On Sun, 07 May 2006 12:48:35 +0000, Mys Terry wrote:

On 6 May 2006 20:16:28 -0700, "Nikita" wrote:

I rented a Catalina 16.5 today, and being somewhat rusty and in an
unfamiliar boat, decided to sail it with only the main, figuring I'd
have less to worry about. Result: near disaster.

I couldn't tack the thing at all. It would come up into the wind just
fine, and then it would sit there, effectively stopping me. When
sailing even marginally upwind, it had horrible weather helm, trying to
come up into the wind all the time.

The Club 420 mast is much further forward than the Catalina 16.5, and the main
is relatively much larger. Without a jib, those differences could be very
significant.

This is the key. Boats with a larger main and smaller jib may
sail upwind fine with just the main, and vice versa -- masthead sloops
usually sail better with just the jib than just the main.

Matt O.