Riding Sail

[Boyd]

Hi All:

Does anyone use a riding sail to quiet their boat at anchor. My boat hunts incessantly if there is any wind at all. Its like she is on a mission to unset the anchor.

If so:

What type/size?
How flown?
Does it work?

Thanks for the input.

Boyd
s/v Tern
CD 30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale,Fla.

[Ed Haley]

January's issue of SAIL has a brief article on how to build and rig a riding sail on a sailboat. You can rig it from the backstay or the topping lift. Check it out!

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi Boyd,

We use an anchor riding sail on our CD32. It's a Banner Bay Pointer -- Pointer #2. We know the owners of Banner Bay Marine and helped them with product testing. We liked the product so much that we purchased the sail we were testing. When we mentioned to Jesse that the sail helped ALOT but Realization still sailed a little bit at anchor, he asked us to return the sail we had and he upgraded us from Pointer #1 to Pointer #2. It really made a difference. Anyway, we like and use it alot.

Here are a couple of photos of what it looks like on our boat.

<a href="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/C ... .jpg"><img width="540" src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/C ... 0.jpg"></a>

<a href="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/C ... .jpg"><img width="540" src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/C ... 2.jpg"></a>


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Bob Ohler]

We fly one on the Aloha Spirit from the backstay and it does help. Ours came from Bacon and Associates in Annapolis. They are new/used sail brokers, but ours was new one made by Tasker, complete with sailbag.
Good luck and good anchoring!
Bob O.

[paul marko]

You might want to look at the Sailrite catalog, if you are handy with a sewing machine. In my last years catalog they have a model for boats up to 32 for $80.00 vs. about $ 250.00 for one off the rack.

Paul Marko
cd 28 Ixcatl

[Steve Laume]

I had picked up a storm jib for our Typhoon. After discovering the CD-30 liked to sail at anchor, I found a better use for the storm jib. I sewed on larger hanks and rig it on the back stay. It seems to help a good bit and it was basically free because I had already bought it for the Typhoon. I guess if we sheeted it properly we could sail backwards, Steve.

[M. R. Bober]

I had picked up a storm jib for our Typhoon. After discovering the CD-30 liked to sail at anchor, I found a better use for the storm jib. I sewed on larger hanks and rig it on the back stay. It seems to help a good bit and it was basically free because I had already bought it for the Typhoon. I guess if we sheeted it properly we could sail backwards, Steve.

Steve,
I'm sure you could sail your CD backwards. I have (blush), but it still won't steer.


Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where the temperature is finally winter-like), MD

[Steve Kuhar]

While a riding sail is the recommended solution to sailing the anchor, I have found that using a bridle on the anchor line also works fairly well. It is a little bit of a pain to rig one, but it does settle the boat down. I am a single anchor advocate, and have anchored out successfully in two hurricanes with an oversize CQR, and a chain and nylon rode with the bridle spliced into the anchor line about six feet forward of the bow. This method also evenly divides the load over two chocks and cleats. I have done this in my 25D, but have not yet tried it on my 30. It would seem that on the 30 this method has the additional value of keeping the line off of the bobstay.

Steve Kuhar

[chase]

Steve K,

When you say the bridle is spliced into the anchor line, do you mean just that? How do you adjust for anchoring in deeper water? Althopugh I'v never used one, I've a picture in my mind of a pendant type program that one could snap into chain rode on each side.

I guess I don't follow, do you mind elaborating? I'm curious about using a bridle. In certain conditions the rode does lay right down on the bobstay and creates some chafe.

Chase

[Dean Abramson]

Cathy and Bruce,

Do you disconnect your main halyard to hoist the riding sail, or have a spare halyard? Or what? Also I am wondering about the feasibility of pulling a spinnaker halyard back to use for this.

I was just about to ask my sailmaker if he could make me a riding sail out of part of one of my old sails. I have not anchored in a lot of wind in the new boat yet, but the 25D always hunted a lot.

What was the difference between the Pointer #1 and #2? Is the #2 flatter? I am assuming the flatter the better here, no?

I would love to hear more comments from anyone about anything having to do with riding sails.

Dean

[Steve Kuhar]

Chase,

I think of anchoring under three different conditions, and use three different methods. The first condition is when I am anchoring for a short period, or for when I am expecting that I will have near calm conditions during the night. In this situation I just lead the anchor line over the roller at the end of the bowsprit, that is the way the anchor is normally stored, and is the easiest to do.
Condition two is for when I don't know what to expect, but I want to be prepared for a blow. In this case I reroute the anchor line to come through one of the fairlead chocks to a bow cleat. Since the pull is now no longer directly over the bow I now have a windward side, and I believe that this is the primary cause of wanting to sail the anchor. To prevent this, after I anchor, I tie a short length (about 15 feet) of line between the chock and the cleat using a rolling hitch or a camel hitch. I then route the line around the forestay and back through the opposite chock to the other bow cleat. I now ease the anchor line (helping the hitch over the chock) until the pull on both cleats is equal. This does not totally prevent the boat from sailing the anchor, but it seems to help considerably, the trips back and forth the across the harbor are a lot shorter.
Condition three is for hurricane mooring. In this case I am not happy that a rolling hitch or a camel hitch (a rolling hitch with three turns instead of two, and a double half hitch instead of a single) or any of the riggers variants will not slip on the anchor line. A bowline would not slip, but it weakens the strength of the anchor line, and you will never get it undone after the storm. For this situation, after I anchor, I splice the short line into the standing part of the anchor line just aft of the cleat, and then route and adjust the lines as in condition two.
I now have distributed the load between two chocks and cleats, and have gotten a straighter pull through the fairleads, which I protect with leather chafing gear. There are entire books written on anchoring techniques, and I would never presume to second guess them, but I believe that most people prefer the methods that have worked for them, and I have returned to my boat after two hurricanes (Erin and Opal) to find it setting prettily exactly where I left it, as if nothing had happened; that is a really good feeling.

Steve Kuhar

[Mitch F]

Of course instead of getting a riding sail you could just leave your mizzen up.

[rtbates]

We use to deploy one of Sailrites riding sails made from their kit. We still have it. But what I've found that works better and is much easier, is to simply anchor by the stern. She sits like a duck. I didn't come to this on my own. I read thishttp://jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_14.htm and gave it a try. It works!!

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi Dean,

Cathy and Bruce,

Do you disconnect your main halyard to hoist the riding sail, or have a spare halyard? Or what? Also I am wondering about the feasibility of pulling a spinnaker halyard back to use for this.....

.....What was the difference between the Pointer #1 and #2? Is the #2 flatter? I am assuming the flatter the better here, no? .....

We never leave the main halyard attached to the mainsail, we always move all of the halyards around so that they don't slap, whether we're on the boat or not. Right before getting underway, when the sail covers come off, that's when the main halyard gets connected to the mainsail (which is looped under the winch so that it can't move) and the staysail halyard is connected to the tack shackle for the staysail until we're ready to use that sail.

Anyway, yes, we use the main halyard to hoist the riding sail which is attached to the backstay via hanks. There's also a tack line which we attach to a bridle which is connected to each of the stern cleats. The line for the clew goes forward where it can be attached to the mast or a fitting on the bow.

Banner Bay Marine offers several different sizes of riding sail. Pointer #1 is their smallest sail and is for boats less than 32 feet. Realization is a 32 footer (34 if you include her bowsprit) but she is also heavy, so Pointer #1 wasn't quite big enough though it did reduce the boat's tendency to sail at anchor. The Pointer #2 sail, which is larger, seems to be the perfect size for our boat. You'll find the dimensions for each of their riding sails on their web site at:

http://www.bannerbaymarine.com/

They also have a really neat line cleat which they call a "Rope Tie" and looks like this:



which makes it easy to attach the clew of the riding sail to the mast but I'm sure you could find other uses for it as well.

Fair winds,
Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[chase]

Steve,

Thanks- I can see that clearly now. That seems like a terrific use for a rolling hitch.

Cathy, I thought that was your backstay flexing under the tension of the sail. On closer inspection I see it does not. Thanks for the rigging explanation....

Steve, I like your idea of using old sailcloth and sewing on some big hanks.

Chase