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Jul 6, '04 9:17 AM
by Jesper for everyone

We went sailing with some not so experienced friends the other day. For some reason it just had to be (ask the missis). It was in 15 - 18 m/s winds, but it was no problem. The trip was only like 4 miles, but we had to tack and it took over an hour. The secret? the oldfassioned roller reefing on the boom, and the not so old fashioned rollerreefing on the forestay allowed us to reduce sails dramatically. the main was down to one foot above the struts, and the genoa was equally heavily reduced. We still sailed 5,5 to 6 knots against the wind, and healed only occasionally to the deck. The waves off course were not very big, but still, I think this is very good performance. We didn't meet any other boats on the water that day, and at the destination peole rushed to as if we were nearly shipwrecked. My girlfriend learned an important lesson: heavy winds does not allways mean rough or scaring sailing. Personally I'm looking forward to trying 20-25 m/s with even less sail rolled out. Our waters are very well sheltered, and I realize that big waves would make for another scenario.

Tags: general sailing

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4 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

msn-encore wrote on Jul 13, '04

Jesper,

I also enjoy the heavier winds sometime. And find the main roller somewhat awkward, can't get good sail shape. And the rig tuning seems off. One tack it turns up as it should the other it falls away. Not all Ballads are this way?

I sail on a lake of 90,000 acres and enjoy the speed and pointing ability of the Ballad.

jespermilling wrote on Jul 13, '04

I don't know if not
all Ballads have different sailshapes on different tack, the sail does roll on
the leeward side on the one tack and on the wind side on the other tack. I just
thik, as an alternative to either being confined to the harbour, or sailing
uncomfortably with too much sail, or even sailing by the reduced genoa alone,
its nice to be able to sail properly. And make good progress
too.

Venlig Hilsen / Kind regards

Jesper Milling, Fiskerv챈nget 12, DK5600 Faaborg,
+45 6261 8713

msn-jc0tton wrote on Jul 13, '04

The Roller reefing on the boom is convenient and on occasion I have been very grateful for it when having to reduce sail in difficult conditions when I've been out with my family. But it does result in a pig of a sail shape. I have looked at putting a line of reefing points in the sail to give me the option of using slab reefing when racing with a full crew.

I agree with Jesper that the Ballad can handle quite fierce conditions in surprising comfort. Its funny seeing you guys talk in m/s, around here wind speed is always given in knots. My boats instruments gives wind speed in m/s, so I'm used to automatically converting it to knots.

msn-patentnick1 wrote on Jul 13, '04

My boat came with the original roller-reefing boom, plus a couple of cheek blocks and a pair of ram’s horns for slab reefing. I have to admit that neither worked really well. Since I sail two-handed at most, I’m also skeptical about going to the mast to reef when the boat bounces around. I'd rather do everything from the safety of the cockpit. The first thing I did when I bought her (aside from renewing the rigging) was to install a mast track with Facnor roller-bearing battcars and change the boom to one that allowed internal, single-line reefing. The only modification to my half-batten mainsail was to sew attachments for the battcars. Also, the main halyard and reefing lines were brought to the cockpit. Finally, I spent some time making sure the lines ran freely through the blocks, with minimum friction. The transformation was amazing. Now, the mainsail can be hoisted really fast and it takes about 30 seconds to put in a reef--I've tried it in 38-40 knots of wind. Maintenance involves simply hosing down the battcars every now and then and occasionally pulling out the reefing lines to check for chafe. The price of the whole job was not unreasonable considering the peace of mind it offers. Since I have no photos of my set-up I've downloaded a photo from www.facnor.com Anyway, the site is quite helpful. As far as heavy weather sailing goes, a few months ago I decided to give a the high-clew No3 genoa a permanent position on the furler. I know that abandoning a No1 genoa may be sacrilegious but with one reef in the main and a full No3 the boat goes really well in nasty weather. The sail is cut flat, so that with a couple of rolls it retains its shape and becomes a No4. A relatively heavy-duty gennaker with spectra webbing in the luff (bought for an amazing 95 euros) is used in lighter weather in combination with the poled-out No3. It is obvious that I don't race, only cruise. I like keeping a firm eye on the sails and another on the barbecue.

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