Posted by richard_gooderick (richardgooderick@…>)
A spinnaker is even more fun.
I just wanted to say that we bought our F25 in the UK a couple of
months ago and, having read the message board archive whilst
wondering whether or not to buy the boat, one thing that worried me
was the impression that I got that some owners were not using their
gunmount spinnakers and were even putting them up for sale. Did that
mean that gunmount system was not all that it was cracked out to be?
Now however, after a month or so, we have finally fixed our engine
problems (touch wood) and have actually progressed onto much more
enjoyable pastimes such as sailing. I can confirm to anyone
contemplating buying a Freedom with gunmount spinnaker that it works
a dream and is a joy to use.
Last weekend we had the kite up and down five times in 5 to 15 knots
of wind. My 15 year old nephew (with little sailing experience) and I
were able to sail and gybe with confidence in a crowded Chichester
Harbour (UK) through anchorages, moorings and fleets of keelboats
tacking in narrow channels towards us until we finally dropped the
kite by the cockpit of a friend’s boat on its mooring (couldn’t help
showing off!)just 500 yds before we ran out of creek (and water) and
picked the mooring up under sail (well, we would have if we hadn’t
discovered at the last second that the boathook was not on deck but
floating somewhere in the Solent).
The F25 is an absolutely superb boat that I am thrilled to co-own and
the gunmount spinnaker does everything that it says on the box.
As for wind-drifters, we have one too. But this one was referred to
by the vendor as an MPG (multipurpose genoa). I’ve also heard them
referred to as gennakers or cruising chutes. I think that sailmakers
probably make up the names if they think that doing so will sell more
sails. I used ours on our first outing but it’s unlikely to see
daylight very often now that we have got the hang of using the kite:
it is a more fun, less hassle and is faster downwind (it’s bigger and
is not blanketed by the main to the same extent).
Richard Gooderick
F25
Carminowe
— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “mdurki” <vaughan@i…>
wrote:
Yesterday I went out in 5-10 knots for an easy, very pleasant sail.
As it happened the trip home was all running and by that time the
wind was down to about 5—the prospect was not bright. But I
decided
to pull out my Wind Drifter (Winddrifter?) for the first time this
year, and that made what might have been a boring, long slog an
enjoyable breeze—literally.
For those who do not know what a Wind Drifter is; it is an
unhanked,
light weight sail about the size of a Genoa (fuller, of course)
that
is useful for off wind sailing. It is attached to the spinnaker
halyard and to the bow. (The British may call this a boomless
spinnaker, or it may be the same thing as a gennaker, but I do not
know exactly what either of these is.) It works very well with the
wind anywhere abaft abeam; though the closer one is to a beam reach
the more care has to be paid to the wind speed. I really do not
know
what the recommended apparent maximum wind speed is, but yesterday
at
the point when I turned and started a full beam reach, the wind was
back up to 10, and the force on the sail was apparent though not
alarming. (The sail is 17 years old.)
In the wind I had yesterday, I did not have to pole it out, though
I
do have a whisker pole for really bad days. Incidentally, my sail
was
made by UK, as were my other sails.