Sun Cat Headsail (Jib) Seatrial 2

[capt_nemo]

This Seatrial was for the homemade "working jib" that I made to be self-tending in the spirit of effortless laid back Sun Cat sailing. It measures about 32.5 sq. ft., and is hanked on to an additional homemade quick release forestay that goes all the way to the masthead. The original quick release forestay was retained, attached to the foredeck cleat, to serve as a baby stay (can also serve as an original forestay for a small heavy "storm jib"). A set of homemade masthead shrouds were also added to the chainplates to absorb the additional loads imparted to the rig at the masthead.

The winds were a little brisk early on so I tied a reef in the main'sl to dampen the wind pressure aloft and the boat's motion while I concentrated on playing with the working jib. I tried a very simple single line sheeting arrangement that I read about in "The Good Little Ship" by Vincent Gilpin. Wanted to see if it would really work. One end of the sheet was tied off to the port chainplate then led forward through the clew of the working jib and over to a turning block on the starboard chainplate and then back to the fairlead and cam cleat attached to the starboard midship cleat.

As luck would have it Tom Ray was out sailing his Sun Cat and was kind enough to take the photos shown below.

This first photo is a profile shot at some distance which provides a good view of the modified sail plan.



This next photo, almost head on, shows the jib drawing quite nicely. You can see the double shrouds against the white main'sl.




And finally, a close up of a beam reach.



Overall I was pleased with the performance of the working jib. That self-tending single line sheeting arrangement did indeed work quite effectively. Detected a slight lee to neutral helm with reefed main'sl. Need to try it with full main to check the balance of the full rig.  Also need to try alternative sheeting arrangements to eventually include a self-tending club boom.

capt_nemo
Sun Cat "Frisky"

[bfelton]

The sail looks great; congratulations.

Bert Felton