Posted by Doug Chace (ch47_av8r@…>)
I’m almost ready to launch my F21. However, she didn’t come with a
spinnaker. I’ve found several “inexpensive” ones that meet the leech
requirements, but are a little (6" to 16") too long on the foot. How
bad would it be if I tried to ‘make that work’? What troubles would I
run into? How difficult is it to alter a sail? I’ve never had a boat
with a spin before, so I’m sailing blind here.
Thanks,
Doug
Posted by George McKay & Gwen DeBaere (mmadonna@…>)
It would not be a problem on a normal boat to fly a sail with a longer foot. The reason is that the clew is normally free flying, but the gun mount pole imposes a fairly restrictive limitation on the clew position. By pulling the sail in toward the pole, you will hook the leach of the sail and this will create significant drag and increase healing moment. In other words it won’t fly right. The second problem with adaptation is in how flat the Freedom spinnaker is cut. This allows it to reach well and sail higher, and it makes it stable and forgiving. A similar size spinnaker may do well sailing deep (running), but will have overall poor qualities on our boat (oscillating, round ups). As to altering a sail, it would depend on the cut of the sail, but a good loft should be able to work with you. I would recommend talking with a sailmaker before buying anything. I would actually talk to several sail makers o see who you work best with. I went to Haarstick for my main and jib and am very happy. They seem easy to work with, and I will go back to them for a spinnaker if I cant get used. Hope this helps, enjoy your boat! George On Apr 2, 2007, at 7:28 PM, Doug Chace wrote:I’m almost ready to launch my F21. However, she didn’t come with a spinnaker. I’ve found several “inexpensive” ones that meet the leech requirements, but are a little (6" to 16") too long on the foot. How bad would it be if I tried to ‘make that work’? What troubles would I run into? How difficult is it to alter a sail? I’ve never had a boat with a spin before, so I’m sailing blind here. Thanks,Doug
Posted by Medium Al (hjulbyhavn@…>)
I have tried tying my symmetrical Hoyt spinnaker like a regular one
with the boom as a spit. It can be done but the boom is too long.
If your budget leans towards a used spinnaker then try to find a
suitable 1/2 length tube or wood stock and rig a “proper” spit. It
will be a lot easier to work with. If you have a “trailer/anchor hook”
in the front, as I think we all do, a wire from that should be able to
hold the spit down and lines would be enough to hold it sideways for
tryout.
A blooper would be a blast on the F21 - you could easily get to
surfing at over 6 knots if you had the right wind and wave combination
to get out of the water. A blooper would also let you use the mainsail
more effectively.