On my last two boats, I have given the rigs a taller mast and thus more halyard drift (than on my Johanna). This has let me move the halyard’s slingpoint 5% aft of the middle of the yard. It could even be an idea to move it 10% aft. This has had two effects:

·         The halyard has a bit peaking effect with the sail hoisted, and the YHP (moved 2/3 up the yard) and the THP see lighter loads.

·         The sail furls fast and ‘by the book’.

These days I therefore encourage those who are to rig with a new JR, to fit a tall enough mast. It is easier to shorten a mast than to lengthen it. In addition, a better halyard drift gives more freedom to adjust the sail’s fore-aft position to get the steering balance perfect.

Arne

PS: Gary, great to see that you have crossed the ‘sound barrier’  -  seven knots. Only this summer did we manage the same in my Ingeborg. With plenty of wind from behind, and only 4 of 7 panels up, we stayed above seven knots for several minutes, and touched 7.4kts.

Gary Pick wrote:

One of Rosemary's photos from Saturday.

An excellent bit of sailing yesterday with David Webb.  We had everything from very light airs to 15 knots plus. Redwing broke her previous record of 6.8 knots and managed 7.2 knots. There was an ebb tide helping but I'm still impressed. It's good sailing with David I he knows how to get that bit extra out of Redwing.  This time it was one of us  on the foredeck equals an extra knot.:)

Rosemary has taken some excellent photos and video of Redwing sailing in in a good breeze.

Anonymous wrote:

One thing that is different in the handling of my sail since I added the batten pockets is the sail not longer drops evenly when reefing or furling. The aft end drops first....not sure why yet.

Got in another pleasant little sail last weekend, once again just on the river. I had a couple of mates onboard, one of whom is an excellent cook which made anchoring overnight in a sheltered spot extra nice. 

At the moment I’m gearing up for the next bit of rot repair, namely the starboard cabin side. To make the job as painless as possible I have precut the new ply sides and fibreglassed them. I will next primer and top coat both sides. I’m going to allow four days for the job which should be long enough. The plan is to remove the windows which will allow me to lay the new panels flush against the sides and mark the window positions. It should then be a “simple matter “ to set the power saw to the ply thickness just above the side deck and run a cut parallel with the deck. Remove the old ply, fit a buttstrap to back the bottom join then glue and screw the new cabin side in place. Then fibreglass tape the top and bottom joints.