Clayton, nice to hear from you ...

As for the furler, well that was a bonus I didn't know about.

After I bought the boat and towed it back to Utah from Mexico, I took it on a trip to southern California and a sail to Catalina Island. The wind was light and we decided to hoist some of the sails that were stuffed in one bow and see what they looked like. One of those was a mast head (sc)reacher and to my delightful surprise, at the bottom of the sail bag was a new furler, minus the 1/4 inch line that wraps around it. When I got back in from the day sail I made straight for West Marine and bought the furler line and had to smile when my wife protested the $40 cost of the 1/4 line. Obviously she hasn't spent much time looking at catalogs and the cost of a furler system. On the other hand, the next day of sailing in the same light wind conditions, but flying the reacher, produced much more boat speed and gybing is a breeze, when we furled the sail and then reset it on the other side.

The reacher (by the way) performed very well going to weather and helped increase boat speed, if we didn't pinch too hard.... if we did, the boat went better under main and jib alone.... but once again, it was simple to experiment, when one only had to pull a line and the reacher just vanishes as it furls.

We didn't push the reacher very hard because I still have to buy a fitting or two to install the running backstays... and without them, I opted not to see about flying the masthead spinnaker, to see how that goes....

Well, back to work for me... and after another weekend or so.... I should be finished with repairs on the Stiletto's trailer, installation of new hatches and getting it all registered for the year. Then we'll put it back in some water and see how those back stays and the spinnaker look.

Have you begun sailing your boat this season?? …or do you sail year ‘round in south Louisiana ???

Tom