My opinion is not very qualified - I haven't yet figured out how to use my staysails very effectively. Next year I'll try to follow this article's prescriptions for staysails more closely: http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/doityourself/racelist/racelist.htm .
Grenadine came with two staysails: one which hoists to the masthead (called a "tallboy" in the above article I believe), and one which hoists only to the pole lift sheave. The tallboy is made of drifter material; the shorter one of heavier material. Grenadine has two headsail halyards in addition to a spinnaker halyard, so I use one of the headsail halyards to hoist the tallboy. My pole lift halyard is rope spliced to cable, and when hoisting the pole lift staysail with it, the rope part of the halyard comes all the way out of the mast. If I want to cleat it on the horn cleat on the dorade box, I'm tying the cleat hitch with the cable part. I'll have to figure out a better solution. In theory I could fly a triple-headed rig, and the above article mentions that. But I've never tried that. I've only flown my staysails one at a time. Tacking is a PITA because some member of the crew usually has to walk the genoa clew around the staysail's luff. With a triple-headed rig I'm sure it would be even messier. I flew staysails in light air a few times, looking for more power. To me it seemed they were interfering with the genoa's shape and maybe not providing much benefit. But I was noticing that mainly upwind, whereas the above article says to use them on reaches, and I may have had them under-trimmed for the light air I was in, per the above article. The good news is, according to a senior US Sailing judge in my region, I can fly them legally under my current PHRF rating, because my RSA's PHRF rules are basically mute on the specific point. So if I can learn how to fly them effectively I think it could be a good advantage. In general I think I would only want to use them in lighter air. I don't have a speed problem when the wind is up :) Cheers, Randy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis C. via CnC-List" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> To: "CnClist" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: "Dennis" <capt...@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 12:36:37 PM Subject: Re: Stus-List Early C&C Sails - now staysails On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 12:36 PM, RANDY via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com > wrote: I've also got a working jib and a short (spinnaker pole topping lift) staysail Interesting comment. Never considered flying a staysail from a pole topping lift. We always hoist staysails on a spinnaker halyard. Opinions? Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
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