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Selftacking Staysail
- Thread starter scetain
- Start date
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Hi Doug, welcome to the forum.
I successfully installed a removable inner ("solent") stay on my boat, not for a self-tacking sail but to have the ability to switch between a genoa and non-overlapping headsail without removing the former from the roller-furler.
What are your goals and priorities for this setup?
I successfully installed a removable inner ("solent") stay on my boat, not for a self-tacking sail but to have the ability to switch between a genoa and non-overlapping headsail without removing the former from the roller-furler.
What are your goals and priorities for this setup?
scetain
SSSwan36
Thanks for the reply Bob- perhaps the post should read 'self-tacking' fore sail. My Swan has a tiller and almost all of my sailing is solo. Trying to minimize the need for three hands and a tiller between my knees when tacking. Currently running an older Harken roller with a 130 genoa. Have been doing a fair amount of reading since haul-out. Apparently due to the location of my dorades any track would have to be located some 12-18 inches forward of the mast resulting in a substantial loss of sail area. Any thoughts. Doug
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Two boat bucks should do it - either for a Hoyt Jib Boom (which doesn't require a track) or for a decent autopilot. Most of us opt for the latter.
I agree about not reducing the headsail area that much. I'm guessing you need it for performance and helm balance.
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I agree about not reducing the headsail area that much. I'm guessing you need it for performance and helm balance.
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solosailor
New member
Unless your boat is fine with a <90% jib your going to be very unhappy with a self tacking jib setup. They are best used on boat that have non-overlapping headsail plans already. You could install a solent stay which is removable to not interfere with your 130% but that jib would be very small but very useful in a blow. Of course if your sailing any real distance then the 130% jib should be taken down anyway. There is no real way to have your cake and eat it too. Yes, jib changes suck singlehanded.
scetain
SSSwan36
Solosailor- thanks for your input and continuing my inquiry. Doug
Concur with above observations. Any head sail smaller than 100% means your Swan likely grossly underpowered in TWS < 12 knots, which is a majority of sailing.
Cannot recommend the Hoyt Jib Boom. Besides expense and engineering, an unappreciated drawback is their boom weight, if aluminum, causes a wung out jib, when sailing downwind, to swing back on centerline in light to medium conditions, TWS < 10-12 knots, and not stay wung out.
Cannot recommend the Hoyt Jib Boom. Besides expense and engineering, an unappreciated drawback is their boom weight, if aluminum, causes a wung out jib, when sailing downwind, to swing back on centerline in light to medium conditions, TWS < 10-12 knots, and not stay wung out.
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
The Alerion Express 28 fleet has cooked up a fix for that, much like "preventers" on El Toros but installed belowdecks. Maybe Rich Baker will chip in here with a link.
This is why I asked Doug about his goals/priorities. He seems to want a self-tacking setup. With a positive-roached sail supported by vertical battens (if roller-furled) or horizontals (if hanked-on), a self-tacker could nearly fill the foretriangle. Then if he wants to go all-in, he could get a full-roach main to make up more of the lost sail area. The S&S Swan 36 has a short boom with lots of space between its end and the backstay. He might need a bigger masthead crane. That said, it's an IOR'ish type hull and he may already have issues with weather helm. It looks like he sails in Maine so mostly light wind during the season?
Probably easiest to get a good autopilot and keep tacking the genny - it's a good upper-body workout!
This is why I asked Doug about his goals/priorities. He seems to want a self-tacking setup. With a positive-roached sail supported by vertical battens (if roller-furled) or horizontals (if hanked-on), a self-tacker could nearly fill the foretriangle. Then if he wants to go all-in, he could get a full-roach main to make up more of the lost sail area. The S&S Swan 36 has a short boom with lots of space between its end and the backstay. He might need a bigger masthead crane. That said, it's an IOR'ish type hull and he may already have issues with weather helm. It looks like he sails in Maine so mostly light wind during the season?
Probably easiest to get a good autopilot and keep tacking the genny - it's a good upper-body workout!
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Believe it or not, the SHTP race is an athletic event. My general theory is "go with what you got" and maximize your chances with experience and $$$ spent on sails. Part of the atheticism in this event involves the fun of being up on the foredack, esp at night, changing headsails, jibing chutes and coping with all sorts of tangled junk. Some of us don't even mess with "furler-durlers". I note that some of the foregoing discussion involves avoiding removal of a genny from the furler. At my age, I have kept the Hood system which is similar to the twin-slot thing marketed by Shaeffer, because it came with the boat. I have headsails for most every wind condition and change up or down accordingly. Had I to do it all over again, I think I would have just gone with hank-on foresails, but the sailmaker charges to convert a fair number of headsails to hanks at this point (after more than 100,000 miles in Harrier) is just too much trouble and unnecessary expense. It might be nice to be 50 again...but how else to gain the needed experience that comes with age? Enjoy it while you can!
Bob, are you mocking my soon-to-be massive biceps from playing water polo? I'll have you know that I just installed the Tides Strong Track and can now jump the mainsail all the way up except for the last couple of inches. Hooyah! I also plan to get winches for the spinnaker (as soon as I start flying said spinny).
As one who has a self-tacking, cambarspar jib, I love it for short tacking, especially up the city front! It is a major pain for dead downwind sailing, which is not good for the polars either, so I try to avoid that point of sail. Some people call the self-tacking jib a widow maker. I sheet it in if going to the bow because it's not going to affect performance all that much. For light, upwind sailing, it would be great to have something like a jib top reacher on a self-furler (is that the right name?), but since I also need to install the Monitor, solar panel(s), and other upgrades like lifelines, going faster is a little low on my priority list right now, and I don't know if the reacher would stress the carbon fiber mast. I would be interested in knowing what Doug decides to do and how it works out. The Alerion self tacking jib looks pretty cool....