Why roll in some genny before heave to? I heave to with full 150 unrolled with no problem.
I was taught and have found it to be true, that when hove to, the boat will lie quieter, have less heel and make less leeway with a jib than a genny. Once you heave to, it is to late to roll in the genoa. It probably makes little difference in lighter air, but say you are going from the first reef point to the next, you are most likely in heavier air and a worsening sea state. Try it and see what you think.
My idea of reefing is switching from the big genoa down to the jib sail to reduce canvas. It has to get over 20 knots before I would reef the main and at that point the Admiral wants to go back anyway or won't go out period, so I rarely reef the main.
It is also amazing how well the big musclehead and genoa work together in light air (400 sq.ft. of sail).
My single line jiffy reef pulls the tack down as low as possible but it is probably 8 inches above the boom due to the stacking up os those lower slugs. The clew is pulled down and aft...if I really work at it and not fighting the system too much I can get it really low but most times it is not perfect and thus it sits 8 inches or so above the boom which makes the sail a little less taught but no big deal IMHO.
The small reefing cringles are not secured in any way on my system. There is a little sail bagginess here but within acceptable limits for me. My understanding is they are not really meant to be tied such that they pull the sail down tight to the boom but are more for a tie down point to secure the loose sail from sagging below the boom. In my case the lazy jacks catch all that loose sail so this is not an issue for me.
Rich,
I have only ever heaved to in winds greater between 10-15 knots. 150 genny seemed to work fine in this situation IMHO but probably would have less leeway with less genny. I will experiment with less and see how that works for me.
One more point, Jim. When heaving to, you are balancing the boat between the backwinded foresail and the rudders. Although you are making slight headway, you are not sailing. The backwinded foresail is pushing you off the wind and as you fall off and pick up speed, the rudders begin to bite and push you back to windward. Ideally, the mainsail does not come into play at all, which is why this is an ideal maneuver for reefing. In higher winds, a full genny will overpower the rudders. This will require sheeting in the main to maintain balance. Leaving the genny wound out while heaving to in lighter air for lunch, should not be a problem, but when a blow comes up and the wheels are about to fall off, reduce the foresail size first then heave to and reef the main.
Several issues in this thread...
1. When to reef? When we would be more comfortable reefed. Better early than late. Do with bow to wind as you would when raising the main so the main does not interfere with the spreaders
2. To heave to for a headsail change on our X. As in my recent posts, on a close reach or going to windward , main sheeted a couple feet off center, CB down or 7/8 down, helm centered.....dropping the headsail puts the X into a heaveto-like mode.
3. Rudder angle to maintain a course, on our X, is a function of sail center of effort vs. underbody center of lateral resistance.....however, with CB positioned to maintain course with rudders centered while going to windward, increasing wind speed will increase heel and thus weatherhelm; when either becomes uncomfortable we shorten sail
4. If we shorten sail on our X by dousing the headsail. we head upwind or downwind to take side pressure off the CB and allow raising the CB enuf to balance the helm for Main-only sailing
.
Ron
