Submitted on February 6, 2006 by Koen Sergeant

Question: I do a lot of short cruising with my Hanse 371 (main: 38 qm / self tacking jib: 27.50 qm.) In light winds (<10 knots) speed drops dramatically. Should I turn to a genoa or is there a solution in between? ( I love the simplicity of the self tacking jib.)

Thanks,
Koen Sergeant

Answer: Hi Koen,

In light air, there is no substitute for a big, overlapping headsail if you are looking for upwind performance. Self tacking headsails are easy to use, especially in restricted sailing areas where you are tacking often. The compromise is that in order to make the sail self tacking, the track has to be in front of the mast. The next compromise is that the clew has to be above the track and forward of it to allow for the sheeting angle required to keep the leech trimmed when you ease the sail out for a reach. When you add that up, the leech of the headsail is well forward of the mast. This leaves a big gap between the leeward side of the mainsail and the windward side of the headsail, meaning you have lost sail area and you do not have the benefit of the slot effect between the two sails.

Adding a genoa is not an easy change for a cruising boat that is already set up for a self tacking jib. If the shroud base is too far outboard you will not be able to get a genoa trimmed in far enough because of interference with spreader ends. You could consider sacrificing the self tacking jib and making a maximum sized, non-overlapping headsail. That sail could be about 10% larger on the LP compared to your self tacking sail, with the leech just missing the front side of the spreaders and the lower diagonal stay.

Best Regards,
Dan Neri

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