CD33 and staysail

[Richard Stanley]

As CD33 owners will know, the original sailplan is "auxilary" cutter. My boat has never flown a staysail, since I've owned her anyway. I am moving to SF Bay and wanted to go with a staysail and roller furling yankee.

My question is this--club foot or not? I was reading in Cruising Under Sail by Hiscock, and he said club foot isn't worth it because of the foredeck (small already on the 33)is cluttered. He also mentions that the the sail will be smaller, as the boom must be, of course short enough to clear the mast and shrouds.

With the sheeted staysail, you can have overlap thus improving slot effect. Also, if you want to take down the stay to impove tacking ability when using a light air genoa, you can.

The chief disadvantage I would see is that the clew of the staysail in the non-clubfoot arrangement would have to be higher, and it is possible this would negate the advantage of overlap. You would also loose the self tacking ablility. My sailmaker, Max Skelley in Havre de Grace kind of pointed me in the direction of the clubfoot, but didn't have a strong opinion either way. I think he is looking at using 7 oz. per yard Dacron.

Those of you who have experience, share with me. Other references would be appreciated also.



rlstanley@mindspring.com

[larry m]

Richard,
On my 33 we found a 90% roller fuling jib with the ability to reef a few turns works best for the bay. We have a 130% but have not seen enough light air to warrant putting it on. It seems that on an average day we end up with a reefed main and anything larger than a 90% is too much. I see alot of CD30 on the bay using the staysail only in these conditions so maybe someone can commment on that. For us having a staysail just clutters the deck and that is where my avon likes to reside as towing in the bay or offshore is not advised. Also in your pendding move check out Latitude 38 the local magazine as they have good info on the bay. Seems to me they recently (last 6 months) ran a two issue article on the bay area marinas. The have a website-latitude38.com.

As CD33 owners will know, the original sailplan is "auxilary" cutter. My boat has never flown a staysail, since I've owned her anyway. I am moving to SF Bay and wanted to go with a staysail and roller furling yankee.

My question is this--club foot or not? I was reading in Cruising Under Sail by Hiscock, and he said club foot isn't worth it because of the foredeck (small already on the 33)is cluttered. He also mentions that the the sail will be smaller, as the boom must be, of course short enough to clear the mast and shrouds.

With the sheeted staysail, you can have overlap thus improving slot effect. Also, if you want to take down the stay to impove tacking ability when using a light air genoa, you can.

The chief disadvantage I would see is that the clew of the staysail in the non-clubfoot arrangement would have to be higher, and it is possible this would negate the advantage of overlap. You would also loose the self tacking ablility. My sailmaker, Max Skelley in Havre de Grace kind of pointed me in the direction of the clubfoot, but didn't have a strong opinion either way. I think he is looking at using 7 oz. per yard Dacron.

Those of you who have experience, share with me. Other references would be appreciated also.

lmace@gt.com

[len]

from my point of view, the greatest advantage of the club-footed staysail is that it is self-tacking - in a tight situation, e.g. sailing up a narrow channel, you can roll up the big jib and tack back and forth without losing much speed or control even if you are solo -



md.frel@nwh.org