Headsails

[Mike Goodwin]

In the summer , where I sail , we seldom see more than 9knots of wind .
I do a lot of beam reaching in 7 to 8kts for 10 miles then turn around and reach back . I borrowed a 175 and flew it in 7 knots and by the GPS I was doing nearly 6knots. With the class genny I was doing only 4 at best.
I'm sure I couldn't carry it to weather in a breeze and don't want to try, but it was fun in light air.
The guys I race with , we make lots of headsail changes and have a shelf full of silver . We fly a 190 on the C&C 40 .

[Tony G]

Mike, have you given any thought to an asymetrical spinaker? Even though they are usually mentioned in conjunction with a bow sprit they work with just a simple tack I hear. Hood has their version called an MPG (multi-purpose genoa) that I've been eyeballing.

Bill, it's funny you should have that story to contribute. A while back I was talking with the sailmaker about headsails for 113. At that time I was leaning toward a 150 because I 'wanted the most bang for the buck'. After getting some information about our local weather and looking up info on Pearson Ariels, the sail maker, let's call him Joe, suggested a 130%. His reasoning was, if over powered with a 150 you can only put about five turns on the furler before you start to lose too much shape and then you're just over powered and going too slow on your ear. For less wind than the 130 could be flown use a MPG. At first I thought, 'yeah, just another way to clean out the bank account', but the more I read I think he really was telling the truth. He couldn't talk me out of thefull batten loose footed main though

A 170 must be close to a asymetrical spinaker!

[Gerry Walsh]

you have to ask yourself at any time what you are doing.Racing ,Cruising ,anchoring ,etc.Our favorite sail on board is the "120".It is the best sail on board .Not too much or to little but there .I like the 150 but we always dump it eventually for the best sail, it just points better on the Ariel, the 120. Destination is the goal . Getting there is the equation................

[Mike Goodwin]

I have a used, very big, light weight sail for a much larger boat .
I'm going to have it cut down to a large light air reacher for the Ariel and just haven't decided on how big. I'm thinking 180 to 200 .
I can get it cut down for a fraction of the price of a new genny or a MPG.
If I was going to spend any major bucks on sails, it would be a new main .
Right now I have an old main, and the 2 class sails and no more . I don't plan on racing the old gal other than a few novelty/charity races , just want to go faster in light air.
A lot of these old design boats react well to reefing the main and sailing on with a bigger genny. They dont round up overpowered that way or if they do , put in another reef . Used to race an old Bill Tripp design that way and we have trophies to prove the point.

[Robert Lemasters]

What do you all mean by 120, 150% etc. As a kid in sea explorer scouts we had a working jib, a storm jib that was not much bigger than a peacoat and a genoa. Does anyone have any imformation on the HOYT jib boom, I've been told by someone at the yard that it increases the efficiency of the head sail; although, the person who told me that, I never have seen him take his boat out in two years.

[willie]

Could someone expound on sheeting the 120 and 150? Do you run 'em outside on a reach/run, and re-route them inside when close hauled? Only thing i can see to do, but sure a pain in the, well, you know. I'd sure like to go sailing with someone who knew something! I run the sheets back to the genoa track, just ahead of the winches with the 120 and 150,and outside the shrouds,and use the fwd. inside deck track for the 100, inside the shrouds. Seems to work ok.

Those pesky lower fwd. shrouds sure are a pain. And while i'm on that subject, i've seen those roller thingy's on some boats--(somewhere--not at my marina, as i'm all alone,) that go on the shrouds to keep the sail from chaffing on them. Anyone know of a cheap easy method or material for that purpose? I saw something advertized in a cruising mag. called 'baggy wrinkles' i think.... do they work? Just wondering what others do. I know my bowlines in the clew always hang up, have to do something about that, as the jib handler always wants to yank on things ya know. Have to remind myself not to yell!

[Bill]

The 120%, 150%, etc., refer to the percentage of the fore triangle - approximately the area from the mast base to the bow and up to the mast head. Headsails are sized by percentages of that triangle.

For anything but the 110% working jib, all sheets go outside all the shrouds to the winches. For the 110, the sheets go outside the forward shourds and inside the other two.

The Pearson factory genoa track is placed too far aft for good sail shape with low clew genoas. Location for the 150's turning block is near the after end of the aft large window. The block for the 120 is closer to the aft shroud. Both tracks should be next to the toe rail. The factory jib track is usually too far aft and too close to the house.