Hi Matt,
I sail an Island Packet 38 cutter on the US East Coast and offshore.
I've sailed over 8000 blue-water miles with this configuration in all
conditions.

I recently switched my hanked-on staysail to a roller furler. The jib
is also on a roller. I debated the change, but ultimately found that
having both headsails on rollers (and eliminating the need to go on
deck to douse the staysail on 40+ knot winds) enhanced safety. I also
found that I now use the staysail a lot more since it only takes 30
seconds to deploy or douse the sail.

I talked with several sailmakers, but none had a way to use hanked on
sails over the roller furler foil/extrusion. I use my inner (staysail)
stay to fly my storm jib as well as the staysail. I had to modify the
storm jib by cutting off the hanks and sewing on a luff tape to match
the roller furler. Now, when we anticipate winds over 40 knots for
more than 6 hours, I go up on deck to pull down the staysail and put up
the storm jib. It's a pain in the neck, but I'd have to be up on deck
anyway if the whole thing was hanked on.

You're very lucky to have a choice of headsails. The high-cut Yankee
is a great sail for trade-wind conditions. I fly a Yankee and Staysail
combination between 15 and 25 knots. When the wind is over 25 knots,
you simply roll up the Yankee and go on staysail and reefed main. When
the wind goes over 35, we sail on just staysail. For summer/light-wind
conditions, I swap the Yankee for a 130 Genoa. With double rollers and
all lines led aft to the cockpit, you can simply "switch gears" from
the cockpit. This capability is a big help, especially when you have
crew onboard who are less experienced (and don't want to go out on
deck) or who are not that familiar with your boat. The ability to
quickly shorten sail is, in my opinion, a great safety factor
especially in weather when squalls quickly come and go.

As a final note, you can save more than a few $$$ with a used
roller-furler unit. I found a #2 Harken unit of mid 1990's vintage for
$400 in a used equipment shop in Wickford RI. (Compare this to about
$3200 for a brand-new unit!)

Hope this helps,

Jeff



Matt wrote:
Hi,
I've recently sold my main\jib TS and bought a cutter rigged ketch
and have come up with a few things I'm not too sure of.

I've got a yankee cut Jib and self tacking staysl I tend to use when
it's at all blowy or likely to be. I've also got a very large Genoa I
use when it's not. I thought that with the Genoa you keep the staysl
down as you don't want to smother the Genoa. I read a comment where the
staysl was used with a genoa. Is this worthwhile\possible with a large
genoa?

Now I know this one is subjective.........but, I feel very comfortable
with the jib\staysl cutter rig, particularily in bad weather. My wife
is keen on a self furler and I can appreciate that most of the time I
probably would find a furler made things easier.

Now the question is, given that our game is cruising , is it
(a)possible (ie how do you hank jib on with furler) and (b) practicable
to switch between the two?

I guess what I'm asking is do many cruisers actually do this.

O.k last question. I'm yet to fly the kite shaped spinnaker. Is this
sail set with two poles similiar to twin headsails or like a
conventional spinnaker. Is this sail only for running?

I've got a ways to go on the learning curve so hope these questions
make some sense.

Thanks