Submitted on December10, 2001 by Gary Forth

Question: I need help in deciding what kind of light air sail would be the best for a 2 person crew to handle. We will be crusing a CT-41 ketch (32,000lb) full keel boat. We feel a a symmetrical spinnaker may be a handful for a short-handed crew. We are leaning toward a big nylon drifter or double head sails as our roller will handle two sails. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer: Hi Gary, your choice for a light air sail will depend on whether you are looking to optimize the boat for sailing with the wind forward or aft of the beam. The asymmetric Gennaker will be by far the most powerful downwind sail. Of all your choices this sail will have the most dramatic impact on the performance of the boat. With a snuffer and the proper setup on deck, the Gennaker is easily handled by a crew of 2 in light to moderate conditions. In 10 knots of breeze the effective wind angle will be from 130 degrees up to 75 degrees of apparent wind. In 15 knots of breeze the wind angle gets wider, ranging from 95-140 degrees apparent.

A big nylon drifter will be usable with the wind forward of the beam in very light wind. In less than 6 knots of wind you might be able to carry the sail as high as 35 degrees apparent. As the wind increases the usable angle will get wider because the fabric is too stretchy to handle the loads of upwind sailing angles. In 10 knots of wind the usable apparent wind angle will be about 50-115 degrees. In 15 knots of wind the range will be about 70-120 degrees.

A sail with a long foot length does not work well when poled out to windward. If you elect to use the nylon drifter on a pole you will have to sail very close to dead downwind. A purpose built double headsail rig sail would be built with a foot length just a little longer than the pole. Regards, Dan Neri

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