[C38] Flatening Reef (Alden Andre)

Fri Nov 14 12:06:43 EST 2008

Alden,
Wow!  I begin reefing my fully battened North main around 18-20 knots 
and put the second reef in over 25 knots.  I am a dedicated cruiser and 
logged over 2500 nautical miles this last summer.  I am routinely 
short-handed and often am the only person on hand who I trust forward in 
rough seas.  This of course means I want to be anticipating trouble 
rather than reacting to it  (to be honest, this took years of hard 
knocks to get into my head).  My surprise with this change in my reefing 
approach was my reefing at lower wind speeds seems to not markedly 
affect my overall speed once I factored in the additional drift a hard 
heeled boat accumulates.  Additionally, I find I am able to point much 
closer overall as my sail plane is more toward vertical (but this could 
be more about my helming skills).

I also bought a Roly Tasker sail from National Sails (see our website 
for comments in the "Best of Best") and am very happy about the choice.  
This is a quality sail that has performed in some some seriously bad 
weather.  It even holds a pretty good form when reefed beyond the size 
of a #1 (100%).

Charles Finn
Mighty Quinn #114
Great Lakes

alden Andre wrote:
> Max: I never use it. Both of my mains are full Batten and it would be
> hard to see what kind of shape difference it would induce.Now my kids
> use it on their Coronado 15 that dosnt have full battens and they don't
> have a induced sail shape. The 38 handles fine in 0-25,30 kts with a
> full main and 135 Jib with a little bit of weather helm. Above 25-30 kts
> up to 40 the first reef in the main with full 135 it handles fine with
> no weather helm(you can steer with your finger). I did have my 135
> though cut a little different for higher winds speeds. I could send you
> some pictures if you like. Old sails have a heavy effect on the boat
> both main and Jibs. New sails will make a world of difference. I have
> new Rolly tasker sails both main and Jibs and North Sails both main and
> Jibs. Personally I don't see much performance difference in them. For
> the money you can buy 2.5 rolly tasker sails for the price of one North
> sail. I hope this helps my email is alden642 at comcast.net if you would
> like to see some pics under sail to see the sail shapes.
>
> Alden
>
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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Mainsail flatening reef (Max Soto)
>    2. Re: Mainsail flatening reef (William Knowles)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:42:10 -0600
> From: "Max Soto" <maxsoto at gmail.com>
> Subject: [C38] Mainsail flatening reef
> To: "Catalina 38 Listserve" <Listserve at catalina38.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<95c2e96c0811100942w31927258l4a6a820358a6ec52 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hi everybody,
>
> My original mainsail has a flatening reef, and my question is exactly
> how am
> I suppossed to use it???
>    On which wind conditions???
> Its hard to give this sail a good shape, and I know that somehow this
> relates to this flatening reef.
> I have a better sail without this, but still, I would like to know how
> to
> use it!!!!!....
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Max Soto
> C38 #198 ESTANCIA
> Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:54:28 -0800 (PST)
> From: William Knowles <william_k_19810 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [C38] Mainsail flatening reef
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve <listserve at catalina38.org>
> Message-ID: <567358.38462.qm at web56003.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Max the idea is to flatten the sail to reduce the pressure on the front
> side, reducing heel without reducing area. The shape will not be good
> very flat. I believe you tighten the outhaul and lower the luff to the
> reef point keep it tight. This  should reduce the power coming from the
> main.
>
> Bill Flying Goose 
>
>
> --- On Mon, 11/10/08, Max Soto <maxsoto at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> From: Max Soto <maxsoto at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [C38] Mainsail flatening reef
>> To: "Catalina 38 Listserve" <Listserve at catalina38.org>
>> Date: Monday, November 10, 2008, 5:42 PM
>> Hi everybody,
>>
>> My original mainsail has a flatening reef, and my question
>> is exactly how am
>> I suppossed to use it???
>>    On which wind conditions???
>> Its hard to give this sail a good shape, and I know that
>> somehow this
>> relates to this flatening reef.
>> I have a better sail without this, but still, I would like
>> to know how to
>> use it!!!!!....
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>> Max Soto
>> C38 #198 ESTANCIA
>> Puntarenas, Costa Rica
>> _______________________________________________
>> Listserve mailing list
>> Listserve at catalina38.org
>> http://catalina38.org/mailman/listinfo/listserve_catalina38.org
>>     
>
>
>       
>
>
>
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