Submitted on August 24, 2006 by Thomas Roberts

Question: Hi,

I have been sailing for 35 years & have been avid racer since 1992. I have had my Morgan 24 since 1983. I added a 6' Bow Sprit just to see how it would work. It has been a lot of fun & easier to sail short handed. Since this was an experiment I bought a couple of used sails from a Melges 24 & 1 from a J80 which needed to be cut down just a bit. Which asymmetric sails would be best to buy to enhance my inventory as I have decided to keep the Sprit?

Thanks,
Tom

Answer: Tom,

There are many things to consider when deciding which downwind sails would be best. I'll assume you are going to use only asymmetrical sails on a centerline bowsprit. The first obvious choice is a 2A. This will be your runner. It would be designed for apparent wind angles of 100-160 degrees approx. (depending on wind speed). The 2A would be made of a fabric in the 1/2 oz. range. The other sail to have is a 3A. This sail's shape is for 70-110 degrees AWA and it would be a 3/4 oz fabric. Use it on point-to-point reaches and also very light VMG downwind legs where the best downwind angles have the AWA forward of 90 degrees. These two sails should cover you for most conditions. If you sail in lots of light air and do very little reaching in breeze, skip the 3A and get a 1A instead. These sails are similar in shape but the 1A is built light for better downwind VMG sailing at 70-90 deg AWA.

If you want to integrate your two used experimental sails into an enhanced inventory, we'd need to see and evaluate each to determine where they work best.
Your local North Sails expert can do that as well as optimize new sails to your boat, sailing conditions and local handicap rule as needed.

Good luck,
Steve Reed

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