what sail is this? storm jib perhaps?

[RussC]

digging through a pile of sails I got with my Merit 22 today I'm a bit puzzled as to just what this one is and how it would be rigged and used. my guess is some type of storm head sail? it has a wire luff (1/8" 7x19) with thimbles at head and tack but no hanks. it measures 17'9" head to clew and 7'9" clew to tack and is symmetrical cut with very little belly. I'm guessing about 7oz cloth. educate me please

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Looks like a riding sail we used to hang from the backstay to minimize swinging at anchor

 

[Stu Jackson]

Russ,

Sails do not have a J dimension, boats do. Perhaps you meant the LP dimension.

That sail appears to be much larger than what Don's guess was for your size boat, a riding sail for your Merit would most likely be about half that size.

Without hanks, my guess would be a heavy weather downwind only jib.

 

[jssailem]

My guess is some type of storm head sail

That sounds about right, if raised at the bow.

Your boats foredeck sail area is 115sqft. The sail area is 69 sqft. The wire luff provides a way of pulling the sail taut. The Merit 22 is a masthead sloop. The foresail provides power to the boat. This sail would give you power, yet a 60% reefed sail in a stiff breeze.

You might also use it in lieu of a main. You would need to explore how well it might work. In either case I suspect it will provide reasonable downwind results, but be inadequate to get you off a lee shore.

 

[PaulK]

I is the height of the fore triangle measured from the deck sheer line abeam of the mast to the highest point of headsail attachment. J is the distance perpendicular from the front of the mast to the forestay at the deck. LP is the distance perpendicular from the luff to the clew.
The measurements of a triangular sail should be the Luff length, Foot length and Leech length.
Though it could certainly be used as a riding sail the facts that this sail is a funky color (yellow!) and so heavily built (7 oz cloth!) make the case for its being a storm sail. Possibly a storm trysail and probably for something larger than a Merit 22. The heavy wire luff would enable it to be hoisted really tight up against the mast without fitting into a luff groove or having slides while the clew was sheeted back to somewhere in the cockpit. It would seem much too big to serve that purpose on this boat - something half that size might be suitable. Hoisting it in storm conditions as a jib would also create problems with too much sail area. Maybe a previous owner used it for a sun shade.

 

[RussC]

I edited dimensions on original post as actually measured on sail. I must have known what I meant at some point
The part that really puzzles me, aside from the wire luff, is that is's cut symmetrical so not sure how it would have been flown.

 

[jssailem]

17'9" head to clew and 7'9" clew to tack

What about Tack to Head? The length of the wire luff.

 

[RussC]

What about Tack to Head? The length of the wire luff.

I believe the man said the sail was symmetrical soooo. 17'9" Tack to head also.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I believe the man said the sail was symmetrical soooo. 17'9" Tack to head also.

Do you mean the leech and luff lengths are identical? Hard to tell from the first photo.

 

[RussC]

Do you mean the leech and luff lengths are identical? Hard to tell from the first photo.

yes

 

[rgranger]

That looks like a heavy weather headsail to me. I had a similar one on an older Macgregor 22.

It is a much more pleasant ride if you can keep your sails balanced. Do you have more than one reef point in your main? If so, try putting that sail up in 20+ wind… and your main double reefed. You will be surprised at how well the boat slices through the chop instead of pounding over it.

You will need a "healthy" low-stretch halyard than you can tension agressivly to properly raise that sail. When pulled taught, the wire luff acts like a stay. So you need to put a few turns on the halyard.