# New Head Sail



## rbrasi (Mar 21, 2011)

I'm going to be getting a new head sail for my roller furler. I race in Cruiser Class. My first thought is just have a jib. One of the the guys who races a lot here said I should get a Genoa cut to 139% to retain the 9 second offset. What advantage does the extra sail area of a genny get me in cruiser class for beer can racing? Aside from the downwind leg (inside the breakwater, so no spin), I can't think of any, besides the 9 seconds.
One other thing I should mention is that I single hand quite often, so If I got both sails, changing them during a race would be, um, problematic. My rig is masthead.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, is using a genoa worth the 9 seconds over the performance of the jib?


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

If you sail in light air a lot the extra sail will be nice to have. We don't race anymore, and for the past 4 years or so we've been simply using a main and a ~90% jib. There were plenty of days we wished for more. Last year we bought a new 120% headsail and are very happy with it. If the forecast is heavy, we'll switch to the smaller sail before departing. With roller furling changing headsails on the fly is cumbersome, you can't use the twin foils (if you have them) with the swivel up so you're stuck with dropping a luff tape sail in a breeze and a seaway.. necessarily bare headed, and solo that's quite a handful.

So as usual, 'it depends'.. lots of light air? you'll appreciate the larger sail more often. Predominantly moderate to heavy air? maybe not. The downwind aspect of it all is a consideration as well, and at least downwind it's not quite so punitive to partially roll the bigger sail.

Not much help, I reckon


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

If your boat is the 1968 Cal in your signature I'm guessing it was designed to carry a much bigger genoa.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

In what I will swag your friend is trying to say. Is if you get a head sail that is no bigger than 139% of the foretriangle, you will preserve ANY credit you get for having your largest head sail be smaller than this. If the sail is between 140-145%, you will only get a 6 sec credit, 146-150 a 3 sec credit, 150-155 is std, 156-160 would be a 3 sec hit, it rating goes lower yet.....same with over 161 etc etc. 

The key here frankly, is to get as large of a head sail to stay with in a given rating, yet in your case, small enough to sail easily single handed. Others of us, like myself, that usually have 3-5 people on board a 28=30' boat, have the largest head sail one can use with out getting hit by time loss if you will, and still be able to sail it. Because if the wind pipes up, we can change out a sail in about 3 min if need be.

marty


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

Doesn't take crew to change a headsail... some of us are nuts enough to do it sailing solo.


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## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

The extra sail area of the genoa means you will not get passed as much. Getting passed is very depressing. If you don't have a genoa, everyone who does will pass you most of the time unless the wind is blowing 20 or more knots. Get the bigger sail.


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## rbrasi (Mar 21, 2011)

Thanks. I will go with the genny. I do sail mostly moderate (10-12kt) wind, so, yeah, I can reef if neccessary. It also occured to me that I can change sails before heading out, since I know what the conditions are.


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## Sternik (Oct 8, 2010)

You could consider getting the new sail with foam luff - this will allow you to improve the shape of the jib once partially rolled.


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