On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:22:54 -0500, in message
lutions
lid (Jonathan Ganz) wrote:

In article ,
Dave wrote:
On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:51:51 -0700 (PDT), RichH said:

A headsail on a 'furler' can only be reduced by 30% SA and still
retain any good shape. Beyond 30% reduction and you wind up with a
'BAG" shape instead of a usable sail shape for any 'upwind' work.
135 X .70 = 95% So, you can reduce a 135 down to a 'working
jib' (100%) size without shape problems. A 150 can usually only be
reduced to a 105, et

That's consistent with what I've experienced. I generally end up taking a
second reef in the main before rolling any of the 150 in.

Doesn't that give you a fairly unbalanced helm? That's a lot of CE forward.

It really depends on the rig dimensions. In less than 20 knots on my
Hughes 35 (masthead, large foretriangle, short boom) the heavy one
(135%) with no main at all is well balanced.

Ryk