I just bought a Hobie 16 and I am surprised that the mainsail outpoints the jib. This is opposite to every other sloop I've sailed where the main usually luffs before the jib. Is this normal?

Is it possible that what are seeing on a sloop is actually the mainsail being "back-winded" by the jib (air flow) rather than luffing. Since the 16 has a fully battented main, you rarely see the main luff or get back winded.

Other than that I have never noted a difference between a monohull or cat in which sail luffs first. I would always be looking for the jib to luff while going upwind.

Actually, I was not making a distinction between monohulls or multihulls. I meant sloop in the sense of a main and a jib. I just notice that to keep the jib completely full I can point no higher than say 50 deg, but the main can keep driving the boat (not pinching) at 45 deg with the jib slightly luffing. I just wondered if this was normal for a Hobie 16.

If you can pull proper tension along the foot and leech of the jib, and the jib cars and blocks and equipment are working properly for your mast rake, then your jib may be a little on the full side.

Some of the older jibs were cut a little too full and some folks would get a sailmaker to re-cut them a little tighter. In these days, it would probably be easier to find another jib.

wow this keeps coming up. any slack in the jib luff wire will create a curved leading edge jib luff. that equals a fuller more curved jib shape. not fast upwind though good for reaching. my suggestion is to make sure you have enough jib halyard tension so that sailing hard to wind the fore stay is still a little slack and all the load is on the jib wire to create the best entry and the flattest jib upwind.

Thank your for your reply. I think the solution might be luff tension, but I have been tensioning my jib stay luff very much. But on my boat, there is perhaps another adjustment. Even though the jib stay is tight, there is a little rope that connects the bottom of the jib to the eye that connects to the forstay at the clue. Do I need to put more tension on this adjustment?

The other thing I wonder about is jib batten tension. Does this affect the pointing ability? I have my jib battens non-tensioned and cut short so that they dont' catch on the mast during tacks.

Yes, the jib luff must be tensioned properly and will effect sail shape and therefore pointing. The small luff tension line tensions the jib fabric and is mostly a set-it-and-forget-it adjustment. Put up the jib and fully tension the jib luff wire (halyard). Then tension the luff tension line until it feels "nice" and any wrinkles come out. Don't honk down on the tension line or try to do this with a loose jib luff wire. If the tension line is too tight, the sail fabric will begin taking the halyard load and the jib fabric will stretch and possibly tear. The factory installs the tension line at the jib head in which case you need to tip the boat over to get at it. The tension line can be moved down to the tack if you prefer.

I don't mess with jib batten tension much. I tension them enough to pull out the wrinkles and punch a little shape in. Too much tension is probably worse than not enough. I will back off the normal tension a little on very windy days (flatter sail).