Submitted on November 8, 2005 by Ted Steadman

Question: Dan,

I have a Little Harbor 44 with a 140, 110, and 85% genoas, and an inner forestay (removeable) with staysail. Main is a stowaway and primary winches are electric.

Although not designed as a cutter, I am considering a yankee and staysail sail plan for a year of long range cruising for a couple and 8 year old daughter.

I believe that it will provide the most flexibility and avoid furling gear sail changes. I am interested in your opinion of this approach, and your opinion as to how well the boat will sail with yankee, staysailm full main sail plan.

Thank you,
Ted Steadman

Answer: Hi Ted -

The Little Harbor yachts need a lot of sail area and they get most of it through the headsail. If you leave the genoa behind in favor of a yankee, you will miss the horsepower in conditions under 15 knots. You can gain some of the sail area back by using the Yankee and Staysail together in the cutter set up but that won't get the job done in light air beating. For close hauled sailing you should plan on losing about 5 degrees of pointing ability. There are two reasons for that. The smaller overlap of the yankee will give you a wider sheeting angle and you will have less overlap with the mainsail so the main will be, in theory, less efficient. In the early 1990's, when Little Harbor Yachts were building sailboats, I had the good luck to work with Ted Hood on sails for some of his personal boats. He would always specify 135% headsails with relatively high clews. He also encouraged us to make the leech as straight as possible in the upper half of the sail so that it would wrap further around the top spreader. The combination of a higher clew and straighter leech gave him the maximum overlap for a sail of that LP. These headsails were also effective on reaching angles because the high clew made them act like a yankee when the sheets were eased.

For tight reaching, especially in moderate and higher wind strengths, the cutter rig will be ideal. Upwind in 15-20 you will be plenty powered up with just the Yankee. Somewhere between 20-25 you will probably be down to the staysail and mainsail. Big overlapping headsails are great in light and moderate winds but not great when you have to roll them up part way. So you are looking at the same trade off that all cruising sailors have to make. Do you want great sailing performance in light winds and accept that you will have a less effective sail inventory in rough weather? Or would you rather insure a more comfortable experience in rough weather and accept that you will be motor sailing in lighter winds? If you were planning coastal sailing in New England I would tell you with confidence that you should hang on to your genoa. If you are heading for the Med, you should strongly consider bringing the genoa and switching sails after the ocean passages. For a winter in the Caribbean, the cutter rig is the way to go.

Good luck with your plans.

Regards,
Dan Neri

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