Can I reef the genoa?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Question. Why would one care if the shape of a genoa isn’t perfect when it’s partially furled?

I mean the reason you are partially furling is to take off some of the power the sail is developing. An imperfect shape will do that too. So I’m not seeing the side concern everyone always mentions about this topic.

The reason is that a bagged out sail generates far more heeling moment and far less forward drive in its interaction with the wind.

Bad ju-ju.

Jim

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

The reason is that a bagged out sail generates far more heeling moment and far less forward drive in its interaction with the wind.

Bad ju-ju.

Jim

Ah. Thank you.

I had always figured that was a negligible factor compared to the driving force in the case. Good to know.

[Don C L]

There is also the matter of putting unusual stress on the exposed area of sail that's not furled of course. And the sail shape starts to deliver more drag and less drive as mentioned than a comparable sail area of a hank-on. And it is possible to reef a hank on. I can do it with my working jib and my too-long-in-the-luff genoa has a Cunningham cringle of sorts too (given that is an oddity born of wanting to use a good sail that was built for another boat)

[donradcliffe]

When I put two headsails on a single furler, I use one halyard, then put a lashing on the bottom of the shorter sail to get the tension right. Great for downwind passages, as both sails can be partially furled by one person in the cockpit.

[olivert]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

You should look harder! Nearly all furler foils have two tracks these days (and for years before). Every one that I've had (6 in all) have had the twin tracks. With the exception of the NZ based Reef-rite, which boasts a means of dropping one sail and hoisting another without removing the first from the foil), there is little use for the second slot as shown in several previous posts.

Jim

Thanks Jim - I stand corrected l. my 20 year old Profurl is typical of my age(!) and everything was single track then. I must say twin tracks wouldappeal if I were changing now

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by olivert

Thanks Jim - I stand corrected l. my 20 year old Profurl is typical of my age(!) and everything was single track then. I must say twin tracks wouldappeal if I were changing now

Not to belabor the point, but when we installed our first furler (a Reef-Rite) in 1993 it had double grooves as did all the other brands we considered at the time. IIRC, the entry level Pro-furl was the only common model with a single groove.

And I must admit that in all those years we've never once used two sails at a time on our foils. Don Radcliffe's post above points out one possible application, but only applicable when one knows fairly certainly that a given passage will be all down wind, for I can't see how one could go to windward with both sails on the foil. Don is a very experienced sailor who now does deliveries, and I trust his advice as given... but it is a rather narrow application.

Jim

[Jammer]

While I've never done it, I have been told that the most sensible way to hoist two sails on the foil is to attach a block reeved with a halyard, and the head of the first sail, to the bearing collar on the furler. Then the first sail, the block, and the extra halyard are hoisted together.



The extra halyard can then be used to hoist the second sail. This eliminates the nearly impossible task of controlling two headsails at once on the bow during the hoist.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by chubasco

Hello fellow sailors, I'm a novice just now learning to sail on my 25 ft Watkins. Here's my question, my boat came with a main sail and a really nice Genoa with a roller furling.Before I set sail for the Bahamas next winter I was looking at backup sails including a jib sail.

Matt and Aimy have just produced a good YT video answering your questions. Have a watch of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIeV...gYachtFlorence

[jordanbigel]

I have a Harken furler. It has 2 slots. I always thought you choose which slot based direction of furling (clockwise vs counter-clockwise). Maybe I just pulled that out of my brain... No one has mentioned it so far, so I'm starting to think its a myth.

[Don C L]

You might check out "twizzle rig" also. I have wanted to rig this up for myself but haven't yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy53gIOrE40

[Rightbrainer]

I have a reefing 135 on my Capri 22. It has a foam luff, extra tell tales and a reinforced foot to take the load there. It works ok and I get a nice flat shape when it's reefed, but I also get a pretty fat luff due to the foam. The other problem is that the sheets still line up with the cars on the genny track, so my sheeting angles aren't very close. It's all fine for cruising around, but if I had needed the best upwind performance, then a properly cut working jib would have been the way to go.

Of course, off the wind, the extra sail area in the genny is a plus.

If you plan to reef a lot, think twice.

[smacksman]

Originally Posted by Don C L

You might check out "twizzle rig" also. I have wanted to rig this up for myself but haven't yet.

That's my webpage Don. It works a bit better than Pete's layout in the previous video. If the poles are clipped to the mast (Pete's setup) then you get more of the dreaded pendulum rolling downwind. With the poles clipped to a universal joint slung ahead of the mast the roll is reduced. Twin luff grooves are a real benefit with the twizzle rig.