sailing with the foksail only

Hi there,

I have never sailed with only the fok/jib (front sail), however when my wife was not able to help me, due to the fact that she was just out of the hospital, I did however sail with the main sail on its own. Although it was not easy, I was able to do it on my own and was able to manoeuvre the boat quite reasonable. (25 m2 Mailsail)

Thus here is my question. How does a sailing boat sails with only the jib raised?

I have a very good reason to ask this question and hope I get some helpful answers

Many thanks on some input.

Bert

 

In most cases it will sail OK/good from beam reach and more off the wind courses.
Sailing close hauled usually is a problem because you'll get much to much lee helm.
depending on the rig type the jib alone may be (too?) small to get reasonable amount of drive.

Regards, Hans

 

It depends...

I don't think I've ever come across a boat that won't sail at least across wind with just a jib up.

The challenge comes in getting upwind. Boats with a large jib and mast positioned towards the centre of the boat are often surprisingly capable. Boats with overlapping jibs even more so (about the only thing overlapping jibs are good for if you ask me).

The smaller the jib (in proportion) and the nearer the mast to the bow then the trickier it will become to make reasonable ground upwind. Tacking can be a problem once you start getting towards the tricky end of the spectrum, and its vital to keep the speed up. it may even be better to gybe round 270 degrees rather than tack, but by then you're getting to a boat that is so difficult to handle upwind with jib only that it would have to be an emergency to try it.

 

Dankje Hans zodra ik weer terug ben in Zuid Afrika zal ik je emailen waarrom ik het nodig heb. Ik was vorige week op de Kaager plassen, Ben nu in St Helier en ben pas in 5 weken terug in RSA. Nee, ik vlieg en zeil niet over de Atlantic.

Groete bert

 

Thank you, you both have helped me greatly. Regards Bert

 

I think it comes down to where jib only places the center of effort of the sails verses your center of lateral resistance. i.e. How much lead does it give your vessel and can your rudder handle that lead for your point of sail?

As others have said, windward work can be difficult because of the imbalance of forces while working off of the wind is using the imbalance to your favor.

Large jibs pull the COE aft for more favorable balance while small jibs push the COE forward.

 

In medium to strong winds boats like the soling sail ok with just their jib. There is considerable leeward helm, but you can foot a bit to induce a little more heel and speed and they sail quite well to windward, though not as high or as fast as with boat sails. This really surprised me the first time I crewed for someone in a soling and we headed out to the race course with just the jib while he got some other things ready.

 

Thank you LP.
Bert

 

Thank you Jamie, much obliged. Bert

 

The following event happened almost half a century ago.

I've always hated sailing for a number of reasons, but this friend of mine had built his own wooden contraption called "Vrijheid" and wanted to take part in the "Marsdiep" race and needed a pair of extra hands.
Shortly after departure the weather deteriorated rapidly and we headed straight into a heavy thunderstorm. Unexpected forces ripped the whole rudder bracket from the transom, leaving us without this vital instrument. I considered this a life threatening situation and suggested distress flares, but my friend kept saying there was nothing to worry about because the mast was much more important and he would use just the jib to bring us home.

To me it was a memorable experience that seemed to take forever, but he really managed to bring us back to the harbor. If I remember correctly we even weren't the last to arrive.

 

Thank you CDK, lovely story. Yes when we were young, we all had many crazy experiences. Thanks, it confirms again my thoughts that it is a solution for me. Tomorrow, the Jersey boat show (UK channel islands) starts. Not many things are free anymore, special here in England, but the show is. It appears, at what I have seen yesterday, a well organised little show with even a jazz band. Now that attracted my attention. It appears to be a bigger boat show than in Cape Town. Bert

 

I wonder why you hated sailing. Too slow? In comparison to your motor boat? I am puzzled. In the olden days, sail boats had often up to 3 jibs and very few had 2 jibs. Would you know the reason? I haven't seen this on small modern yachts. They only have 1 jib raised at the time. Bert

 

Advances in materials, construction and handling make fewer larger jibs more practical.

 

Thank you, that make sense. Bert

 

When we have finished racing we head into the wind, furl the jib (roller furling) and then drop the main and pack it away. Then we unfurl the jib and sail back to the club house. Up wind is possible but well off the wind with a lot of leeway.

We here in Norfolk UK also have a Free boat show today, spread through the village of Horning in Norfolk. It was started a few years ago as a bi annual event but was so successful it was repeated the following year and is now permanent, getting bigger each time.
I'll be there as usual to answer questions about the Yeoman class, the sailing club and to get people to visit the club who are holding an event to try sailing.