[Public-List] Main sail modification?

Sun Oct 31 15:14:22 PDT 2010

I am a huge fan of the working jib. You are planning a long trip where you will 
undoubtedly have heavy weather for days on end at some point. if you need to be 
working the boat upwind in 20+ knots, the workling jib is criticial. The boat is 
balanced, and much smoother in her motion - much less stress on all the 
hardware, and on the people in the boat.

I would say the working jib would be the sail in wind lighter than 20 - say 15 
knots if the waves are really high / steep. I once saw an Alberg close hauled 
with a full main and a working jib working upwind towards St Lucia in typical 
trade wind weather - 15 - 20. It was a perfect day, but the bow of that boat was 
in the air at the top of the waves and buried in the water at the bottom. You 
want a high cut headsail that will not scoop up the water in weather like that, 
and one that is not overpowering the boat in the gusts, and making it hard to 
steer. I remember feeling sorry for the guy, as we were going downwind in a 
larger chartered boat, and things were much more settled.

Did you see Yves Gelinas' video? He sailed from France to the Cape with what 
looked like two working jibs poled out wing and wing - he had twin headstays.

I agree with all of the comments on the mainsail. A nice mainsail makes all the 
difference. You are reefing way too early. You should be able to carry a large 
(170) jib and full main to somewhere between 15 and 20 knots - depending on how 
aggressively you want to sail the boat.

My two cents - keep up posted on the planning. I look forward to hearing how 
things go. Are you on Facebook? Kirk Little and his Alberg are in Thailand now 
(http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=509983750). He would 
probably have some comments on this thread.

Jonathan
197

________________________________
From: "elyse.pastor at sympatico.ca" <elyse.pastor at sympatico.ca>
To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
Sent: Sun, October 31, 2010 2:09:39 PM
Subject: [Public-List] Main sail modification?

Hello Friends,Finally, our "LADY HERON" is out of the water and we have already 
covered her for the winter and snow - so all is OK. On the other hand, we 
already start to plan for 2011, as a small group of French/Quebec/Canadian 
people is offering the organization of sailing to "Saint-Pierre and Miquelon" (2 
French islands only about 10nm south of New Foundland, or about 750nm ESE from 
Quebec City). They plan this voyage as a practical exercise for the planed 2012 
Atlantic crossing (will also be organized for 2012 to whoever would like to 
participate).Having sailed our "LADY HERON" for the last 3 years, we know that 
we have to start modifying/purchasing some new sails to make sure that we will 
have the best possible sail availability for any sail condition expecting us 
around the world.Lets start:1.) We have a very old (finished) 150 jib that we 
generally use from  0 - 10kts (mounted to Schaefer - Jib Furling System 
1100).2.) We have an almost new 120 jib - we believe it is O
K from 10 - 20kts (mounted to Schaefer - Jib Furling System 1100).3. Our main 
sail is fairly old but in reasonable good shape. In 2009, we modified it to have 
4 full battens as well as the "STRONG" sail track - a modification we really 
liked (black-type of plastic track attached to the mast). This is, what we 
presently have. Now what do we need additional and what do we need to modify???
Here we are looking for advise:A.) 1st we know that we need a new jib. We would 
consider a 160 for the roller furling?B.) The 120 that we have seems fairly new 
and we will keep it as it is!?C.) What do we do for higher winds - a smaller Jib 
- something like an 80 or so (above wind of 20 - 25 kts)?? 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.) 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.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.Any suggestions or modification ideas???ThanksBruno 
& ElyseLady Heron 297

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