GOING WIRELESS FOR EASIER CRUISING

Unstayed rigs make so much more sense than stayed rigs, reckons Nic Charman, so why are they still the exception?

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Look at all those masts and rigging in the marina! Hold on - is that one with no rigging? What's holding the mast up? And why would anyone want a boat that seems so different? How odd! Well for some of us, there is another preferable rig and for very pragmatic reasons.

THE GENOA - THE PROBLEM

In a recent article, Rachael Sprot dealing with various techniques for managing a Bermudian sloop downwind. So why is that such a helpful article for cruisers? Simply because most cruising yachts have this form of stayed Bermudian rig, where you hang the foresail on a stay, and where downwind sailing is not its easiest or best characteristic.

The reason is clear. The genoa, often at least 50% of the sail area, is only controlled as an efficient aerodynamic foil shape on a close-hauled course with sheets tight; ease the sheets, however, and the genoa loses its efficient aerodynamic profile. It is only in its most efficient shape when the clew is under tension by sheets led aft. Offwind, since it does not sit on a boom, its shape becomes a deeper, rounded cord, and it loses that aerofoil profile as when close-hauled. And if partly furled on its luff, of course, it tends to be more rounded in shape – even upwind.

Then, as you come off the wind, and deeper than the beam reach, the foresail will come under the turbulent wind-shadow of the mainsail, becoming just a flappy passenger, not an efficient worker. To keep it contributing to the boat's forward progress, you have, as Rachael says, some choices: you can to sail closer to the wind than you ideally want meaning wider downwind tacks and a longer passage; you might douse the main and set the genoa alone; you could set bigger offwind sails; pole the genoa out to windward, or roll it up completely.