Submitted
on July 8, 2003 by Jon Z.
Question: I have a symmetrical
spinnaker from a much larger sailboat (30') and would like to recut the
spinnaker into an asymmetrical one for a much smaller boat (20'). The
sail has a luff of 36' and foot of 21'. The specs on a cruising spinnaker
for my Ensenada 20 shows a Luff of 20.36 and Foot of 14'. The cruising
spinnaker is cross cut (stripes running horizontally) so I don't think
the panel pattern is a problem, but my concern is more one of sail shape.
Can I simply make a cut from the foot up the sail to create a new luff
around the 21' mark to create a new head?
Sincerely,
JonZ.
Answer:
Hi Jon, You are probably wasting your time trying to cut down a spinnaker
by that much. The panel shaping on cross cut spinnakers is concentrated
near the edges of the sail, so if you chop off the luff and leech, you
will be removing most of the broadseaming that helps to support the extra
fabric outside the simple triangle (roach area).
If you do cut the sail down, you should reduce the amount of roach on
both the luff and the leech and install the edge tapes with a significant
amount of tension. Then you will have a sail that will fly on a broad
reach in most conditions. It won't be a very good sail though.
Regards,
Dan Neri
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