Gale Sails

[Merlin1111]

Has anyone any experience with Gale Sails? They are sold by the Sail Warehouse in California. They are basically like a storm jib but they have a sleeve so that you can Hank it on over top of a furled Genoa.

Any info would be much appreciated.

Also I gave an Alberg 30 which is a solid boat. In case the Gale Sail is not a good idea, Is it likely that the deck would need to be reinforced in order to add an inner forestay?

[roverhi]

Have a Gale Sail but have never used it. Hoisted it in the marina and it worked fine but question how it would hoist with the sheets flopping madly in the wind. The big problem with roller furling head sails is how do you hoist a storm sail. The idea of lowering the 135% genoa when it's really blowing so as to be able to hoist a storm sail in the slot seems an impossibllity. Getting the genoa down and contained on deck with the wind blowing 30 plus mph is enough of a challenge. Getting the storm jib in the groove and hoisting it would be near impossibility. If you are willing to drop the normal headsail, using those Dyneema strops for hanks around the furler extrusion might be the way to go.

[AiniA]

Can't imagine putting on a Gale Sail in the conditions in which you would need it - and that is on our 40,000 lb boat. On a lighter boat with the kind of waves you would have it would be a nasty task. I suspect you would need to reinforce your deck to add an inner stay.