Staysail

[Scott Dunsworth]

What kind of conditions do you use a staysail? Also what points of sail do you get the most benefit?

Graham and I flew the staysail off his CS and he showed me how to rig it. And that was in some very lite airs. But we didn't get around to talking much about when to fly it.

Scott

[mustangermatt]

I can't speak to the Coresounds specifically since I opted to overcanvass my boat rather than add a staysail. But I don't believe they point really well, better off the wind a little. Thats just my limited experience from another boat.

I have about 17% more sail area than the plan calls for. I need every bit of it in most the winds around here, which are0-10 knots. I don't think a staysail would gain me much over what I have. I need to start depowering by luffing at around 15-18 knots. I currently reef by dropping the main and sailing on the mizzen with the board kicked back a little. I do this at about 22-25 knots. At 30-35 knots I head for cover as fast as I can, which in a coresound on a broad reach in this much wind is pretty darn fast :-)

Since I am using booms instead of sprits I am removing the foot batten from my sails so I can roll them up on the boom to reef in the future. A little better balanced I think :-)

[Travis Votaw]

Scott, I enjoy my staysail but haven't used it a whole lot yet. The times I have used it have been in lighter wind situations, but I think anything where the boat was sailing below hull speed would warrant using the staysail, on the proper point of sailing, of course.

Using it will increase your boat speed considerably - at least it does on Pilgrim. I went from four to six miles per hour ( measured by GPS) the first time I tried it. Wind was light off the starboard quarter at the time.

Sailing dead down wind, the mizzen seems to block the staysail to some extent. Maybe I should think of a way to pole it out like a spinnaker . I haven't measured the tacking angle, but it will point a little higher than a beam reach without any trouble.

I tried once to set the staysail with the main sailing "by the lee" but didn't have enough mainsheet to get the main out far enough to do it right, and forgot to have a knot in the end of my mainsheet, and let it slip through the mainsheet blocks, turning loose completely the mainsail :shock: That was a little embarrasing, LOL.

I haven't tried to set the staysail while singlehanding yet, but I believe I could leave the helm long enough to go forward to snap in the tack and come back to reeve the sheet and then hoist the staysail from the cockpit without too much trouble.

[smacrae]

It will be some time until I am ready to rig my CS17 - let's get real, the plans haven't even arrived yet - but sails and sail configurations interest me. Having never sailed using a mizzen stays'l, from reading these posts, would I be right in saying that it seems to be for use off the wind similar to a spinnaker? Which brings me to my next question: is a spinnaker ever used on a cat rigged boat?

[lsearle]

Ideally,a mizzen staysl performs best as a reacher.You can'tget much drive out of it too close to wind,and on more than a broad reach you will start backwinding the main.If you fancy an extra haly'rd or two,you could try a mizzen genoa for close reaching, and a mizzen spinnaker for tacking downwind. BUT, Grahames cat ketches are unstayed,so you cannot get the luff tension that will make manyof the usual complement of racing sails useful.For all this stuff try finding SAIL POWER byWallace Ross PUB. ADLARD COLES.Then again,remembering these are small light boats;fill her with liquid ballast,[ consumable],and in the company of a few friends,just experiment.

[Charlie Jones]

Pilgrim, and other of Graham's designs, use the staysail halyard as a backstay when the staysail is flying. That gets around the problem of over loading the unstayed mast. Of course you have to change the halyard over should you tack ( or gybe) but you don't often fly a mizzen staysail on short legs or when you anticipate changing tacks often.

[Scott Dunsworth]

Thanks for the info

I am going to order the stay sail after a few other needs are filled. Like a marine radio, berth cushions, swim ladder, navigation lights and finishing the inside.

Scott

[lsearle]

O K. Charlie,never too old to learn,where do we sheet the mizzen halliard.?

I have only the vaguest running rigging details on my B19 plans.I guess as a running backstay it will be about two thirds of the mizzen foot back,and as far out board as possible?HELP.

[Charlie Jones]

Travis will have to answer that for sure ( Graham is away showing boats) but I suspect he's sheeting to the stern cleats.

I've not sailed aboard Pilgrim when the stay sail was up.

[Travis Votaw]

Look at the above pic of Pilgrim with staysail up and you can see the staysail halliard cleat where it is mounted on the outside of the coaming (kind of in line with the mast). The cleat is actually mounted two feet aft of the mizzen mast.

Seems like Graham has said for the smaller boats that he would mount them around 16 to 18 inches aft of the mast.

If you mount it too far aft, you would lose some of your lateral stability for the mast, in my opinion.

I've had the staysail up in a pretty good breeze, and there was a pretty good strain on the mast, but the halliard did it's job very well.

[Howard]

Any chance a guy could set the staysail tack and clew on a rope bridle or traveler so those two could self tack? That way all you would have to worry about is swapping sides with the halyard.