Re: BlueJacket Sailing Logs
Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:01 am
Bob,
I'm personally a big fan of the camberspar, especially when running downwind. I can't tell you how many boats we've passed and had the husband run forward (often with a whisker pole) and try to get their foresail to do what we do with ease. If you plan your route correctly (Eastern Caribbean to Venezuela to NW Caribbean), you'll be able to experience a lot of down-wind sailing. Perhaps you can get better performance to weather with a roller furler, deck tracks and cars, but then you're beating (and losing a good chunk of what Freedom's are known for) and your admiral probably won't be happy with the contents of your home getting tossed around down below. (Not that I know that from experience...) On the plus side, not having to go forward to drop the jib would be very nice, as would being able to partially furl the jib. Hey, it's a boat and everything is a compromise!
Also, I find that while the camber spar can get in the way while anchoring, a nice hip check will position it to the side and it's not that hard to work around. Given that you've got a manual windlass, I would spend the money upgrading that as you're going to spend a LOT of time at anchor and the manual part of the windlass will get old very quickly.
Now, as to the in-boom furler, I'm not a big fan of them as you will want to maintain the fully battened main, and the issue is that in boom furlers tend to get jammed at just the wrong times. If you think that it's a pain getting on the steps to attach the halyard (which I can imagine that it is...I'm 6'3 and can just reach it),having it get jammed in bad weather sounds terrible to me and I've heard too many horror stories.
I don't know if I shed any light on to the subject, but the good news is that my advice is free and worth every penny! Everyone has to find what works for themselves and it'll take a while to figure that out on your own. I've refitted most of my systems 2-3 times before getting things right for me and I'd still like to make modifications.
-- Geoff
I'm personally a big fan of the camberspar, especially when running downwind. I can't tell you how many boats we've passed and had the husband run forward (often with a whisker pole) and try to get their foresail to do what we do with ease. If you plan your route correctly (Eastern Caribbean to Venezuela to NW Caribbean), you'll be able to experience a lot of down-wind sailing. Perhaps you can get better performance to weather with a roller furler, deck tracks and cars, but then you're beating (and losing a good chunk of what Freedom's are known for) and your admiral probably won't be happy with the contents of your home getting tossed around down below. (Not that I know that from experience...) On the plus side, not having to go forward to drop the jib would be very nice, as would being able to partially furl the jib. Hey, it's a boat and everything is a compromise!
Also, I find that while the camber spar can get in the way while anchoring, a nice hip check will position it to the side and it's not that hard to work around. Given that you've got a manual windlass, I would spend the money upgrading that as you're going to spend a LOT of time at anchor and the manual part of the windlass will get old very quickly.
Now, as to the in-boom furler, I'm not a big fan of them as you will want to maintain the fully battened main, and the issue is that in boom furlers tend to get jammed at just the wrong times. If you think that it's a pain getting on the steps to attach the halyard (which I can imagine that it is...I'm 6'3 and can just reach it),having it get jammed in bad weather sounds terrible to me and I've heard too many horror stories.
I don't know if I shed any light on to the subject, but the good news is that my advice is free and worth every penny! Everyone has to find what works for themselves and it'll take a while to figure that out on your own. I've refitted most of my systems 2-3 times before getting things right for me and I'd still like to make modifications.
-- Geoff