Loose footed vs fixed foot mainsails

[John Stone]

I too went with lose footed main for the new sail after we added the taller mast to the Far Reach. I have used both but I see no real advantage one way or the other on a cruising boat. Like Jim Walsh I do not tie in the reef points. I also have my mainsheet blocks about 1/4 of the way forward from the end of the boom.

[Dick Villamil]

I really like my loose footed mainsail - makes it a whole lot easier to put on in spring and off in fall as well as adjust foot tension etc. As for flying fish, when I was sailing on an old NY32 in Long Island Sound we had just finished sailing in the fog all night in the Vineyard Sound Race when the wind picked up - when the flying fish landed on deck I and several others decided that it was time to get seasick (30 knots of wing and 8-9 foot waves on the bow). The next time I saw flying fish was in the Navy returning from the Meditteranean and the skipper had a few of up on the bow (oil tanker for unrep) and ha had the ships shotgun and boxes of shells. We all took turns shooting at flying fish as they leaped from the waves off the bow. Lots of fun ocean skeet shooting! The flying fish always won but it was a blast!

[Skeep]

I've read the articles and read this thread and it appears that loose footed is "la mode" these days. But there apparently isn't much difference as Jim mentioned and folks can choose their method.

As for flying fish, I will defer to my esteemed colleagues with more experience on them and their lively life at sea.

[tjr818]

On the Mississippi we have flying carp They go about 20-30 pounds each and you do not want to catch one. Another reason to go loose footed Luckily for sailors they don't seem to bother us, it is the high pitch sound of outboard motors that seem to set them off.

[John Stone]

Re flying fish. On our passage from Cape Lookout to the BVI this past December we saw thousands of flying fish. Some pretty big. We didn't find many on deck. Maybe two or three. I thought we would have more. I had planned to dry them up but we never had enough at one time to make it worth the effort. And to be honest, with all that up wind sailing double reefed in 25kots and 10' seas, I didn't really have the appetite for it. When I make the return trip (downwind--I can only hope) I'll make every effort to cook 'em up.

Regarding carp on the Mississippi--I have see those videos and that looks really dangerous. It ooked like a WW II bomber flying through flak.

[fmueller]

Just want to point out that one reason to tie off a reefed main (while strictly not necessary) with the reefing points is to keep the loose cloth below the reef from filling with water, either from rain or active seas ...

[John Stone]

I've never had that problem. The water just runs out. Reef points won't keep water out anyway. I agree with Jim Walsh on this one and I read the same thing by Hal Roth, he did not tie them in and he circumnavigated in a 35' boat and raced in the Around Alone several times and you'll never experience worse weather than sailing in one of those races. Not only that, trying to hang on and tie in reed points with the boat slewing all around in big seas is pretty scary. Putting a reef in the main on a no moon night with cloud cover a thousand miles from land with the boat trying to buck you off the deck is not for the feint of heart even without trying to tie in reef points. But, everyone has to decide for themselves. Thank God the government doesn't legislate how we have to do it though.

[mgphl52]

Thank God the government doesn't legislate how we have to do it though.

AB-SLUT-LY!!!

Also, once you go loose, you never go back... (sorta like free-wheeling... hehehe)