Hi
It’s an idea that came to me when I bought a second-hand mainsail (foremast) to replace the one that was starting to look a bit worn.
In France, during the 70s, a few yachtsmen, mostly travelling, used a kind of double-fold genoa called the “Booster”.
It’s a great downwind sail because you don’t have to worry about it.
Other sailors, and you may be one of them, send aloft a second genoa to achieve the same result. I did it on my previous sailboat and it was very effective.
On my freedom 33, the mainsails will be hoisted without track on the masts, but with rope loops that will hold the sail close to the mast. As on the G10 rig which has already been presented on this forum.
So here’s the idea:
you can’t use a spinaker with the Freedom’s foremast, but why not add a second mainsail?
What do you think?
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This is an interesting idea.
Your idea sketch shows sails with full roaches, so would they have full battens? Without a track I’d be concerned about the battens banging against the mast.
My understanding of how the twin genoas work is they are both always up, but stay flat against each other going upwind. Then are separated and spread apart only going dead downwind. But with your idea seems like a lot of dropping and raising large sails on deck… not the end of the world but something to consider. Especially with two sails somewhat entangled. I’d be concerned about controlling that much sail being hoisted or lowered at sea in a relatively uncontrolled manner.
Maybe another idea is to keep the existing main as is, and hiked out to one side. Then have a second sail that can be hoisted on the other side with a loose luff? Dyneema from the mast base to the sail tack to control the tack height. And I guess the pole’s inboard end would connect to a deck fitting? Would be nice to have a second boom 
. Would also need two extra halyards, one on each side of the mast…
It’s fun to think about.
My explanations weren’t clear enough.
The second mainsail would only be hoisted for long downwind cruising. And would be hawl down for other points of sail.
The principle of a full batten mainsail is not incompatible with loops. Several Freedom 33/35 are already so fitted.
On the other hand, I don’t think it would be a good idea to hoist the second mainsail with a loose luff. These are the same reasons why you can’t use a spinaker on Freedom masts and other sailboats of this type.
With loops, the forces are distributed along the entire length of the mast.
Dual genoas have been used during the single-handed transpac. They are easier to manage than a spinnaker. The race is basically DDW for 1200 miles.
For those with a gun mount and pole it is a great set up.
I did not have dual genoas but used the main and the blade jib in more or less the same config. It worked very nicely on a 30.
Hello. This is the ljungstrom rig - see Google/Wiki.
There was a very long, narrow, ‘Scandinavian’ boat with a rounded bow on the Clyde in the 1940s thru 1960s - Vingen, I think, but not the one shown on Wiki. She had an unstayed wooden mast which had bearings at deck and keelson levels with a big wheel in between. The rig was unfurled, reefed and put away by rotating the wheel with an endless rope lead to the helmsman. The leech was scalloped with (I think) three sheets from each side lead right aft (the pointy end on this boat). Most of the time the two sides lay together as on a proper Freedom, but when running they would open up, doubling the area.
Lovely boat. I could dig out a photo with a little effort.
