A suncat drifter (jib) for light air is highly recommended

[FireDrill]

SunCat sailors who sail where or when very light air discourages them should make a drifter!   It will change how you think of such situations.  I finally finished my drifter project in September (see separate posting on technical details) and did a day's worth of sea trials in October. .  Reading about Capt_Nemo's experiences and designs on this site encouraged me to try making one.  Now that winter is setting in here in the north ( 6 feet of snow in nearby Buffalo last week) and my boat is tucked away in its winter garb, I have time to write up my experience with my drifter.   I hope it may stimulate some off season projects for others.

The drifter  has changed my whole outlook on sailing a SunCat.  I live a distance from where I keep CatEase (my SunCat) which results in a round trip overhead  (home to leaving dock and return home )  of  nearly 3 ½ hrs .. I ruled out sailing on nearly a dozen days this year because winds were forecast as 4 or 5 mph (which often turns out to be 1-2 mph during mid-day),, I did not want to invest such time to just sit in the middle of Canandaigua Lake waiting for a one minute  5-6 mph "gust" every 10-15  minutes.. Then still and drifting again.  Yuk !... Now with the drifter I will be able to actually sail on such days, have fun doing it and experiment  w sail trim! Thanks Capt_Nemo.!

For the sea trial, my sailing buddy came down from Toronto , a 4+  hr drive  with border hassles and traffic.  On day one he was discouraged ,  seeing  little wind.   But he was extremely impressed by the drifter, not believing at first that we could actually sail with the glassy water conditions we found.  It made his trip very illuminating and worthwhile!  While we had very light air:  1-2 mph gusting to 3 or so,  the drifter worked like magic!  We were always moving, usually at a steady 1-1.5 mph sometimes almost 2 !   It performed just as Nemo said it would and I highly recommend it to other SunCat sailors! It did well on all points of sailing.   Day 2 was good wind and drifter trials were scratched.

Tacking worked well. The SunCat has a very small for-triangle   A bent PVC pipe tacking guard (Nemo idea)  attached at the top via the curved mast-hinge-pin  and at the base lashed to the anchor roller aft bail,  works great- nothing snags! (see arrow on lower right picture on page 1)  I did find that the sail's stiff head sometimes does not tack cleanly while passing below the forestay, so loosening/dropping  the halyard a couple inches  for a moment during tacks  fixed this.  I will experiment  with a slightly lower head position using the downhaul.  The drifter does sometimes like to wrap around the shrouds for a few seconds!- a good tug on the sheet fixes that.  I need to experiment with  tacking procedure, perhaps, I'm told,  back winding  the drifter  a bit during the tack - and then more smartly sheeting in.   Since the sail was cut down from a  torn spinnaker,  its shape and nylon composition enables filling  very nicely...
 
I have attached 2 laid-out pages as photos (rather than 6 individual pictures) showing the sail during the sea trial (p1) and at the dock (p2) Regrettably we had no photo chase boat for the sea trial,   unlike what seems to happen naturally for SunCatters in Florida ! (Ha Ha !) Therefore some pictures are near the dock. The rigging and other  technical details and more pictures will be covered in a separate posting "A drifter that launches from the cockpit" to be posted in a few days on the SunCat sub-forum and under Boat and Hardware Modification. Also find  other postings by searching  for words: Suncat jib (many threads)  or "Suncat with jib"  by Capt_Nemo who is the strong advocate and designer of several SunCat headsails and rigs and who has given me much good advice.




While a second sail may seem to detract from the fundamental concepts of simplicity, the hallmark of the Suncat, my drifter will be used only in light air when there is no other action and lots of time to set it up and trim both sails  .. My crew did not have to help at all for the sea trials.  Keeping it handy on the cabin top and launching from the cockpit when needed makes that pretty simple especially for single handers like myself (usually).

[Craig]

Very nice post! The catboat jib for light air goes back to the earliest days of the catboat and the "summer rig" sported by many early catboats. It also shows what an efficient little boat the Suncat is! Capt Nemo gets high marks for his experiments and the resultant data(an engineer to the core!). Catboats are a "jib optional' boat.  Kudos to you for your efforts! Hope others will consider the option of a catboat drifter. I may even look into one for Kailani!

[capt_nemo]

FireDrill,

Congratulations on a very well done Nylon sail conversion. Nice to read about a successful project, and a Sun Cat Skipper not only satisfied with improved light air performance, but excited about SAILING when others are drifting aimlessly or moving under "iron genny".

It was a distinct pleasure to provide technical assistance to a kindred spirit.

capt_nemo