[Public-list] Roller furling sails

[Gordon Laco]

Hi there - 

We race and cruise Surprise on Georgian Bay - upper Great Lakes.

I had a 140 made to put on the Harken roller furler our boat is fitted with.
The furler works fine - and the sail....well it transformed my opinion of
the boat.  I wish now that I had bought a slightly larger one, a 150 would
have been better.  I guess we became traumatized (and disapointed) during
that first season with this boat sailing under a blown out 170 that laid us
on our ear in 12 knots of breeze.

We have found that mainsail draught is important...carrying too much draught
in it in a breeze while beating just puts the brakes on. (Excessive weather
helm) We now have a 4:1 outhaul that leads to a point on the boom near the
gooseneck so we can adjust it on any point of sail.  Some day I will order a
new main.  I have been faithfull to the Fernandes family of Triton sails all
my life.  The son now runs the loft since the passing of Joe, the father.
Joe was the top sailmaker for the Lake Ontario Alberg fleet back in the days
when the A30 was a hot one-design up here

We had the sail fitted with a light dacron UV shield - I hate the weight and
curl you get from floppy Sunbrella.  Also - we never "reef" the sail on the
furler.  That kills it quickly and besides, the sail shape you get is
horrible so we carry a 110 % jib to change down to in heavy conditions.

We race in a PHRF fleet and can win or place if conditions favour us.  There
is only one Alberg 30 in our club, but as they will not be persuaded to race
we are out there every week duking it out with boats less than half our
weight, longer waterlines and bigger rigs.

"Conditions that favour us" are those that combine flat water, light air and
lots of reaching.  Some people are surprised at how we can shift along in
ghosting conditions...well the answer is that going slowly means that our
short waterline is not a factor; and with our great weight and narrow
slippery hull once we get her moving we just don't stop.  We accelerate more
slowly but can glide through lulls and keep our speed up in tacks very well.

We do tend to loose ground on the beats, and gain it again off the wind.
Funny thing is this is the precise opposite of what the old wooden Folkboat
was capable of; despite the fact that she was also a heavy full keeled boat
with a relatively short waterline and it took me a long time to get used to
what we deal with now.  The big diff of course is the Folkboat was stiff as
a house, could tack through 80 degrees and could carry sail like nothing
else on the water; the Alberg despite its many positives cannot count
stiffness and weatherliness as two of them.

On the beats we concentrate on getting the most of what the boat is capable
of to minimize our disadvantage, and also concentrate on being as evil and
clever as possible tactically so as to be "lucky" as possible with regard to
lifts and shifts.

A big boost this past season was the flowering of my elder son Peter and his
friend Duncan as mast and foredeck men... I have grown to expect that the
spinnaker will go up seconds after rounding the windward mark; and we have
the courage to carry it to within yards of the other end.

Gord Surpise #426

> I'll let someone who sails the Great Lakes answer, then.  On the
> Chesapeake Bay, I'm often glad to have a big genny.
> 
> - George
> 
> Chris Lawrence wrote:
>> Great lakes and sailing mostly, thanks
>> 
>> Chris Lawrence
>> 24 Scarborough Road
>> Toronto, Canada M4E 3M5
>> T: 416-698-5136 F: 416-698-8953 E: chris.lawrence at sympatico.ca
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: public-list-bounces at alberg30.org
>> [mailto:public-list-bounces at alberg30.org] On Behalf Of George Dinwiddie
>> Sent: 30 September 2004 09:33
>> To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all
>> Subject: Re: [Public-list] Roller furling sails
>> 
>> 
>> Where are your cruising grounds?  The prevailing winds make a big difference
>> in sail choice.  Also, what are your preferences on sailing vs. motoring?
>> 
>>  - George
>> 
>> On Wed, Sep 29, 2004 at 08:37:12PM -0400, Chris Lawrence wrote:
>> 
>>> Has anyone recently put on roller furling and had a sail made for one?
>>> Any advice or comments re make of furling and size of sail would be
>>> appreciated - my thoughts are a mid-sized headsail is probably best if
>>> one is strictly cruising.
>>> 
>>> Chris Lawrence
>>> Cirrus #500
>> 
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