On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 11:54:04 -0000, "Nigel"
wrote:

I have a cutter rigged Bruce Roberts 53, who's working sails comprise a main
sail, stay sail and yankee both on piston hanks. Once the wind reaches f3/4
she sails well, but struggles in light winds, so I'm planning on buying a
genoa. I like the simplicity of a no1 genoa with piston hanks, but it would
be a sail of about 1000sqft and weight in the region of 35kg (75lbs), which
could be a bit of a struggle when short handed. The alternative is to fit a
roller furling/reefing genoa, that would have the advantage of easier
handling but I would be giving up the yankee, and unless I also did away
with the staysail, or put it on a removable stay, it would be difficult
tack. I have had suggestions of twin forestays etc, but I like to keep
things simple. Is it unrealistic to think one person could handle a 1000sqft
headsail in light ish winds. She is fitted with Lewmar 65 winches and the
headsail could drop into a turtle type sail bag, but I know 500sqft is often
quoted as the largest easily handled sail. I'd appreciate any
experience/opinions.
Thanks and seasons greeting to all

www.jassira.com

This depends a great deal on your own level of fitness and your safety
practices, not to mention the way in which you sail. A 53 foot Roberts
is a large boat to be handling singly, and while I understand your
desire to improve light-air performance, you are never going to have
in that boat a vessel that glides over the calm sea like a racer does.

If you are a daysailer, I would say to go for furling, as the chance
of mechanical failure and the potential loss of your staysail outweigh
the difficulty of handing a giant No. 1, never mind stowing it, solo.

But if you do long-distance passagemaking, you might be better off
sticking with the tried and true set-up, and maybe getting a Code Zero
or an asymmetrical spinnaker that can be "socked" for downwind work.
In distance work, especially solo on a big boat in a non-race
situation, the point is to arrive alive, and hank-ons on a 53 foot
cutter sailed solo are likely safer (broken up sail plan vs. one giant
genoa) in the long run.

The easiest idea would be to bring along crew, I suppose, so two of
you can handle a big genoa quickly if the wind pipes up and you have
to douse. You'll want to consider a genoa downhaul to at least get it
on the deck. Having blown out a No, 1 due to getting surprised by
gusts when rounding a headland, I recommend them.

R.