When I bought the Tern she had double head stays. They were on the boat when the seller bought her and he added a roller furler. It would seem to be the best of both worlds. I kept the rig as it was for a couple of years, but there was a problem. The furler was on the port stay and could only be furled or adjusted when on starboard tack, otherwise any loose sail would wrap the starboard stay and foul the works. This may be acceptable in open water but in tight work it was very awkward. It limited my approaches to the mooring. I had to get the jib in at the last moment, and also be on the bow to pick the line. If the boat fell off on the other tack after I caught the mooring it would be impossible to furl the sail and I would be charging ahead at my neighbors. There were times that bringing her into the dock was not feasible because the wind was wrong. So I removed the furler.
Double head stays are a beautiful idea. There is something romantic about rolling down the trade winds under twin jibs, and I sailed her, in home water, that way for several years, but there was another problem. As mentioned it is impossible to adjust both head stays to the same tension, because of the weight of wind in the sail, and the loaded stay will always be to the lee of the lazy stay. At each tack the sail will rub across the lazy stay. Chafe is of course the first concern but when I pulled down the sail after returning to the mooring, and found that one hank had un-clipped and then re-clipped itself on the lazy stay, I decided that was enough, and went to a single head stay. I like it better this way and besides, I'm no Harry Pidgeon anyway.
There are other ways to go down wind. A spinnaker works, at least for some. It's been awhile. The asyem is easier and it goes down wind, kind of, but when she collapses someone needs to be on the tiller to get her back. The boat wont bring it back on it's own. Maybe the answer is double headsails on a single stay, more stable, or better yet, the twizzel rig, which I understand rotates to the wind shifts. It is something I want to try. A symmetrical spinnaker is 185% of the fore triangle. An Asyem is 165% but two 100% working jibs is 200%. Two 120% jibs would have a sail area of 240% of the fore triangle! (maybe that would be a cause for double back stays!) One would not be able to gybe a 240% twizzel rig (because of the longer poles) but 100% jibs with a large roach, battens, or maybe high shoulders like the spinnaker, would probably pass over.
Craig Tern#1519
