Cruising

It's raining again and I refuse to work in high humidity..for a number of reasons.

Sitting here watching the rain I got to thinking about cruising. The rig we have is so powerful it's hard for me to just relax and enjoy the day(I've tried it, you can get wet surprisingly quickly). That led me to the thought of cutting down my old main and using the stock jib or possibly a roller furling jib.

What's gained, what's lost, what's the cost?

I've thought a few times about a reduced area main for the Stealth - my conclusion? Turn an old main into almost a pinhead.
By cutting the square top and most of the roach off you get a large reduction n area plus the foot length stays the same as does the luff. It's a relatively cheap and straightforward alteration.
To complete the setup I'd probably fit a shortened spin pole with a furling hooter.

That's a thought. Of course I want my cake and eat it too! I want ALL the performance up to about 10 knots of wind speed, hence the thought about the furling jib.

Can you carry the hooter to weather?

But what about the good days when you need all that power you normally have. Most sails have reef points to tie the excess sail into the boom, what about replacing the main halyard with D12 or such and loop it around the mast base block and back up to the boom gooseneck, tie it off to lower the sail to what ever the reefing patches you have had sown into the old main. Even roll it around the boom AKA Farrier style but don't go cutting good sail area off.









Never done it but often thought about it.

Point taken Wayne but my thought was to keep luff length while reducing overall sail area. Easing a tall, narrower main dramatically reduces drive over a lower aspect sail eased the same amount. Also no messing around with reefs.

Pete, you could carry a correctly cut hooter to weather in lower wind speeds (guessing at sub 8kts) and that would make up for the lost sail area from the main on those lighter days. Dropping the whole lot onto the tramp when it's breezy would reduce the windage and keep the performance when una rigged.

What is D12? Some kind of line?

I'm in the sub tropics, we can get really strong downdrafts when thunderstorms are in the area so I need to be able to reef in an instant.

I sailed a TheMightyHobie18 quite a lot and relied on the furling jib. It made me feel very secure. Usually I could just run away from anything really nasty but then there was the problem of the calm after the storm.

Also, I've been thinking about a cleat for the spin sheet, even when racing.

I've got cleats for the spin sheets. I rarely use them, but they're handy when needed.

I'd probably use them quite a bit just cruising, if I did much of that.

The Staymasters?

Yep, on the base of the Sta-Masters.

Stamaster

There's one with a cleat attached. Robbie put them on some of the Vipers. Like THE REAL Karl's.

Another way of detuning the boat is to add weight rather than reducing sail area( but you will increase the rigging loads) If you use water balast then you can dump the water in the light stuff. I've just finished a cruise around the Whitsundays on my Taipan, write up is at link below

http://catsailor.net/forums/showthread.php?4190-Taipan-4.9-Whitsunday-Islands-Cruise

Nice article, thanks.

I've cruised since buying my stealth, although it is pre-F16 (503), and have just returned from a weekend cruising the blackwater estury. I've two mains of 12.5 and 10 sqM and a jib. I check the forecast and choose sailplan for maximum wind strength, so anything from 15 to 10 sqm. The 10sqm is full length luff, just shorter foot. Problem is when blowing hard, F6+, the full length luff puts the power too high up the mast. If you're going to change a sail, I'd suggest normal reef points on the main, above batterns? Also as you reduce the main, ideally you'd reduce the jib so a furling one would be ideal. Only problem I've had was yesterday off Brightlingsea in a force 2. We tacked, there was a bang and the mast went over the side snapping the gooseneck fitting as it went. All the rivits holding the mast ball to the main beam had sheared off, 11 or 12 years of abuse? Anyone know where to get a new mast ball and gooseneck for rectangular alloy boom as I love the boat but can't really justify buying a replacement?

Try John Pierce at Stealth, everyone seems to having problems contacting him but I seem to always get through simply ringing on the landline number about 1.00pm.

Somewhere I have a mast ball foot but not the ball although the early Stealths had a Hobie ball. If you are stuck contact me.

The gooseneck was a casting John had made up, later versions use a standard gooseneck with a simple round Ali tube. It maybe cheaper to replace the tube and gooseneck together. The alternative is have an engineering shop re create as a one off for the oblong shape, you only need a plug with a stainless standard rod end screwed in.

The mast ball on your Stealth is the same as the one on all the Nacras. Ask Grant for one.