[Rhodes22-list] Soliciting Practical Advice

[Christine Allison]

> Genoa does fine furled up.  I got the rail bury a
> little in this pictures but I don't worry about things
> like that till the portholes go under the water.  Been
> there, done that too!!>

My purpose here is not to say you cant furl the 175 to whatever degree you
desire.  Neither do I deny that the sheets can be led in a fashion that
allow the sail (in its furled state) to be set so it draws.

Poor sail shape which results from over reefing via a furler manifests its
self via much less drive to windward and greater heeling at any given wind
velocity.

My proposition, and any sail maker will agree, is that severely reducing the
size of the sail via a furler leads to very poor sail shape and the
possibility of permanent distortion of the sail its self.

Any time you are burying the lee rail to the point where the ports are awash
is not good practice.  That's for many reasons not the least of which is
that you are sailing MUCH slower then you would with 16 to 20 degrees heel
which is right amount for just about any sailboat.  The Rhodes seems to be
very sensitive to being labored and I have observed the speed (via GPS) fall
off drastically at high angles of heel.

Excess heeling places a great deal of strain on the rig which could be
dangerous.

Remember once you reach hull speed the excess power generated by the sail
plan will manifest its self as heel not velocity.  It is much the better
procedure to reef the rig sufficiently so that the lee rail is seldom
buried.  You will be more comfortable, sail faster and be safer.

Richard Smith