1220 Sail Question

[Guzz 0]

Helped the owner deliver his new purchase from Tauranga to Auckland over the weekend.

 

The new boat will be out in the SSANZ event this weekend and then into the squaddy b division.

 

Over the weekend we switched from the number 1 to the number 2. Both sails are cut to fit the roller furler.

 

The No 2 is a North Sails and it has strange edition on the port side of the luff. On the sail there is extra small bag sown onto the port side of the sail running up the luff. Inside the bag it feels like there is rope which runs up to the top and then seems to double back down to the bottom. It seems to interfere with the airflow over the sail.

 

The only thing we could think of is that it has something to do with the roller furler but frankly that was an un-educated guess.

 

Any helpful ideas would be appreciated.

[Marshy 30]

They are called Luff Flatteners. Designed so that when you roll the sail partly away to reef it, then the sail rolls oval and flattens the centre of the sail out to keep the shape right. Works quite well and most sail makers will put them on cruising sails like that. Either rope or Foam.

[Guzz 0]

Cheers - that makes some sense now

[B00B00 310]

Yes Marshy is right, we used to use foam which was a lower profile than the rope but help more water and promoted mildew and mold. It also had a habit of shape memory and on light days it would stay curled.

The rope although more bulky generally works better.

Not idea for racing boats but good for a cruiser who often uses the sail partially furled.

[Kestrahl 6]

On the D35, I have a rope luff flattener on my cruising dacron No2 which we have used quite successfully racing partly furled or unfurled when its been to windy for the carbon No1. It was actually quite surprising how well it was going.