Ariel 301 Tara

Ralph Hopkins and Mike McHugh have their Ariel, TARA, docked at the New Orleans municipal yacht harbor. They report that although the harbor was completely wrecked by hurricane Katrina, TARA escaped harm except for the loss of her bow pulpit and the running light on top of the mast.

Ralph reports that TARA's sailing rig has been extensively modified both for comfort (sun protection) and to make for easy handling. For sun protection, her main was cut down 4-1/2 square feet (from the top), raising the boom 14 inches up the mast. This added height above the deck allows the boom to clear the Bimini they installed for sun protection. The boom was also shortened five inches to help it clear the split backstay. The boom, however, is still too long to pass under the split backstay when the backstay is loose running down-wind. A limit vang, much like a martengale on a horse, prevents the boom from going too high and striking the tight backstay.

Both the 170% Genoa and the mainsail are roller furling and Ralph & Mike find that the reduced mainsail is actually faster being cut down. The headsail furling setup is a stock Pro-Furl furling system with the usual controls.

The furling main, however, is a different matter and took a bit of engineering to accomplish. They used a Pro-Furl furler as the basis of the system. The furler extrusion has a wire running through it and connected to a two-fold purchase block at the bottom that leads back to a winch. At the top, the furler wire is attached to the mast using the original bracket at the top. The mainsail is, of course, attached to the extrusion behind the mast and is loose footed along the boom. Since the extrusion is not attached to the mast, it can rotate around the wire. When the block at the bottom is hauled tight, the luff is straight and ideal for close up-wind work. When the block is slacked, the extrusion bows out away from the mast giving better shape to the sail for off-wind work. A car that slides in the groove of the boom has a reefing hook attached that can be hooked in the clew when the sail is reefed about 1/3 or 1/2

The main luff not being attached to the mast, all the load of both Genoa and main are at the top of the mast, the upper 3/16 stays were replaced with ¼-inch stays.

The boom, obviously, cannot be attached to the mast. Rather, using the original gooseneck, the boom is attached to a custom made, 3/4-inch diameter, heavy duty, stainless steel tubular bracket.

The bracket was made by:

Tops in Quality
314 E. Huron Blvd
Maryville, MI 48040
810-364-7150

Another view from further out:

To prevent the entire furling system from spinning, long ss straps, provided by Pro-Furl, are attached to the system and to the deck bracket.

On the port side cabin top, the blue line furls the main. The white line next to the blue is the outhaul for unfurling the main.

Next to the hatch on the starboard side of the cabin top is the boom topping lift. The blue/white line is the downhaul for adjusting tension on the luff. The rope clutch holds an extra halyard and the spinnaker halyard.

Is that an air horn on deck? (pic #4)

Ahhooohhgahh

Cool

Better than what I have

I'm looking at the furling system.I had 'in mast furling' on a previous boat and have mixed feelings. It was great.....when it wasn't jammed. If the halyard tension was too tight or loose it would 'bunch up' within the mast cavity and simply would not furl....in or out.Sooner or later halyards stretch making adjustments a 'must do' item. I would imagine that 301's system would not have that problem being exterior mounted. While it may not look as 'tidy'....I'll bet it is less hassle.

BUT
still you guys, isn't this UNIQUE and worth discussion?

The photos SO FAR on this thread are great! But it is a little like the three blind men and the elephant. More comments would be produced if there were some whole boat shots of this furling/reefing mainsail deployed!!!

>First question is this: Is the Profurl a reefing unit - is there such a thing?
There might be occasions when the sail would be rolled part way for long periods. Can this be done with Ralph and Mike's system?

We had an exhaustive discussion on the Forum here back in Sept '02 about furling vs reefing. Then, of course it was entirely concerning the jib. Profurl probably has the best overall reputation of the half dozen or so furlers on the market - there are/were furlers that have smaller drums like CDI and Spin-tec. CDI doesn't require special stay rigging.
Don't know if Spin-tec ever took off, but its furler was aimed at cruisers, said to need zero maintenance, looked like it was all bronze. (WRONG. I was thinking of the on-again-off-again all bronze Pathfinder furler, also a simple hank-on system)

>Second question: the mast, as I understand it, is a problem in sail efficiency because it causes eddys. Does this happen with a "loose luff" main? It looks like the smaller diameter drums of Spin-tec, for instance, could bring the furler closer to the mast. It doesn't sound like there is a problem. In fact the boat is said to sail more efficiently.

>Third: Can this system be set up with a furler that does NOT use extrusions for the luff? Any advantage in this?

>Fourth: Why not rig a boomkin to move the backstay further aft so that the boom would not have to be shortened? It might be more difficult to move a split backstay aft - but anything is possible if you are messing around!

>Fifth: There obviously has to be some alteration to the mainsail, right? At least take the battens out! Also, it would roll better if it rolled up like a jib - a 'rightangle' (luff and foot) main wouldn't roll up worth a damn.
OR, since the main is now a flying sail, maybe a jib can be used, as in jib cut.
I've decided to raise the end of boom on 338 to get headroom in the cockpit - but keep the tac in its regular position on the mast. So the question is:
Will this reefing furler system work with a boom that is not at a right angle to the mast? And, how is the now running clew controlled? Can you use the old groove? It must be a bit of a problem when the wind gets up?

The best thing about Ralph and Mike's invention is slabless reefing.
It looks like it's more sail control to me - if all you do is roll it! But I'm sitting in my kitchen. Not being attached along the mast the storm sail could easily be raised on the unused track.

Sixth: I fell for a "screecher furler". I think also known as a flying furler. It only furls. This you raise with a halyard on the jibstay. The furler - swivel and drum - is 'permanently' part of the sail you'd attach it to. So that when you take it down the furler gets stuffed into a bag with the sail. The furler is for a asymetric spinaker, or something soft, not for a jib like Bill has which is made of translucent metal and isn't huggable.
>SO: I'm wondering if something as 'simple' as that would be adaptable to this wonderful vertical reefing invention?
A 'plain' stay just abaft the mast (still with the offset goosneck) could be pretty easy to rig....
A forward-lowering hinged mast would be a challenge. Maybe the reefin-main could be entirely rigged to the mast, which you might want to if you regularly lower and raise it. You'd have a super bracket coming off, or part of, the hinge, maybe. No VANG, right? Ideas?

It would be great to see that slide and block arrangement underneath the furler up close too! Tight quarters there.

That brings it around to the #1 reefing aspect. The primary function of this idea for me is its attribute as a REEFER. And as I remember most sailors say that furlers don't do this very well. Maybe this has changed since we last talked on the subject. From a cruising point of view, Can this work AS WELL AS slab reefing - IS IT STRONG ENOUGH - to shorten sail and keep it short for extended periods in challenging conditions? Is it a viable alternative? It's a great idea! Right, that is the question.:confused:

Many sailmakers will now add foam strips sewn inside the sail at the luff so when you are 'reefing' your head sail , it helps keep it flat and maintains closer to the proper shape. I would imagine that this could also be used with a main system like 301's to keep it 'flatter' when reefing

any pictures of the masthead? the furler foil appears to be raked aft or the mast (or am I seeing things?)