dacron degrades in sunlight, and every tack takes so life out of the cloth. Sure an old Dacron sail can be prodded and pulled into a decent looking shape, but that shape is no where near as efficient as it was when it was new. New sails every 5-7 years is not unreasonable. At least get your local sailmaker to take a look at what you have and make recomendations. Many times a middle-aged sail can be tweaked a bit to extend its life 50% or so, but *only* if the cloth hasn't been damaged by waiting too long. Another option for those of us that own production boats is that there almost always is some one that races and replaces sails more often, offer 40% of the price of a new sail for their 2-3 year old one ... he gets a new sail he craves and you get a near new sail for cheap. :) I don't carry every sail I own on the boat all the time. A good roller genoa, the main, and a spinnaker most days. For passages I make sure the Blade is on board as well as both chutes.
 

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SailboatOwners.com

Final results

Final results for the Quick Quiz ending July 27, 2003: How many sails do you have for your boat? 34% Two or less  30% Three  21% Four  16% Five or more 1,166 owners responding
 
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Al Eckhart

Sail Inventory

I sail my Catalina 25 Tall Rig primarily in club races. To sail efficiantly in varying wind conditions I carry the standard 110 genny for winds 12-18 MPH, a 150 genny for light air to 12 MPH, and a 60% working jib for winds over 20 MPH. I also have an asymetric spinnaker for off wind use. I just purchased a new main and 110 from North Sails and am very happy with them. The main in particular, which was ordered with an over-size roach (to PHRF rules)has done wonders for boat speed. Al Eckhart C25T Gallivant
 
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Brian

have 3 plus 1.

I have a Main, 155 Genoa and a Drifter. I also have the original 100% Jib onboard as an emergency sail. Never had a reason for it, but it doesn't take up much space and is nice to know it's there.
 
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Brant Bricarell

j24 headsails

I bought a 22 foot hunter from 1984, it came with a decent mainsail and a 100% jib with less material then a bedsheet. I did some research and found that the j24 has similar dimensions. This fleet is very common and sails can be purchased used pretty cheap. Now I have the two original sails plus a 155% genoa, 110% jib and .75 spinnaker. these sails work great.
 
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Brad Jones

6 sails

I keep 6 sails on the boat, and use 5 regularly. One racing dacron main plus a mylar 155 genoa and a cruising 150 genoa, plus a dacron 100 jib, and a full spinnaker. The smaller heavy storm jib gets only rare use.
 
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Dave

Sail Inventory

I use everything in my inventory depending on the weather. There has been occasions when I've changed the headsail while out due to changing conditions. Most times I monitor the weather thoroughly before leaving port and my sail selection is good for the day. I've also reefed/shook out the main on a few occasions as well. I really would like to add a cruising spinaker. I'll probably do that over the winter. Current Inventory: Main 110% Jib 150% Genoa Custom Storm Jib Will be adding: Cruising Spinaker
 
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Don Weaver

sail inventory

main, working jib, 150 genny, storm jib, spinnaker, use 'em all as weather, etc requires or how brave i feel.
 
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