CS17 3rd mast position performance

[Randy Jones]

The chain on the mooring bouy at my vacation rental gave way yesterday and I had the pleasure of sailing my CS17 off a lee shore in high wind.  Would have lost the boat to a concrete bulkhead if not for a kind stranger.  I waded an anchor out as far as I could to pull the boat off the beach and get things stable, then moved the mizzen into the 3rd mast step, reef it and sailed away.  The only real problem I had is that the boat would not point well and was difficult to tack in 15 knot winds and 2' chop.  It didn't seem to matter what I did with the center board or rudder.  What are the tricks to sailing performance using a single mast in the middle positon?  I'm wondering if I would have been better off with just the main or the mizzen in their original location, but which one?  What single sail do you use in an emergency? 

[wkisting]

Hi Randy,

I've heard some folks mention an ability to sail under just the mizzen, in its usual (aft) position. I haven't tried that, but I would think it might give the same troubles (or worse) with pointing that you were having since the sail area isn't well balanced over the CB in that case. Did you have the CB all the way down? I've never had trouble getting the CS to point at least as high as 55 degrees off the true wind, often even closer than that.

In 15-knot winds, I would sail with both sails at full sail. A bit intimidating at first, but not if you hand-hold the main sheet. You quickly realize that any unwanted/excessive heeling can be immediately corrected by letting out the main sheet a bit. Feels very stable/predictable in those winds, I think.

Alternatively, I would reef both sails. I didn't install the third mast position in my boat, so I can't compare performance, but my CS20 sails superbly with matching reefs in both sails.

[PeterP]

Randy, I sail my 17' with the mizzen in the third slot. I do this because I never got around to converting my sleeve sails to track - so this is the way for me to reef. The main is furled up and left standing, the mizzen moves up and away we go ( hopefully!). Bear in mind the cat ketch is less efficient at pointing than Bermuda rig and -in my case- leaving the main standing with a bundle of sail wrapped around it some dirty air gets thrown at the mizzen. Not good for peak pointing ability. Also, keep in mind that -with one lesser sail - your boat lost good chunk of it's driving power  and punching into 2' slop with decreased umph will make for trickier tacking. Leave a little belly in your sail to give it draught. I know the natural tendency is to flatten the sail as much as possible when it pipes up, but flat sails do not have much power in them for pointing. You need all the power you can get to punch through the slop. In the Small Craft Advisor No 64 an interesting article about Capt. Munroe's Presto describes how the preferred way of reefing cat ketches in the blow back then was to drop the main and sail under mizzen alone. Several articles worth reading including one by our own John Turpin. PeterP

[wkisting]

In the Small Craft Advisor No 64 an interesting article about Capt. Munroe's Presto describes how the preferred way of reefing cat ketches in the blow back then was to drop the main and sail under mizzen alone.

There's a mention of that in Parker's The Sharpie Book also, which is a great read even apart from the few tidbits about the ketch rig.

[Tom Lathrop]

I often sailed my BRS 15 under mizzen alone.  I found it would tack well enough in 15kts as it would sail into the wind, but not very high.  

This was not a rig that I could recommend for normal sailing though.  I used it primarily for sailing into a beach, dock or launch area most of the times I sailed the boat.  It was possible to sail off a lee shore though I don't know how it might work in really strong wind.   The unbattened main was laced to the mast so it was just rolled up.  

[Randy Jones]

Thanks everyone.  I think I had the reefed mizzen sail too flat and wasn't getting enough power out of the sail.  I'm going to try it again under more controlled conditions.  I'll play with the centerboard position too and see if it works better partially raised instead of fully down.     

[ecgossett]

I found a copy of The Sharpie Book by Reuel B. Parker at a used book store while I was still in Washington. I would recommend this book, a lot of the construction details will give you interesting reasons behind stuff in the Core Sound plans. The book even had some good ideas and construction practices, also some interesting history.

- Edward