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Submitted
on October 22, 2003 by Greg Bennett
Question: I own a Pearson
26 with a 150% genoa on a Harken roller furling. Recently, upon returning
from a business trip I found a wind storm had savaged my headsail in 70
to 80 mph winds and turned it to rags. So, I'm looking for a new headsail
and I'm not quite sure if I should get a like Dacron replacement with
Sunbrella UV protection or try something different. The old sail was more
of a deck sweeper style but when used with the roller furling lacked any
real sail shape when partially furled going up wind. I currently only
have about 4' of genoa track located way back at the cockpit so the sheet
leads seem to be way out of position if the sail is furled and again sail
shape suffers. Any comments, suggestions or contacts to help me get this
resolved before next season? Sailing on Lake Ontario out of Oswego, NY.
Greg Bennett
Answer:
Hi Greg, Sorry to hear your sail was wrecked. Dacron is a good choice
of material for a Pearson 26. The other choice would be to build the sail
with a laminated material like North's Soft Norlam (SNL). A SNL sail will
have better shape holding characteristics because the fabric is more stable
and because the fabric allows us to build the sail in a triradial panel
layout. The SNL sail stays flatter and the draft stays in the front of
the sail so the boat will heel a little less in strong breeze. When you
do have to roller reef the SNL sail will have a better shape than the
dacron sail, but no roller reefed headsail will look great. A new dacron
sail will be a lot closer to the shape of the SNL sail than it will to
the shape of your old dacron sail. A dacron sail is less expensive than
a SNL sail.
A deck speeper is not the ideal configuration for a roller reefing headsail.
You will be better off with a higher clewed headsail with a slightly reduced
LP (shorter foot length). The higher clew makes the sail more effective
when you are sailing with the sheets eased on reaching angles. A good
way to determin the clew height is to have the sail designed to sheet
to a lead about 6-9" from the back of the track. Then you can roll
up 4-5' of the sail and still have a good lead to the front of the track.
There are two choices for a suncover; Sunbrella or 5.0 oz UV Dacron. Either
one will make a cover that lasts the life of your sail. The Sunbrella
cover breaths so the sail is less prone to mildew. The dacron cover will
stay flatter against the sail in strong breeze. You should also consider
a rope luff reefing pad option. This device helps to make the sail flatter
as it is rolled up.
Regards,
Dan Neri
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