Sailing in gusts

[JustStartin]

I was at local lake today and saw several sailboats sailing with only a genny and no main.  The conditions were a bit gusty but not too unmanageable.  I asked myself what would be the advantage of sailing under a genny rather than the main if the decision is to go with just one sail.  I think I'd like the peace of mind of being just under the main that way I can let out the mainsheet quickly in the event a good gust came along.

What are your thoughts?

[Billy]

I would say just the opposite. Especially if you are going down wind. Don't have to worry about acidental Jibing, and you can't luff your main going down wind. Also, if it is a small boat (like our 19s) you can hold the Jib sheet with your hands and let it out in a gust.
Now going into wind....yea just a main is the way I go, in heavy wind.
But sailboats are designed to sail with the center of effort and the center of resistance balanced, and the way to do that is with BOTH sails up. Sometimes it's easier to just raise and work one sail. But again, boats are designed to sail best w/ all their sails up.

[BobK]

I agree with Billy that it is best to balance the boat whenever you can.  Having said that I would also have to take into consideration weather or not you have roller furling or not.  With furling you can quickly shorten or eliminate the jib.  I solo sail my 23-2 90%  of the time and first reef the main then furl the jib as the wind increases.  Today in SC we had steady 17-20 mph with gusts into the 30's.  I double reefed the main before I went out.  I found I under  estimated the wind gusts and put water into the cockpit twice before shortening the 135 about half.  This worked fine and averaged 5.7mph into the wind and 6.6mph reaching and running.  In hindsite I should have let out a little jib then increased it until the boat became less stable.  The good news is the cockpit is clean.     

[HideAway]

  In all but the lightest air HideAway, a 23, is out of control if I sailed with only the jib and hardly tacs at all with only the main - although I haven t tried main alone since we changed to a loose footed main.   The others are correct you must maintain balance.

Rolling up the jib is not the best way to do this because it will damage the sail over time.  Some roller furlers have foam strips in them that keep a good sail shape until the foam falls apart.  The best way to reduce sail is to use your reefing system and put up a smaller jib.   We have one set of reef points in the main and we carry a storm jib.  That set up has brought us through some very rough situations in relative comfort and great safety.

[newt]

We are all addressing the same issue here, which is how to decrease sail on our little boats in a symetric way (so that they will continue to sail well) On my 23, the roller furling jib does not really do its job after it is more than 30 percent in.  I do not have anything sewn into it, although I am considering that modification in the future.  My main has two reefs in it. I tend to follow a protocol with increasing wind: 1. put a first reef in the main. 2. roller furl one third. 3. roller furl completely. 4. second reef in the main (down now to about 30 % of the main) 5. Seek shelter and or go home.
I don't know if this is the correct way, but it seems to work for me.  When I am sailing with the main only, I often need to let it out to get steerage. If I have it too sheeted in it overpowers my rudder and just heads to wind.

[Craig Weis]

Sailing in GUSTS...

"Don't cleat or jam nothing down." Keep that main sheet in your hand at all times and let her play in or out to dump wind.
I hate to waste wind but sometimes I reef. Or just sail on the head sail and I have head sail sheets long enough to control the sail from the windward side of the boat.

skip.

[gmerrill]

My brother and I were out a couple a months ago in some 16 knot sustain and 20-25 knot gusts.  We sail a compac legacy 16 1/2 ft.
we had the main and jib up and not reef.  Not to smart.  But the boat remain stable and by letting out the main as the gust hit I was able to
handle it just fine.  It work me to death and i had to pay close attention, so next time i will reef the main.  i don't know if there is a storm jib availible for a boat my size.  That legacy is one tough boat and very stable for it's size.

legacy

[Salty19]

I suppose the strength of the gusts would be important to know.

Only having sailed the CP19  7 or 8  times my experience here on this boat is low.  But the 19 seems to shake off gusts with no problem at all. Barely makes it heel further, it just goes faster.  I'm only using a 110% jib and will reef early if I suspect conditions will be changing. 

Typically I'll see the gust coming based on rough water approaching.  At first I would point up a little but found it wasn't needed.  I'm talking about 20-25mpg gusts (with partially furled jib and main), so not too strong considering that sail plan. 

On the 16 when big gusts came along, it was an exercise in dumping wind as fast as possible by releasing the mainsheet.

Seems the best way to take them on the 16 was to reef early and let out the mainsheet if that wasn't enough. I don't think of reefing as using the brakes but rather powering for the conditions. I may be reefing all day at 15mph and find it more comfortable to sail that way and without loss of speed.

I don't hold the tension of the sheets in my hand but rather have them both ready in hand to release when conditions are suspect. I'm using quick release camcleats though.   If I have to hold them in my hand due to bad conditions, I'm dropping sail and motoring.  Too much work!