CD30 Cutter rig with Genoa, advise?

[Jim Newton]

Is anyone sailing their CD30 as a cutter rig and using a Genoa? Any problems when tacking and getting the large head sail through the small opening in front of the staysail? When I purchased “Alcyone” this summer the previous owner, who had sailed her as a sloop, advised against using the 140% Genoa while sailing as a cutter. He claimed that to tack successfully you needed to partially furl in the headsail. I spent the this season sailing her with the Yankee and Staysail, had a great time, except on those days when the wind dropped below 8 knots and I wished we had the large headsail up. The slot does seem small and even the Yankee occasionally gets stuck coming through the slot. We sail on Lake Champlain so we have a mixture of long single tacks and short quick ones as we travel down narrow bays. Advise?

Thanks,
Jim Newton
“Alcyone”
CD30



jnewt@oakeselectric.com

[Tom]

Is anyone sailing their CD30 as a cutter rig and using a Genoa? Any problems when tacking and getting the large head sail through the small opening in front of the staysail? When I purchased “Alcyone” this summer the previous owner, who had sailed her as a sloop, advised against using the 140% Genoa while sailing as a cutter. He claimed that to tack successfully you needed to partially furl in the headsail. I spent the this season sailing her with the Yankee and Staysail, had a great time, except on those days when the wind dropped below 8 knots and I wished we had the large headsail up. The slot does seem small and even the Yankee occasionally gets stuck coming through the slot. We sail on Lake Champlain so we have a mixture of long single tacks and short quick ones as we travel down narrow bays. Advise?

Thanks,
Jim Newton
“Alcyone”
CD30

Jim, I have a 31 but it's probably about the same. With the original high cut Yankee as Alberg designed her she tacks fine and the jib will pass through the slot. With my 140% genny it's no way, Jose. I have roller furling and I roll it up completely before tacking and then out on the other side. If I'm doing a lot of tacking I go on staysail and main. When I get on a long leg to somewhere out rolls the genny.



TomCambria@mindspring.com

[Larry DeMers]

Jim,

We sail DeLaMer as a cutter (of course), and use a 140% genoa on a roller/furler all the time. In light winds, the slot is too narrow for the sail to go through on it's own, so we roll the genoa in perhaps 1/2 of the way as we start to tack, then we unroll the furler fully, allowing the wind to fill in the unrolled portion, pulling it through the slot (it sort of bulges through the slot). What happens next is interesting. This bulge then pulls the remaining 1/2 of the sail through the slot on it's own as we are bringing in the sheet. This whole operation takes maybe 5-10 sec. to complete. It seems that the initial bulge that we form acts as a force multiplier when it fills with air, pulling the remianing sail through the slot on it's own.

In higher winds, the sail will tack on it's own just fine, but timing is important here. The sail will work best if it is not plastered against the staysail by the wind. Allow it to start tacking as it will..don't hold onto it to aid in tacking (the Cd's will tack fine without use of the headsail to push the bow through the wind. this technique *is* required on a Baba for instance).

Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 ~~~Sailing Lake Superior one last time Saturday!~~~

Is anyone sailing their CD30 as a cutter rig and using a Genoa? Any problems when tacking and getting the large head sail through the small opening in front of the staysail? When I purchased ?Alcyone? this summer the previous owner, who had sailed her as a sloop, advised against using the 140% Genoa while sailing as a cutter. He claimed that to tack successfully you needed to partially furl in the headsail. I spent the this season sailing her with the Yankee and Staysail, had a great time, except on those days when the wind dropped below 8 knots and I wished we had the large headsail up. The slot does seem small and even the Yankee occasionally gets stuck coming through the slot. We sail on Lake Champlain so we have a mixture of long single tacks and short quick ones as we travel down narrow bays. Advise?

Thanks,
Jim Newton
?Alcyone?
CD30

demers@sgi.com

[Chris Cram]

Ditto to everything already mentioned. The only thing I would add is our 140 is quite new and still very stiff we are forced to use the roll it up part way procedure. We have not been able to "time it right" and tack without rolling it up. Moving up from our 25D this initially caused some grief because we used to get great pleasure from short tacking thru narrow areas. We now think twice about short tacking. Sometimes the staysail is not quite big enough to preform well in light air: To maintain speed or rather recover speed lost while tacking in light air.

S/V Hesperus
Chris Cram
www.geocities.com/cccobx



cccobx@prodigy.net

[Larry DeMers]

Chris,

Give the method I wrote about a try. With new sails it may not work as well, but the method is very powerful. We roll in perhaps 30% of the sail as the tack begins, and then release the rolled in portion quickly, which fills with air, and that pulls the genoa through the slot. Lighter winds require that more be rolled in to begin with, and vice versa. Eventually with high winds, it will tack on it's own.

Cheers!

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30

Ditto to everything already mentioned. The only thing I would add is our 140 is quite new and still very stiff we are forced to use the roll it up part way procedure. We have not been able to "time it right" and tack without rolling it up. Moving up from our 25D this initially caused some grief because we used to get great pleasure from short tacking thru narrow areas. We now think twice about short tacking. Sometimes the staysail is not quite big enough to preform well in light air: To maintain speed or rather recover speed lost while tacking in light air.

S/V Hesperus
Chris Cram
www.geocities.com/cccobx

demers@sgi.com

[Catherine Monaghan]

Another option, providing you don't have to short tack, is to use a cruising spinnaker. Believe it or not, in light air, this sail can be used much like a genoa except it cannot be tacked. If your boat has a yankee and staysail combination, like our CD32, it's a must in light air when sailing off the wind and just as handy when sailing on the wind. We don't have a genoa as part of our sailing inventory and haven't found a need for one (not since we added the Flasher to our sail inventory). Whatever you decide, genoa or cruising spinnaker, in light air it's nice to have a larger headsail than the yankee.

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 <a href="http://www.hometown.aol.com/bcomet/real ... ization</a>, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

Is anyone sailing their CD30 as a cutter rig and using a Genoa? Any problems when tacking and getting the large head sail through the small opening in front of the staysail? When I purchased “Alcyone” this summer the previous owner, who had sailed her as a sloop, advised against using the 140% Genoa while sailing as a cutter. He claimed that to tack successfully you needed to partially furl in the headsail. I spent the this season sailing her with the Yankee and Staysail, had a great time, except on those days when the wind dropped below 8 knots and I wished we had the large headsail up. The slot does seem small and even the Yankee occasionally gets stuck coming through the slot. We sail on Lake Champlain so we have a mixture of long single tacks and short quick ones as we travel down narrow bays. Advise?

Thanks,
Jim Newton
“Alcyone”
CD30

catherine_monaghan@merck.com