One of the nice things about where I work is it's about a 10 minute drive to a park on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie. Today, winds are from the NNE probably around 15 mph, maybe a bit less. The waves look like about 2' to 3', some whitecaps. Both the wind and wave action seem to be slowly increasing. I watched a boat sail down wind today for about 20 minutes under headsail alone. He never jibed and seemed to running smoothly. My guess is the boat was in the 27' - 33' range and had a masthead rig. I could be wrong about the size or the rig - he was fairly far off shore. Here's my question(s).... What are the pros and cons of sailing downwind under headsail only? Does a fractional vs masthead rig make a difference? I struggled with very similar conditions in my H23 on Sunday. Lots of jibing, some intentional, some were, er, not exactly planned. Overall we made good time back to the marina, but worked pretty hard and did not have an entirely happy crew. Towards the end, we fell off on broad reaches and ran them out fairly far from the rumb line to calm things down. Any tips and observations are appreciated. I'm trying to strike a balance between speed and confort and this is obviously a cruising rather than racing situation.
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Down wind
Mike I dislike running down wind at any time and try to avoid it when possible. The one thing I have noticed is never run directly down wind, always run about 10-20% off, this gives you much better boat speed with more comfort for the crew. In 10 to 15knots have both mainsail and Jib operating, if things pickup pull your main sail in tight to centre to avoid losing a crews head, or you can just bring it down and stay on headsail. My C380 is a masthead rig so I generate most of the power from the headsail, a fractional rig is the opposite. Good luck. Wayne
Mike I dislike running down wind at any time and try to avoid it when possible. The one thing I have noticed is never run directly down wind, always run about 10-20% off, this gives you much better boat speed with more comfort for the crew. In 10 to 15knots have both mainsail and Jib operating, if things pickup pull your main sail in tight to centre to avoid losing a crews head, or you can just bring it down and stay on headsail. My C380 is a masthead rig so I generate most of the power from the headsail, a fractional rig is the opposite. Good luck. Wayne
I 'jib' it often
Here on Galveston Bay the prevailing winds are SE and the bay shallow, so lots of chop, especially with the heavy traffic in the Shipping channel. The point is that usually you wind up at the end of the day(if you are lucky) upwind of home. That means a long downwind leg on late afternoon chop. Over time I have discovered that by dropping the main and sailing in on the genoa alone my speed is only reduced by a third and the 'uncomfortables' and gybing reduced to near nil THe gybing is never a problem as that is very easy on on my rig. I sail a classic full keel cape Dory 25 with a masthead rig. A 130 genoa gives excellent handling and speed at upto 20knt winds. THere are those in books that say steer clear of running on headsail alone because of stresses on the rigging; that may well be so on boats with no full aft stay only swept back partial aft stays. So, as you noted the boat/rigging remains the key. Run a few trials in various conditions and not carefully not only the handling, but the stress points as well. My hunch though is that fin keel light displacement fractional rigs probably will not handle as well under headsail as the heavy displacemnet full keel masthead boats.
Here on Galveston Bay the prevailing winds are SE and the bay shallow, so lots of chop, especially with the heavy traffic in the Shipping channel. The point is that usually you wind up at the end of the day(if you are lucky) upwind of home. That means a long downwind leg on late afternoon chop. Over time I have discovered that by dropping the main and sailing in on the genoa alone my speed is only reduced by a third and the 'uncomfortables' and gybing reduced to near nil THe gybing is never a problem as that is very easy on on my rig. I sail a classic full keel cape Dory 25 with a masthead rig. A 130 genoa gives excellent handling and speed at upto 20knt winds. THere are those in books that say steer clear of running on headsail alone because of stresses on the rigging; that may well be so on boats with no full aft stay only swept back partial aft stays. So, as you noted the boat/rigging remains the key. Run a few trials in various conditions and not carefully not only the handling, but the stress points as well. My hunch though is that fin keel light displacement fractional rigs probably will not handle as well under headsail as the heavy displacemnet full keel masthead boats.
I call it tent sailing .....
Mike, My wife hates the heat and I like to sail. Soooo... I put up the boom tent as soon as the sun shines and when the wind blows, I unfurl the genny. I sail down wind, up wind, beam reach what ever. I do sail an O'Day 25 that most of the power is in the jib. Yesi is a casual kind of sailing but the wife is in he shade and I get to sail. Doesn't do much for racing but works fine for a comfortable cruise. r.w.landau
Mike, My wife hates the heat and I like to sail. Soooo... I put up the boom tent as soon as the sun shines and when the wind blows, I unfurl the genny. I sail down wind, up wind, beam reach what ever. I do sail an O'Day 25 that most of the power is in the jib. Yesi is a casual kind of sailing but the wife is in he shade and I get to sail. Doesn't do much for racing but works fine for a comfortable cruise. r.w.landau
Down wind..
Mike, If you sail down wind, the thing that ruins most trips ( creature comfort) is when it is hot and there is no wind blowing. The other thing is there is always a favorable tack. One tack is normaly calmer than the other because of the wave direction. If you sail with the wind, it minimizes the feel that wind is present. Baring off 20 to 30 degrees will increase the air flow through the cockpit and minimize the possiblity of a jibe. Chosing the favorable tack as often as possible also helps creature comfort. r.w.landau
Mike, If you sail down wind, the thing that ruins most trips ( creature comfort) is when it is hot and there is no wind blowing. The other thing is there is always a favorable tack. One tack is normaly calmer than the other because of the wave direction. If you sail with the wind, it minimizes the feel that wind is present. Baring off 20 to 30 degrees will increase the air flow through the cockpit and minimize the possiblity of a jibe. Chosing the favorable tack as often as possible also helps creature comfort. r.w.landau
Don't know the numbers...
But Did makes mention of advice not to do it, and I have seen accounts of people losing the rig as a result. I think this would be a concern only when the wind got up, but still it is something to think about regardless of backstay arrangement. When the main is up, it and the mainsheet help resist the forces pulling the masthead forward, but when the main is not deployed the backstay must handle the extra load.
But Did makes mention of advice not to do it, and I have seen accounts of people losing the rig as a result. I think this would be a concern only when the wind got up, but still it is something to think about regardless of backstay arrangement. When the main is up, it and the mainsheet help resist the forces pulling the masthead forward, but when the main is not deployed the backstay must handle the extra load.
The Back Stay handles the
loads of the main and jib when they are both up. Sailing jib alone should not be a problem. The main sheet only counteracts a portion of the main sail load on the back stay. r.w.landau
loads of the main and jib when they are both up. Sailing jib alone should not be a problem. The main sheet only counteracts a portion of the main sail load on the back stay. r.w.landau
Try some combos
Just did lots of downwind work on a heavy 43' ketch in the Marion-Bermuda race, winds up to 30 kts and large seas. One boat broke its rudder post, and our steering had bolts backing off, so much helm stress. In bad conditions, quartering isn't an option, you either run or sail beam across. First lesson was to douse the mizzen, it pushes the tail all over the place. We reefed the main, but found the large genoa still caused control problems from too much speed and draft power. With reduced genoa and main (+ preventer) the boat stopped surfing and felt manageable. We were pulling a sea generator but no warps. I found a reduced main with preventer would resist gybing even when by the lee, perhaps because it was fairly small and flat. A reduced genoa is also less of a gybe threat since its a smaller dog on a shorter leash. 'Surfing' is hard on the helmsman and hard on the steering gear, but you don't get pounded if done successfully. Later on we went on a reach back to our rhumbline, but had to take the occassional hit, which either boarded us or just hammered us over. We also had a small staysail at times, but found it had no pulling power unless some genoa was unrolled too. Several days later we had 20 kt wind but no seas; we dropped the mizzen but still found the full genoa would make us round up, contrary to logic. Again we reduced the genny until better control was achieved. In mild conditions on the Chesapeake, going downwind under genoa alone is pretty common.
Just did lots of downwind work on a heavy 43' ketch in the Marion-Bermuda race, winds up to 30 kts and large seas. One boat broke its rudder post, and our steering had bolts backing off, so much helm stress. In bad conditions, quartering isn't an option, you either run or sail beam across. First lesson was to douse the mizzen, it pushes the tail all over the place. We reefed the main, but found the large genoa still caused control problems from too much speed and draft power. With reduced genoa and main (+ preventer) the boat stopped surfing and felt manageable. We were pulling a sea generator but no warps. I found a reduced main with preventer would resist gybing even when by the lee, perhaps because it was fairly small and flat. A reduced genoa is also less of a gybe threat since its a smaller dog on a shorter leash. 'Surfing' is hard on the helmsman and hard on the steering gear, but you don't get pounded if done successfully. Later on we went on a reach back to our rhumbline, but had to take the occassional hit, which either boarded us or just hammered us over. We also had a small staysail at times, but found it had no pulling power unless some genoa was unrolled too. Several days later we had 20 kt wind but no seas; we dropped the mizzen but still found the full genoa would make us round up, contrary to logic. Again we reduced the genny until better control was achieved. In mild conditions on the Chesapeake, going downwind under genoa alone is pretty common.
Jib downwind - thanks
Thanks guys - I'm going to try the jib alone downwind next time and be mindful of stress on the backstay. Thanks for the archive link Stu, (I really do use them before posting most questions!). Although the exact situation I described was more specific than than some of the links, they gave more confirmation that jib-alone seems to apply most in downwind conditions. Thanks again for the real world observations.
Thanks guys - I'm going to try the jib alone downwind next time and be mindful of stress on the backstay. Thanks for the archive link Stu, (I really do use them before posting most questions!). Although the exact situation I described was more specific than than some of the links, they gave more confirmation that jib-alone seems to apply most in downwind conditions. Thanks again for the real world observations.
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