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Spindrift S10 sail material?


William

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I have gone over the plans a good number of times and I cannot seem to find the specified material weight for the sail.

 

I live in Port Elizabeth, South Africa's "Windy City". The sail should be able to handle 15kts, gusting 20+, if I do not want to greatly limit the available opportunities to sail.

 

Any suggestions for changes to material, camber or size of the reef (if any)?

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Hi William,

I bought a secondhand mast and sail from a Laser. The sails are almost the same shape and size and has performed great.The only issue is reefing. You have to wrap the sail around the mast which isn't the best. If you are going to buy a new sail, just ask the sail maker what would he recommend.

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I can't help with the material weight, but had to say I loved driving the Garden Route a year ago September through your area.  Beautiful country!

 

That's why the locals call it Eden!

 

 

Hi William,

I bought a secondhand mast and sail from a Laser. The sails are almost the same shape and size and has performed great.The only issue is reefing. You have to wrap the sail around the mast which isn't the best. If you are going to buy a new sail, just ask the sail maker what would he recommend.

 

Thanks Alex,

Full Laser rig or Radial?

 

What is your experience sailing in different wind conditions?

 

I see the plans show the same sleeved luff design with the mast open where the sail is to be reefed.

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Full Laser rig on a Spindrift 12 so you may want to go the next one down for the 10. It is a blast when it starts planning when one up. My son and I regularly sail and I have only reefed and handful of times when things are getting out of control. Below is a picture with the new sail I bought from i-sails.post-3160-0-22272400-1479757380_thumb.jpg

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Some more questions, if you have time to answer:

 

How do you find the mainsheet layout for sailing either solo or two-up? When tacking, do you move over to weather ahead or aft of the sheet?

(I must have recieved the wrong drawing sheet

 

Is your new sail rigged with a halyard?

 

I notice that the laser mast rotates while the Spindrift's is fixed - are there benefits or other implications for going with one or the other?

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I went with the suggested location for the main which is easy to tack aft one or two up. The new sail is basically a training Laser sail, which has a sleeve. Yes the mast does rotate with the boom which causes no issues that I have found. Below is the website where you can purchase from in the US.

 

http://isails.com/laser-store/

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William,

 

Whether the mast is fixed or rotates depends on the gooseneck. All goosenecks need a vertical axis. The horizontal axis can be the mast as Laser does or can be in the gooseneck like most of the commercially available goosenecks have.

 

If the gooseneck has a horizontal axis and the mast rotates you will tear up the gooseneck. The boom vang puts a forward load on the gooseneck which causes the mast to over rotate, say to port. When you tack over to starboard with the over rotated mast, the boom vang component is still holding the mast to port and the boom has to go to starboard which will be beyond the limit of the gooseneck. If there is plenty of wind, there are only two possibilities, you break the boom or the gooseneck. 

 

With the mid boom sheeting which I prefer on the S10, it is best for the helmsman to slide round on front of the mainsheet and switch hands with the tiller extension and main sheet. After a little practice you will like it. We played around with end boom sheeting which had two negatives, the sheet running forward under the boom often drooped down on the skipper and caught on your head or life jacket plus when running in light air the long mainsheet would droop in the water dragging the boom back toward the boat. The former problem could be solved with loops to support the mainsheet. If you move the mid boom sheet forward, you lose leverage and put more bending load on the boom and giving up some sail control. 

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Thanks Graham.

 

Are there any disadvantages in choosing the rotating mast option (assuming appropriate gooseneck)?

 

Would the vang attachment have to move onto the foot of the mast as opposed to the angled ss plate as per the plans?

 

Just another questions about the rigging -

 

Is the reefing cringle on the leech (reef-clew?) situated above or below the batten?

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William,

 

About the only disadvantage with a rotating mast would be wear inside the mast heel. Carlita's mizzen mast rotates. I made a glass tube to aid in installing the mast and to take the wear. I also laid several layers of glass under the mast heel for wear and to absorb the shock of the mast being dropped into the step. That may be overkill on a Spindrift.

 

You cannot put the mast into the step if there is any hardware for a vang. It would be easier to attach the vang to the base plate. It will tighten slightly when on a run but the mast bend would absorb it. It would not bother me as I always adjusted the vang when off the wind as well as the outhaul and downhaul for the sail shape in the current conditions.

 

The reef point is below the bottom batten.

 

There was mention of the halyard earlier in this string. You only need a halyard if you want to reef. Here is a video of reefing a Spindrift on the shore.

 

 

I believe that we were the first to reef a laser style sleeve luff sail.

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  • 5 months later...

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