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Submitted
on December 13, 2004 by Tao Garande
Question: I am buying a 1981
Hunter 37 cutter and she is carrying a 150% RF genoa. Will this over power
the boat in stiff wind and can that be remedied by rolling it in?
Tao Garande
Answer:
Hi Tao,
The 150% genoa will be the appropriate size for your Hunter 37 up to about
14 knots of true wind speed when sailing to windward. In more wind than
that the boat will be progressively more overpowered and you will have
a hard time keeping the mainsail trimmed due to backwind from the headsail.
When the boat starts to heel too much, you will want to tighten the halyard
a lot. You should crank up the genoa halyard as hard as your winches will
allow while the sheet is eased a few feet, then sheet it back in. The
genoa sheet lead block can be moved aft to flatten the sail. In breeze
over 14 knots you should have the lead back enough for the sail to be
trimmed with the foot touching the shrouds while the leech is 6-8"
eased off the spreaders.
Roller reefing the headsail will only be effective
if the sail is equipped with a foam or rope flattening device in the luff.
If the sail was made without provisions for roller reefing, you should
try rolling it up to about 1/2 the foot length, and moving the sheet lead
all the way forward on the track. With the sail rolled up half way, you
won't be able to point very high when sailing to windward, but you may
find that the boat makes good speeds at a comfortable heel angle at wide
tacking angles. If you need to go directly to windward in winds over 15-17
knots, you will need to use a smaller headsail or motorsail.
Regards,
Dan Neri
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