Our preference was to rig an endless-line, code-zero type furler to handle the job of flying the drifter. A Solent stay can also be rigged to accommodate a second hanked-on headsail. The drifter also has the ability to drive the boat on any point of sail - not just a limited reach - and this is, in our opinion, the biggest draw over that of a large asymmetrical spinnaker (which may be two to three times the size of our drifter and more powerful on a reach, but not nearly as versatile, overall).Ī drifter can simply hank on to a headstay without an existing furler. With a moderately-sized drifter, the total square footage of the sail plan can be adjusted effectively, in increments. And, once again, it can work quite effectively on its own. For upwind work, it may be combined with mainsail or mainsail and staysail. It can work downwind, as one element in a double-headsail setup (either with or without the addition of the mainsail), and it can work, capably, all by itself. In very light air, our drifter is certainly our most versatile sail. And it’s surprisingly effective over a large range of wind angles: from 45° to 180° off the wind, close hauled to dead downwind. When our heavier, 9-oz Dacron cruising sails stall out, too heavy to be effective in much less than five knots of breeze, the drifter goes to work it will fill and hold its shape in the slightest wind. Upwind, downwind, any time the air gets light. A 100 percent, bi-radial cut, drifter does the job on our Tayana 37 cutter Anna - it’s a lightweight headsail, constructed of 1.5-oz nylon and can be used on the open ocean or along protected coastlines. A versatile, light-air sail can keep a heavy-displacement rig moving, or drifting under control, even in a breeze just two knots beyond dead calm.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |