Underpowered between gusts, unfurl jib or shake out a reef?

[Vega1447]

Hi, as above.Was out yesterday in gusty conditions (35-40 knots in gusts, 25+ between gusts) so tied in third reef in main & only unrolled a quarter or less of furling genoa.On a lake so no big seas.. I was underpowered (only making 4.5 knots on the wind) and found it hard to tack for that reason.I tried bearing away to increase speed and then round up to tack but that didn't work. In the end I gybed which worked fine.Should I have unfurled more jib or shaken out the third reef?Or used the engine to tower though the tack? Any comments welcome,John V1447 Breakaway

 

[alaskaflyfish]

I have been out in 35kts and 5 foot seas on a second reef and half genoa unfurled. It was slow going into the wind. If you got 4.5 knots into the wind you were doing good. I cannot speak for a 3rd reef because I only have 2 reef points, but if it were me I would want more drive power, so I would unfurl the jib more. Once you bear off the wind with too much main up the heel angle can become excessive. This is just one opinion, others may vary.

 

[tim_klynn]

I experienced a similar situation and was unable to tack with a just small bit of genoa unfurled.The general rule of thumb I've heard is that most furling sails lose a lot of their shape/lift once furled more than about 30%.Most likely, the jib lead car position will also need to be adjusted as you furl. -Tim

 

[Vega1447]

Thanks Tim,
that's really helpful.
It was disconcerting - I didn't really want to
unfurl more genoa as concerned that sail might be damaged.
But I should have.
Genoa car position also a good point.
I was sailing solo (with an auto pilot) but over
focused on protecting the sails..

John

On 18/02/2019 22:18, Tim Klynn
tim_klynn@... [AlbinVega] wrote: