As to furling genoas. You will be well suited with a 135. This will allow
you to have excellent performance in light 10 knots or less to moderate wind
11-16 knots. When you get to reefing the 135 around 22-27 knots you will be
more suited for sail shape. Unless you sail continually in strong to gale
fore winds. Buy a gale sail for those days. Furling sails are not made to
be furled more than 20-25% of their surface. Even at 25% sail surface area,
you are sacrificing a lot of sail shape and performance. Don't forget to
adjust your jib sheet blocks to better shape the sail as the wind speed
changes.

BTW if your racing don't even bother with a furling sail. Just buy an
assortment of jibs and genoas for every wind condition.

Jack



"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
I have just installed a CDI furling system on my 8.5 M S2 so am about
to buy a furling genoa. I only intend to cruise and rarely (never)
race and am wondering what size genoa to get.
What is the maximum amount I can furl a sail and still have it work
ok? I have read somewhere about 70% which means that a 150 can be
furled down to 105.
The furling sails made by CDI dont have the foam luff for better shape
when furled down so am not sure about them.
I can buy an offshore furling 150 off the shelf (already made and new)
for reasonable price but it is 1' too short. Is this ok or will it
hurt performance too much. This sail is probably better made than one
I would have custom made for my boat. It seems that this is a
reduction in area of about 2.9% only.
With this shorter sail, could I hoist it higher in lighter air and
lower in heavier air?