[Rhodes22-list] Shortening Sail

Thu Aug 7 03:00:13 EDT 2025

Hi Paul,

Enclosed are 3 photos of my boat.  The 1st shows the mainsail laid out on the ground.  As you can see, I have 3 jiffy reef points.  To use reef points 2 & 3, I have to remove the lower batten.

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The second picture shows my boat on a light air spinnaker reach.  As you can see, I fly my triradial spinnaker with a spinnaker furling sock.  You can see it in the photo all bunched up on top of the sail.  There is also a spinnaker pole vang.  But, on this light air day, it wasn't necessary to keep the spinnaker pole level.  As you can see from the nearly calm water, we are still moving in almost no wind.

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The 3rd picture shows some of the details of my foredeck.  My boat is rigged to fly a triradial spinnaker as well as a cruising spinnaker.  As you can see, I have a bimini top as well.

[cid:2f9b051a-685d-4d1d-9127-35332d9ace5f]

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
1976  Sanford, MI
________________________________
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> on behalf of Paul Rhodes <plrhodes29 at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 6, 2025 11:44 PM
To: The Rhodes Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Shortening Sail

Hello All,

I’ve finally gotten our new-to-us 1990 Rhodes 22 out on the water, and it was a blast!  Two separate days on Lake Murray near Columbia SC, both with forecasted winds of 8-10, yet very different actual strengths.  First day out, my elder son and I discovered that “New Mercies” moves very well in light to moderate air.  Second day out, a friend of his and I discovered that her full rig is way too much for whatever we had, which I would guess at 12-15 mph, if the first day’s 8-10 was accurate.  However, the flared gunwale held firm and we flew!  Our rails are well washed.

Given that our two sailboats for the last 4 decades were a heavy wooden 22ft gaff fractional sloop and a 40 ft yawl of a more classic Phil Rhodes design, I found the Rhodes 22 to be much more responsive both to me and the weather, for better and for worse.  She’ll make me a better sailor too.  And I have some questions:

First, I’m curious to know if the sail numbers relate to the order of construction, as they do in many classes.  “New Mercies” wears #444, and we don’t have any evidence of a different number or previous name.

More importantly, when the Commodore comes aboard for a cruise, I’m pretty confident that she will prefer a more level boat.  For those of you like us still using a non-furling main, how do you shorten sail?  As we needed to on our second day, we simply rolled in the jib a bit.  It worked, but was pretty sloppy. Any thoughts on keeping the jib shaped when it’s partially furled?  Our jib furler is very simple: just the sail track with a disk on the bottom that for the most part keeps the furling line off the deck.  Not sure whether this is what other boats have, but so far it works.

As for the main, there is a second grommet that could serve as the tack for a first reef, but no reef points.  However, the fittings on the boom are only at the ends.  It seems like I could reef to any amount (at least up to the first batten) by simply taking the boom out of the mast track and rolling it to take on the sail.  I like the concept - similar to what was on our yawl.  Yet with the boom detached unlike on the yawl, I could see that this might become a very lively operation if we didn’t reef early enough.  Does anyone have experience or thoughts about this?

Finally, we’re in the market for a Boom Room, Bimini, and boat cover.  I’ve left a few messages and sent a few emails about them with no replies.  It seems likely that we’ll need to have them made.  Does anyone have plans or patterns we could use?

Thanks so much.

Glad to be part of the Rhodie band,
Paul and Nancy Rhodes
S/V New Mercies
Chapin, SC and Savannah, GA

Sent from my iPhone
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