Jib or Genoa?
-
dlandersson
- Admiral
- Posts: 5040
- Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 10:00 am
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Michigan City
-
dustoff
- Engineer
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:25 am
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Stevensville, MD
Re: Jib or Genoa?
I changed over to a jib from the stock 150 Genoa for a couple of reasons.
The
points upwind a bit better with the jib and I can control healing tenderness easier on points of sail from a close reach to a broad reach. It was tricky for me getting the Genoa shape right when not going downwind where it wasn't creating a squirrelly weather helm.
Having the headsail lines run through the cars on the forward track cleans up the cockpit a bit as well. The genoa cars are back at the cockpit gunnels and running the lines back to the winches can get in the way of passengers somewhat.
I realized that squeezing that additional performance of the genoa was a tradeoff in terms of sailing comfort for the wife and the amount of attention you have to give to trimming when underway. Even downwind, with the amount of sail of that 150 Genoa has on the , which doesn't have a backstay, I felt like the performance of the standing rigging was becoming a limiting factor for optimal trim in winds above 12 knots.
I realized that once you reach 6 knots of speed over the water, that's pretty much as fast as mine would normally go. I can usually get that speed in a reach in any wind above 12 knots, so the Genoa only really helped me out significantly on a broad reach or downwind in winds less than 10 knots but more than 5 knots.
If I really want to routinely catch those light down winds to max my VMG I figured it would make more sense to just get a spinnaker (which I haven't done yet). Either symmetrical, or asymmetric with a second furler, and just douse the mainsail so it doesn't cast a shadow on the headsail.
Dustoff
The
points upwind a bit better with the jib and I can control healing tenderness easier on points of sail from a close reach to a broad reach. It was tricky for me getting the Genoa shape right when not going downwind where it wasn't creating a squirrelly weather helm. Having the headsail lines run through the cars on the forward track cleans up the cockpit a bit as well. The genoa cars are back at the cockpit gunnels and running the lines back to the winches can get in the way of passengers somewhat.
I realized that squeezing that additional performance of the genoa was a tradeoff in terms of sailing comfort for the wife and the amount of attention you have to give to trimming when underway. Even downwind, with the amount of sail of that 150 Genoa has on the
, which doesn't have a backstay, I felt like the performance of the standing rigging was becoming a limiting factor for optimal trim in winds above 12 knots. I realized that once you reach 6 knots of speed over the water, that's pretty much as fast as mine would normally go. I can usually get that speed in a reach in any wind above 12 knots, so the Genoa only really helped me out significantly on a broad reach or downwind in winds less than 10 knots but more than 5 knots.
If I really want to routinely catch those light down winds to max my VMG I figured it would make more sense to just get a spinnaker (which I haven't done yet). Either symmetrical, or asymmetric with a second furler, and just douse the mainsail so it doesn't cast a shadow on the headsail.
Dustoff