Questions about Rigging and Sails
Rod
Rigging (2007)
Question: Our Swan 51 is at
Morris Yachts for a mini refit this
winter and my plan, in addition to
everything else, is to start to
replace some of the existing rod
rigging. It turns out that the rod is
24 years old. Navtec says it should be
replaced every 11 years or 30,000
miles. Based on this information it
gives me some concern as we sail the
boat between Nova Scotia and the
Caribbean on a semi regular basis. I
would be interested in your comments
on how you manage the rod rigging
situation on Morgan's Cloud.
Answer: It sounds to me like it
would be a good idea to replace it
all. We replaced all our rod rigging
in England after a cold head broke
after 100,000 miles and 15 years of
use. We had had it all dye tested just
a year before, so that is no real
protection. Luckily it did not cost us
the mast, but it could have. Warren
Brown (of War Baby) lost a cold
head and the mast south of New
Zealand, and although I don’t know how
old the rod was, or how many miles, I
think it was up around 100,000.
Fore Triangle Sail Area (2006)
Question: What is your thinking
on how sail area should be positioned
between the fore triangle and mainsail
on short handed cruising boats?
Answer:
I think there are two ways to go: The
first is to have a big mainsail and a
small fore triangle so that the jibs
are small, and to be a sloop. The
second is to have a bigger fore
triangle and be a true cutter (one
that carries the staysail all the time
with a jib topsail (Yankee)). I think
that the first is better for inshore
sailing since the boat is easily
tacked but the second is better for
offshore since, particularly if both
staysail and jib topsail are on roller furlers, it gives more flexibility.
Morgan's Cloud is a cutter with
a large fore triangle. Her relatively
tall mast and large sail plan allow
her to sail well in as little as 6 to 8
knots of apparent wind and we can go
all the way to heaved-to in gale force
winds without making any sail changes
using our two foresails on roller furlers and 3 deep reefs in the main. The downside
is that short tacking inshore with two
sets of sheets to handle is hard work
for two people.
The jib topsail (Yankee) is only 110%
of the fore triangle and high cut.
This has several advantages:
-
When the sail is reefed you do not
have to move the sheet lead as you
would with a low cut sail.
-
Good visibility under the sail.
-
With the staysail rolled in the jib
top makes a great high cut blast
reacher with no danger of scooping up
a sea into the foot.
-
With the staysail rolled out the
combined area is only 10% less than a
150% overlapping #1 genoa, a sail
that, in my opinion, has no business
on any boat at sea—they are just
plain dangerous. One thing about going
to windward effectively with the
cutter rig is that you must have the sheet
angles on both foresails perfect and
the rig tuned right; however, once you
get things correct the rig is very
fast, particularly offshore in swell.
(This is the rig we won our class with
twice in the Newport to Bermuda race.)
The big draw backs with the cutter rig
is having to handle running back stays
and having to tack the jib topsail in
front of the staysail stay. The
runners are a pain inshore, but on
Morgan's Cloud this is not as bad
as it might be, because the anchor
points on the hull are far enough
forward so that when going to windward
we can leave both back stays on;
however,
because of the reduced angle they have
to be really tight. We make this work
with 2:1 runner tails and powerful
dedicated two speed winches for the
runners. Of course the anchor points
must be suitably massive to take the
additional load. (Update,
2007: With our new carbon
fibre mast, we no longer have to use
the runners except in big seas.)
Once offshore, running backs are
really not much more of a problem than
being a sloop. Particularly since I
believe that any offshore boat should
have an internal forestay and runners
to stabilize the rig in big seas and
to carry a storm staysail.
Getting the jib top through the fore
triangle when tacking is not as bad as
it sounds because the overlap is
relatively modest and the high cut
foot helps too.
How Much Sail Area (2006)
Question: How much sail area do
you think an offshore boat should have
for a given weight?
Answer: Morgan's Cloud has a
comparatively high sail area
displacement ratio for her type, of
16.5. This combined with good sails
(spectra/mylar radial cut) and her
very easily driven hull shape means
that we can sail in quite light airs
without resorting to substantially
overlapping sails. I think that
cruising boats should have as tall a
mast as possible, within reason,
without compromising stability. High
aspect ratio foresails are easier to
handle and roller reef better. At sea,
good sail area makes for faster
passages, and, as you know, the
shorter the time you are at sea, the
less chance of severe weather.
Reefing System Friction (2006)
Question: I have a Hunter 40.5
with a single line reefing system
which has more friction in it than a
shooting star. What can I do to
decrease the friction?
Answer:
Yes, single line systems, particularly
those that lead back to the cockpit,
have a lot of blocks and turns and
therefore a lot of friction. They only
work well with the very best gear. All
blocks should be adequately sized and
have roller bearings. We are seeing a
lot of undersized and cheap blocks on
production boats. On Morgan’s Cloud
we prefer to keep things simple and
low friction by reefing at the mast
and using a simple horn to capture the
tack.
Reefing System Tension (2006)
Question: With your slab
reefing system, do all your clew
reefing lines enter the boom at the
aft end and, if so, how do you get
proper tension along the leech and
foot, particularly on the last reef?
Answer:
In our case, the clew lines enter the
boom through sheave boxes at the
correct position in relation to the
clew, so no problem. However, there is
a simple answer to your problem of
maintaining the correct angle when all
lines exit at the boom end as long as
you don’t mind changing your single
line reefing system: The key is where
on the boom you dead end the line
after it runs through the clew reefing
cringle. The easiest way to get this
right is to tie the line around the
boom with a timber hitch and then
slide it back and forth until you get
the correct position. Once you are
sure you have it correct you can add a
rounded pad eye to the boom at that
position so that the timber hitch
won’t slide around. It’s important to
understand that the pennant still
passes around the boom with a timber
hitch and the pad eye only acts to
stop fore and aft movement. The only
time this won’t work is if your
mainsail foot has a bolt rope into a
track, but this is a poor way to do
things anyway. If your main is set up
this way I suggest you get your sailmaker to add slug slides to the
foot. You don’t need a lot of slugs
since the strain is all taken by the
clew; one every 30” is plenty.
Dead End Reefing System (2006)
Question: With your slab
reefing system, does the last reef
line not crush the bunt of sail
accumulated from the previous reefs?
Answer:
With the above dead end system you can
get the sail to fall on the side away
from the dead end so there is little
crushing of the cloth, although it
does happen a bit, which is
unavoidable. However, we have a
mainsail with 30,000+ miles on it,
much of it reefed, with few problems
in this area. The key is to have your
sailmaker run at least part of the
reefing patches all the way up the
leech from the clew to above the top
reef. This reinforces the leech so
that a bit of crushing or chafe are
not big problems.
Slab Reefing and Lazy Jacks (2006)
Question: Is slab-reefing
(jiffy reefing) and lazy-jacks
genuinely viable for a 667sqft sail,
given we will be only two sailing our
boat most of the time?
Answer:
Sure, perfectly viable: We have sailed
over 80,000 miles with such a system
on a mainsail that is only a little
smaller than the one on the boat you
are considering, but the system must
be well thought out using top quality
gear and powerful two speed winches.
Even then, it does take a fair amount
of grunt to reef. I am 6' 2", about
190lb and fairly fit; a lighter/smaller
person could have problems.
Our main is 620sqft and has full
battens. We fitted a Frederickson luff
track system (see our
Stuff that works
page for more information) some years
ago that makes reefing much easier,
particularly off the wind.
In-Boom Reefing (2006)
Question: Would you, if you had
the chance to refit free of cost
considerations, stay with your
slab-reefing system, or would you
yourself seriously consider in-boom
reefing? If so, why?
Answer:
We looked at Leisurefurl some years
ago. The system looks attractive but
is a 25 to 30K refit for Morgan's
Cloud to do it right, way beyond
what it was worth to us. If it were
free we would look at it very
seriously since it would allow us to
reef more easily and from the cockpit.
The other big attraction would be
getting rid of the chore of taking the
sail cover on and off; non-trivial on
a boat of Morgan's Cloud's
size, particularly with lazy jacks.
Our big concern with Leisurefurl is
whether it will truly let you reef
going downwind with the boom out. We
would not consider any system that
requires us to round up to reef: You
could get wet doing that (!) and,
anyway, it's not safe in heavy
weather. Even when going to weather,
if it is rough, we will quite often bear off
to reef.
Also, slab reefing is simple and
relatively easy to fix. Most of the
"labor saving systems" are anything
but. However, people used to say that
about roller furling headsails.
Securing the Tack (2006)
Question: How do you secure the tack of the
mainsail on Morgan's Cloud—do
you have the conventional horns, or do
you have a two-line reefing system?
Answer:
The tack is secured by dropping a
floating ring on a short webbing
pennant that passes through the luff
reefing cringle over a horn. The clew
is pulled down using a double-ended
system with a two speed winch on
either side of the boom, so we can
always reef standing to windward.
Dealing With the Bunt (2006)
Question: How do you deal with
all of the excess sail when you bring
the sail down to the third reef, under
real hard-wind conditions?
Answer:
If offshore in heavy weather, we tie
the bunt in with sail ties through
reef points—hard work on a dark and
stormy night. We also rig a safety
strop through the leech cringle.
Otherwise when reefed the bunt just
lies in the lazy jacks.
Single-Line Reefing (2006)
Question: Would you contemplate
a single-line reefing system on a
667sqft sail?
Answer:
We really don't know enough about
them. I would worry about friction,
but I heard some years ago that the
Volvo boats were using such a system.
If that is true then someone has got
the bugs out for big rigs. I would
talk to a good rigger and use only the
best hardware.
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