Spindrift 12 vs Amanda

[Peter HK]

To add my 2c worth re reefing a small dinghy, I have a few suggestions:

 

1 A standing lug is quite a good choice and reefing is relatively easy...see the photo below of my shortened Welsford Golden Bay dinghy and the link to a short video of demonstrating the reefing system.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvCr8EBKS64

 

2 Zippered luff can be done 2 ways. One way was the way I did it on my Bolger folding schooner which was based on Wharram's soft wingsail. With this the luff pocket is large so it acts partly like a wingsail with an aerodynamic entry, but also is large enough to compress down on itself forming a lot of little folds. Thus it can be dropped/reefed without any unzipping. The downhaul and halyard are best attached to the sail at the front of the mast.

Here are a few photos

The top photo shows the dropped sails with the luffsock compressed, the second photo shows the size of the luff socks (and that we needed more luff tension that day) and the third photo is from a Wharram site showing how the large luff sock collapses when reefed - this is the 4th reef.

 

From memory I think Graham chooses a zippered luff with only a small luff pocket and unzips up to the reef point when reefing. Another alternative is to have a sock from head to reef point and one or 2 loops around the mast below the reef so the sail can drop easily.

No doubt there are other alternatives.

Cheers

Peter HK

 

[Howard]

I don't think reefing with the stock sail plan of the Spindrift is the issue, at least not with me. That is ease the vang, let the halyard go, tug on the reefing line......tension the halyard and tension the vang. That can be easily done, in very little time, while on the water and even while sailing along.

 

What is not so easy, at least when one is on the water and when the wind is up, is to hoist or drop the sail and especially so if you are forced to do it from within the boat (no dock, no mother ship, etc). Since the sail has a luff sleeve, the sail has to be threaded onto the mast before it is hoisted. You have to do that up front in the narrow part of the boat, where it (boat) will be dancing around. Hoisting the mast also includes dealing with the boom, which is pinned to the mast through the gooseneck. Once the sail is up, it will stay up until you reverse the process to bring it down. That means in all conditions, it will either be full and drawing or slack and luffing. If the wind is really up (last time I did this there were whitecaps on the water), hoisting and dropping the sail can become a real concern. So my preference, under those conditions, is to have a sail that can be fully raised and lowered by the halyard alone, which means no luff sleeve.

 

So if a person really wanted that configuration with the stock sail, they could replace the luff sleeve with grommets and lace the sail to the mast. The laces won't be as aerodynamic, and may hang up on the mast section transitions, but that may be a trade off you live with. Or, as others have suggested, have a partial sleeve at the top and either lace the sail down below or use sliding rings. Same idea, different method of doing it.

 

Option B, which is what I'm exploring, is to retain the stock sail and it's superior performance for times when I want to go fast and or when I know I can rig and launch from the shore, and for other times use the standing lug rig that can be hoisted and doused on the water and while sitting down on the center thwart. In addition to being able to hoist and drop the sail, and reef the sail, the mast is shorter, using only the two lower sections instead of all three. The shorter mast is lighter and takes less effort to wave it around.  Again, in that configuration, I'm fairly certain one will be giving up performance, but in exchange for safety and ease of operation when doing this on the water. On the other hand, while the balanced lug can be reefed, it is not nearly as simple as the jiffy reefing on the stock sail plan.

[Chick Ludwig]

I really would like to be able to drop the sail. I'm still wondering why a sail can't be provided for a sail track using the standard Spindrift sail plan. Seems to me that it would be the best option. How about it Mr. designer?

 

I've had no experience with the standing lug like Amanda has. Would that be an option for the Spindrift, and provide good performance? Is the Amanda sail big enough? How about CE location? How about a 4 cornered sprit sail with a boom? 

[Ilya Cheshkov]

I like both designs, Amanda's hull is looking more simple to build. But why is it at least 30lb heavier being the same size as spindrift 12? Does it provide more stability or place?