[Public-List] Main sail modification?

[Gordon Laco]

Good morning Bruno -

Well I hope I am not insisting... But I think the issues you describe would
be cured by a new sail.  I understand mains are not an impulse purchase - it
took me years to resolve to make the decision myself.  SURPRISE's old main
was still very strong, but the shape was gone from it.  We finally ordered a
new one after we got tired of sailing at high angles of heel all the time
when the wind was up near 10-12kts (which is really not a lot of wind!)

Adjustments to your old sail can achieve improvements, but you will likely
still have the problems.   I guess you and Elyse have to decide how much the
symptoms the old sails are giving you are worth in dollars.   Of course the
decision is yours - that is one of the great things about owning a yacht.
I have found in our case I usually think about a major change for at least a
year before doing it....

Gord #426 SURPRISE


On 31/10/10 8:39 PM, "elyse.pastor at sympatico.ca" <elyse.pastor at sympatico.ca>
wrote:

> 
> Hello Gord, hello George,
> Thanks for the fast reply.
>  
> To Gord
> I have the feeling that you insist, and that our main sail is extreemley bad
> and the purchase of a new one would solve basically all the problems (I assume
> it is your experience??). Well it is the purchase of about $2,500 (I guess)
> that we have to evaluate - certainly I wanted to modify the old one and see if
> we can improve? We just do not want to purchase the new one and have the same
> problem after that...???!!! Thanks again for your info - Elyse and I will
> think about it and hopefully make some decission before the year-end.
>  
> To George - 
> ??How old is "fairly old?"
> We only own the Boat since 2008 - thus have no idea on the age of the sail.
> But we are certain that it is older then 10 years and our guess is 15, 20 or
> even more. However, we had a sail manufacturer (Triton, Ontario) modify it in
> spring 2009 and they thought, that the sail was not in such a bad condition
> that we needed to purchase a new-one. Thus they made the new set of full
> battens with the new style of rail.
>  
> What do w e
> do for higher winds - a smaller Jib - something like an 80 or so
> (above wind of 20 - 25 kts)??
>  
>  A working jib is nice to have, and can be sheeted to the inside tracks
>  (if Heron still has them) for better pointing. Mike Meinhold
>  demonstrated the value of a "blade" working jib (tall and slender) on
>  this year's Wild Goose Chase.
>  
> What size of Jib is your suggestion???
>  
>  We were considering to install a
> removable forestay? The mast has already the attachment for it (near
> the spreaders). All that would need to be done is the
> mounting/installation of the hull attachment (removable and
> installable) near the "DOLPHIN" Windlass.D.)
>  
>  Are you sure that's not the attachment for the spinnaker pole lift?
>  
> Well my guess was as mentioned. How could we exactly know???
>  
>  The main sail - we were
> thinking to modify it for another year and see how that would work.
> ?!? The problem (our feeling) we always had - at around 10kts we need
> the first reef. At about 15 - 20kts, we need the second reef. In most
> cases, we have a lot of "WINDWARD" pressure, forcing us to open the
> main sail quite a lot.
>  
> This sounds to me like the mainsail has quite a bit of belly. Our old
>  main was like that, and while excellent in light air, was a handful in
>  normal to heavy wind. I was amazed at the difference when we got a new
>  main.
> 
> Well, I guess that I need to believe in that (even though the sail
> manufacturer thought that the main sail is not in a too-bad shape).
>  
>  Our modification idea is as follows:Remain the
> Actual Luff at 31ftModify (reduce) the Actual Foot from 14.2 5ft to
> 12.25ft
> Having read that Carl Albergs design was apparently changed to some
> extent by Kurt Hansen, we think that this modification would be
> beneficial. This would reduce the size from 220sqft to about 190sqft
> (reduction of 14%)??? This modification should be reasonably
> inexpensive and give us another season to experience the sailing of
> the A30. We also believe that it would not reduce the speed of the
> A30 in any way.
>  
>  How much do you want to put into an old main? Are you planning to use
>  that old main for your Atlantic crossing?
>  
> The idea was to sail it one more season (2011) and get more experience in
> every aspect.
> We have to decide what to do. Thanks for your suggestions.
> Bruno & Elyse          
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