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West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
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Hi Geoff,
That's a good thought, Geoff, but I don't think aa higher CE is the *main*
reason for the slight increase in heel that I noticed. I don't think the CE
is much higher on the reefed lapper than the strom jib. Perhaps a little,
but not much higher. We use both the lapper and the storm jib on our CDI.
The clew is the same height on both sails and when the lapper is reefed, the
geometric CE is pretty close on the reefed lapper as it is on the full storm
jib. I'll have to check that next time I have the two sails on my living
room floor, but I think my memory visual memory and drawings are correct.
I really think it's because you get a baggy shape if you reef the lapper by
50%. The deepest draft is right at about the luff when you reef 50%.
Redwing's custom-made storm sail is about 40 sf, which is about what we
reefed Chris' lapper down to. But the 40 sf of our storm jib is ALOT
flatter than the shape we had on Chris' reefed lapper. It was easy to see
it. There was a really deep curve in the sail right at the front. There
was no way to trim the angle of attack as flat as I can on the the storm
jib or depower the jib really well.
The heel wasn't overly excessive on Chris' boat with the lapper reefed to
about 50% of it's original size, but I thought it was a little more
noticable than what I'm used to when Rdwing's rigged with the storm jib in
similar conditions. It's hard to compare the two boats across a period of
several weeks, so I can't be really sure of that. It was just an impression,
not something I could actually measure.
In addition to discussing "weird ways to reef that don't work well and how
to fix it", I was trying to inject some data into that old debate about how
much you "loose" when you get a CDI, compared to hanking on a smaller sail.
There definitely was a measurable loss of 5-10 degrees of pointing ability
and about a 3/4 knot loss of boat speed (down to a still respectiable 4.7
knots) with Chris' boat rigged that way, compared to my Redwing with a
stormsail and first reef. Even with the loss of some performance, it was
nice to know that if you get caught out there with the wrong headsail in
highwinds on the CDI, it's still possible to have fun sailing the boat, and
get home in comfort and safety.
In my opinion, reefing a lapper down to the size of a storm sail isn't a
substitute for owning a stormsail and choosing the right headsail before
your leave the dock . But it's nice to know that you can reef the lapper
down to half the size and still enjoy the sail.
And, as for 198 knots of wind, we all know SF Bay is infamous for REALLY
high winds <BG> (Obviously it's a typo. I meant to write 18 knots, like
the previous sentence mentioned)
Judy B
1985 WWP #266 Redwing
SF Bay, CA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: GSTahoe@aol.com [mailto:GSTahoe@aol.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2000 10:19 AM
> To: wwpotter@tscnet.com
> Subject: Re: Balancing the helm when reefing
>
>
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> West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
> dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
> List hosted by www.tscnet.com
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> In a message dated 3/27/00 10:08:15 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> DrJudyB@pacbell.net writes:
>
> << 'd never tried to sail Redwing with full lapper and 1st reef
> in the main;
> we always reduce the headsail area before reefing the main. If we're out
> with the lapper and the wind gets to about 18 knots, we reef the
> lapper on
> the CDI. When we're expecting over 198 knots, we usually fly
> the storm jib
> and full main, and then if we need to reduce sail area more, we
> put a reef
> in the main. >>
>
> Judy,
>
> I believe the reason you felt more heeling with the reduced
> lapper than you
> would with a storm jib is that the lapper on the CDI is located
> higher above
> the deck than a storm jib would be. This puts the CE very high
> on the boat
> and reduces the drive and increases the heeling. This would
> contribute to
> very poor handling. On the other hand, based on your paragraph
> above, if you
> fly a storm jib and full main in winds of 198 knots, you have a lot more
> cajones than this skipper! :-)
>
> Geoff
>
> P-15 Lollipop
> Sail (hull?) number: 1961
> N. Lake Tahoe, NV and
> Monterey, CA
> Next venue: Tampa Bay, FLA
>
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