"Capt. JG" wrote:

Errr... didn't you say you had years of experience? :-)

Oh Oh, I failed the terminology test. My experience is at sea, and not
browsing through the 'sailing for idiots' book.

I guess, due to the
head sail being smaller, you would have less sail to deal with, but the key
would be making sure you're in control to begin with. For example, most of
the time, a furler is just fine. In fact, it gives you lots of flexibility.
But, if you know there's a blow coming, having the ability to put on a storm
head sail would help a lot. I don't believe it should be either or, because
most of the time, you'd probably get better use out of a furler.

I never owned a furler, but have crewed on boats with them. I don't trust
the
things. They are good for racers, single handlers, and lazy people. Like
anything
else mechanical, they have the possibility of jamming, just when you need
them,
especially when trying to shorten sail in a blow where it can be down right
dangerous.



--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
Yes, folks. I misused the term, which I have heard mentioned around, but
always
thought it meant a distributed sail plan. However, my suggestion for that
still
stands.

Sherwin D.

Don White wrote:

Dave wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 00:10:22 -0600, sherwindu
said:


a fractional rig, that is one with more than one mast.


?????

What's with that??
I thought 'fractional rig' meant the jib only went a fraction of the way
up the mast.

sherwindu wrote:

I never owned a furler, but have crewed on boats with them. I don't trust
the things. They are good for racers, single handlers, and lazy people. Like
anything else mechanical, they have the possibility of jamming, just when you
needthem, especially when trying to shorten sail in a blow where it can be
down right dangerous.

"Good for racers"? Hardly not - they rarely set well when
furled and when not the whole mechanism is windage.

But that's not my point here. Where I sail, Adriatic and
Greek waters, we often experience unexpected, sudden and
very strong katabatic winds. It is impossible to predict the
onset of these winds that arrive instantly and soon raise a
short and steep sea. I was often caught out with a hanked
genoa up by these winds and found myself struggling on the
foredeck to lower sail with my wife on the helm fighting to
keep the bows up to windward. When one time the entire sail
was taken overboard after lowering by a wave breaking over
the bow and I had to haul it back, hand over hand, swept by
further waves, I vowed never to go through that again and to
fit a furling headsail.
That was fifteen years ago and I've never looked back, nor
had any problem with my furling system. One pull on a line
in the cockpit and the sail is immediately reduced or
completely furled. For me, "trying to shorten sail in a
blow" without a furling headsail "can be downright
dangerous", on a plunging foredeck swept by waves.

See details of the Adriatic bora wind he
http://www.istrianet.org/istria/mete...s-bora-adr.htm

BrianH.

BrianH wrote:


But that's not my point here. Where I sail, Adriatic and
Greek waters, we often experience unexpected, sudden and
very strong katabatic winds.

I too have sailed Greek and Turkish waters on many voyages
from my home base in Israel, and encountered many strong winds.
If you are refering to the Meltimi winds, they can be nasty. However,
I never had a problem changing my hanked on foresails. In a real fix,
you can always just drop the jib and sail with main alone. In my
experience, the winds never came up so quick that I wasn't able
to safely shorten sail or remove the jib.


It is impossible to predict the
onset of these winds that arrive instantly and soon raise a
short and steep sea. I was often caught out with a hanked
genoa up by these winds and found myself struggling on the
foredeck to lower sail with my wife on the helm fighting to
keep the bows up to windward. When one time the entire sail
was taken overboard after lowering by a wave breaking over
the bow and I had to haul it back, hand over hand, swept by
further waves, I vowed never to go through that again and to
fit a furling headsail.
That was fifteen years ago and I've never looked back, nor
had any problem with my furling system. One pull on a line
in the cockpit and the sail is immediately reduced or
completely furled. For me, "trying to shorten sail in a
blow" without a furling headsail "can be downright
dangerous", on a plunging foredeck swept by waves.

Maybe I'm just a traditionalist, but somehow roller reefing takes
out a lot of the romance of sailing. Also, as you mention, you cannot
get as good a sail trim and shape with one designed for all sizes, as opposed
to
different sails optimized for their size.



See details of the Adriatic bora wind he
http://www.istrianet.org/istria/mete...s-bora-adr.htm

BrianH.