Very interesting. We just tried switching from 130% genoa to the Yankee that our cutter came with when we bought it, and can confirm everything said here. We have a flexibly riggable solent stay in addition to the cutter stay, and I think we will get a hank on yankee so that we can leave the furler genoa hoisted and use the yankee if we want to. Its gonna be a hankee.
Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into making this video. Head sails are a complicated subject. I think we hit on the key points that will help sailors choose the right size head sail for their needs!
@@TheFosterJourney Great video. What would be the performance difference between just not furling out a Genoa as far vs having a smaller jib? (outside of the self-tacking bonus)
@@giantELF The shape. >> I always heard people say that "it loses shape", but I never knew what they meant until we found ourselves offshore over AND over with the Genoa furled up close reaching in 24+ knots of wind. It loses its designed shape and stops acting like a wing, and it starts acting like a flag whipping and flailing. The Jib, on the other hand, remains perfectly wing-shaped and performs as designed in 24+ knots of wind and gives reefing options with the wind gets to 28 and 30+. Hope that makes sense. I'm sure others could explain it better.
I like "boring" sailing. My boat is a cutter and some previous owner has put a huge 135%-ish headsail on it. I dont like it. I will be contacting Precision here soon about changing that to a smaller "yankee" or whatever smaller headsail. If I need more power I can unfurl the staysail as mentioned here.
Fantastic video. That sail should bring down some of the stress for the crew. Any plans to make it a self tacker with the Selden set up from Catalina? Do you have a Trysail on board?
We have storm sails for main and jib. Hopefully, this working jib will keep us moving in 20s and 30s without overpowering the family! We can't do a self tacker because our rig has a babystay on the foredeck.
I’m a beginner to sailing and I’m old. My question is, I have a 25’ Watkins. It’s a masthead sloop. I noticed that my Genoa doesn’t go to the top of the mast. It has another 3’ to go. Should I add something to the sail to bring it to the top? Oh, one last thing, it’s a hank on Genoa.
Some people will use a pendant made of nylon webbing on the head of the sail to make up that difference to the masthead. We use one made of dyneema. But I prefer to put our the pendant at the head of the sail and keep the center of effort lower. Others say putting the pendant at the bottom gives you better visibility and moves the center a little aft.
Good question 👍, and that's what we tried for a year or so. It works for a bit, but then the shape gets lost and the sail flogs, especially in high winds, above about 50 AWA, or in light air. The Genoa just doesn't work well deeply furled. Offshore, we find ourselves in 20+ kts often and the Genoa just overpowers everything. Probably good for racing, but we like offshore sailing that's comfortable and doesn't break the rig.
Hi Paul, you can partially furl a genoa in heavy winds however, you end up furling away the sail shape making it less efficient. Also larger sails made for lighter winds are made from lighter sail cloth. If you sail them into winds they are not designed to be in, you can run the risk of damaging the sail.
Hey Fred, thanks for commenting! I don't know about other boats or sailing styles...we like the jib, because it's so easy to fly - we can go for 24 hours easily without it flopping like the genoa. Is that your experience too?
Very interesting. We just tried switching from 130% genoa to the Yankee that our cutter came with when we bought it, and can confirm everything said here. We have a flexibly riggable solent stay in addition to the cutter stay, and I think we will get a hank on yankee so that we can leave the furler genoa hoisted and use the yankee if we want to. Its gonna be a hankee.
Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into making this video. Head sails are a complicated subject. I think we hit on the key points that will help sailors choose the right size head sail for their needs!
My pleasure. I hope other sailors find the video helpful!
@@TheFosterJourney Great video. What would be the performance difference between just not furling out a Genoa as far vs having a smaller jib? (outside of the self-tacking bonus)
@@giantELF The shape. >> I always heard people say that "it loses shape", but I never knew what they meant until we found ourselves offshore over AND over with the Genoa furled up close reaching in 24+ knots of wind. It loses its designed shape and stops acting like a wing, and it starts acting like a flag whipping and flailing. The Jib, on the other hand, remains perfectly wing-shaped and performs as designed in 24+ knots of wind and gives reefing options with the wind gets to 28 and 30+. Hope that makes sense. I'm sure others could explain it better.
Great video! Great Content! Very interesting! Loving the footage of you guys sailing in that clear beautiful blue water! YAY! 👏😁
😍 We have WAY more beautiful water coming!!! 🎉🙌
@@TheFosterJourney Sweet!!
Great video! Got a peek at some pretty blue water and sky.
Yep! It's so pretty.
Nice video, as always!
Thanks 🙏
Cool, neato..... Next a mini parachute-parasail flown into the sky from bow of boat to pull a bit? Ha
Actually.... 🪂
Wow, thanks for such an informative video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is cool.Now I need to rethink my next headsail purchase.I
Hope the video helped! ⛵
I like "boring" sailing. My boat is a cutter and some previous owner has put a huge 135%-ish headsail on it. I dont like it. I will be contacting Precision here soon about changing that to a smaller "yankee" or whatever smaller headsail. If I need more power I can unfurl the staysail as mentioned here.
I'm jealous of your cutter. Your plan sounds like the perfect setup! I'm a fan of "boring" sailing too 🌬️⛵
I wonder if Precision Sails will chat with me about this headsail for my boat.🤔
Yeah, they love talking sails and would be happy to help you get the right sail or working jib for your sailboat! precisionsailloft.com
Fantastic video. That sail should bring down some of the stress for the crew. Any plans to make it a self tacker with the Selden set up from Catalina? Do you have a Trysail on board?
We have storm sails for main and jib. Hopefully, this working jib will keep us moving in 20s and 30s without overpowering the family! We can't do a self tacker because our rig has a babystay on the foredeck.
I’m a beginner to sailing and I’m old. My question is, I have a 25’ Watkins. It’s a masthead sloop. I noticed that my Genoa doesn’t go to the top of the mast. It has another 3’ to go. Should I add something to the sail to bring it to the top? Oh, one last thing, it’s a hank on Genoa.
Some people will use a pendant made of nylon webbing on the head of the sail to make up that difference to the masthead. We use one made of dyneema. But I prefer to put our the pendant at the head of the sail and keep the center of effort lower. Others say putting the pendant at the bottom gives you better visibility and moves the center a little aft.
Just curious, why not just reef a furling genoa?
Good question 👍, and that's what we tried for a year or so. It works for a bit, but then the shape gets lost and the sail flogs, especially in high winds, above about 50 AWA, or in light air. The Genoa just doesn't work well deeply furled. Offshore, we find ourselves in 20+ kts often and the Genoa just overpowers everything. Probably good for racing, but we like offshore sailing that's comfortable and doesn't break the rig.
Hi Paul, you can partially furl a genoa in heavy winds however, you end up furling away the sail shape making it less efficient. Also larger sails made for lighter winds are made from lighter sail cloth. If you sail them into winds they are not designed to be in, you can run the risk of damaging the sail.
This is really misleading. Most small jibs are not set and forget. There is much less bringing the jib around the shrouds.
Hey Fred, thanks for commenting! I don't know about other boats or sailing styles...we like the jib, because it's so easy to fly - we can go for 24 hours easily without it flopping like the genoa. Is that your experience too?