cheap forwindsail for small crew

[Oli89]

Hello together,
thanks for adding me in this forum.

My Girlfrind and I have start to sail arround the world now and we are still in the caribean.
In case that we are only around 30 years, we have a smaller budget, but we like to have a forwindsail which we can use with our windpilot and without constant observation.
I have researched many time about this, and find sails like a parasailor or wingaker, which shoud be good for this, but this sails are very expensive (also the used sails), so we can't buy such a sail for us:-(.

Do somebody know a good alternative to such a sail, or have a good ideal where I can find a cheap parasailor, wingaker etc. sail for our 38ft yacht?

I will be very happy to hear from you.
best regards
Oli

[TrentePieds]

Hello Oli89 and welcome to our forum :-)

I am a little surprised that no-one has answered your post yet, but perhaps people are, like I, a little unsure about what you are asking.

We will be able to help you rather better if you tell us what kind of boat you are sailing, and how much sailing experience you have. I take it that your native language is not English, and that therefore you may not know the conventional English names for things you wish to ask about. That needn't be a problem. There are a great many people in this forum that originally spoke something other than English, and you are very welcome to refer in your native language to items whose English name you are not sure about. One or another of us will understand and give you the English word for that item.

Your question obviously has to do with wanting to run before the wind without having to keep an eye on your sails continuously. You are, I think, asking if there is something you can use in place of that thing we call a "spinnaker" in English. Well, there is, of course. But we need to clear up a bit of possible confusion that is probably only a matter of: Constant OBSERVATION is required in regard to every kind of sail. There are, however, some KINDS of sail that don't require constant ATTENTENTION, and it is presumably such a sail you are looking for.

Do get back to us, telling us what boat you sail and what your experience is. As I say, don't be afraid to use words from your native language, and certainly do not be afraid to use words from any of the world's major languages other than English. After all - CF is an INTERNATIONAL forum :-).

TrentePieds

[Oli89]

Hey TrentePieds,
thanks very much for your answer and our points of interesst.

I will try to give you all informations which you need. If somebody need any more info's so please feel free to ask me.

About the boat, we have a 38ft steel yacht and we have some sailing experience, but only with the "normal" sails and a bit with genakersailing. But I think we can also lern to sail other sails...

About the english words, I hope everything is understandible, if not please feel also free to ask me detailed. For the special-words I try to use the online-transaltor, I hope this works good enough?!

About the searched sail, so you are right. I am looking for a sail like a spinnaker. I know that there are special typs of spinnaker like a wingaker, which are better for sailing with a windpilot etc. but these sails are very expensive:-(
Do you maybe know a cheaper sail with I can use like these?

Best regards
Oli

[nuku34]

Hello Oli,
The Wingaker you mention is really only good on a catamaran since the two clews need to be sheeted very far apart. It simply would not work on a mono-hull. There are NO sails like spinnakers that you can just “set and forget“ while the boat is under windpilot out in the ocean.

The other option is using twin jibs (2 high-cut jibs the same size) with 2 poles. This is a very old system and works quite well.

Another question is how are you going to deal with the Covid 19 situation if you are intending to “sail around the world now”? Most countries are closed to foreign yachts.

[LittleWing77]

Hi Oli,

What you're probably looking for is a second-hand asymmetic spinnaker which is like an oversized genoa made of spinnaker (very light) cloth. I wish you were here, because I actually know of a donation box here in Toronto where owners leave their old discarded sails so other sailors might have the use of them.

Where are you in the Caribbean? There are a couple of sail lofts (one in Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua) where you might talk to the sailmaker about his helping you to recut an old (maybe bigger-boat's) assym to fit your 38'...

That's my idea, anyway, getting an old assym from someone, somewhere either the right size (which you would have a sailmaker repair for you, or ask the sailmaker to help you repair the sail yourself) or find a bigger second-hand assym and have a sailmaker recut it to fit your 38'.

Best of luck, Oli,
Warmly,
LittleWing77