headsail size for a Cape Dory 25D

[Dick Kobayashi]

I have one and use it once every other year, maybe. It is not the solution.

[tjr818]

Thanks to all for the good feedback!
One suggestion has come separately to me from another sailer friend: to use the working jib and then also carry a "drifter" sail (lightweight, ripstop nylon) when going downwind or reaching. It doesn't require a pole.
Do any of you have experience with a drifter? My impression is that (for those of us with roller-furlers) this requires a sail change and would thus be cumbersome, but I may be mistaken about that. It also may simply be too much fabric aloft for a 25D, except in very light air
Greg

Greg,
That is what we are thinking of dong for our 27. I think that there are "drifters" that are set flying, that way you would just have to furl the jib/genoa and hoist the drifter. That would require an additional halyard though.

[David van den Burgh]

Thanks to all for the good feedback!

One suggestion has come separately to me from another sailer friend: to use the working jib and then also carry a "drifter" sail (lightweight, ripstop nylon) when going downwind or reaching. It doesn't require a pole.

Do any of you have experience with a drifter? My impression is that (for those of us with roller-furlers) this requires a sail change and would thus be cumbersome, but I may be mistaken about that. It also may simply be too much fabric aloft for a 25D, except in very light air.

Greg

I made a drifter for our CD36 years ago, and we love it. We also have roller furling. Setting the drifter is a simple matter of furling the jib, rigging the drifter sheets, then setting the sail flying from a masthead block/spinnaker halyard. The drifter is a great light-air sail because you can use it through all points of sail from DDW to beating. You won't point very high with it, but you'll be moving under sail rather than diesel.

[Neil Gordon]

Has Joe Myerson weighed in on this thread? Joe went through exactly the same thought process in deciding Genoa vs. jib... I've never heard that he considered a drifter as something he needed for sailing on Buzzards Bay.

[tjr818]

I made a drifter for our CD36 years ago, and we love it. We also have roller furling. Setting the drifter is a simple matter of furling the jib, rigging the drifter sheets, then setting the sail flying from a masthead block/spinnaker halyard. The drifter is a great light-air sail because you can use it through all points of sail from DDW to beating. You won't point very high with it, but you'll be moving under sail rather than diesel.

Did you use a Sailrite kit? What weight clothe did you choose?

[Joe Myerson]

Hi Greg,
Let me join in here, because I've been sailing on Buzzards Bay, in various boats, for more than 50 years.

When I bought my 1982 25D, in 2003, the only headsail that was in good enough shape for conversion to roller-furling was the 100. I quickly noticed that it just didn't drive the boat the way I wanted--and comparison with another 25D in the area proved that.

Like Dick, I ended up getting a 130, although my sailmaker recommended a 110 for the afternoon southwest winds. While the genny doesn't keep its shape perfectly, it handles perfectly well when partially furled (reefed), and the sailmaker was right: When the wind gets up to 20-25 knots, I usually reef the jib to about 110, or maybe a little more or less.

The crucial factor is to reef the main at 15 kts. It makes all the difference. When I can, I reef at the mooring, but I've become pretty good at reefing under way. Just learn to heave-to. It's a great skill to master, and our boats do it beautifully.

Enjoy your new boat!
--Joe