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I am a new owner of a 1990 26s. I am a conservative sailor on our puffy inland lake. This is my first fractional rig. Which is better to maintain balance and sail in high winds, main only or jib only?

Just tried sailing into a good headwind last weekend, started with the jib and had a hard time keeping it pointed up wind. went to the main and had no problems. Of course within twenty min the wind completely died, and stayed that way for the rest of the weekend, but at least it was sunny

Short answer? Both only. A roller furling jib is the #1 improvement you can make to any Mac, and wiht a 150% genoa on it, you can quickly get any amount of jib you need. Reefing the mainsail is the next step.

You're way better off with 50% jib and 50% mainsail than you are with 100% of either in terms of control and performance.

If you're doing this to be lazy, go mainsail only but don't expect to complete a tack unless you're doing better than 4 knots.

Tom,

You'll be better off using both sails, rather than only one. Just keep your heeling angle to less than twenty degrees, for optimal performance. If your boat starts to heel more than that, I believe you should bring in both sails a little bit at a time. If you have a sudden gust of wind, and it makes you nervous, you should let go of the main sheet to depower the boat. The mainsheet is the "gas pedal" for this type of boat.

tomchitecture wrote:I am a new owner of a 1990 26s. I am a conservative sailor on our puffy inland lake. This is my first fractional rig. Which is better to maintain balance and sail in high winds, main only or jib only?

Hi Tom.

Were are you? update your profile and let us know where you are.

Tom,

Welcome to the world of Mac 26S sailing ! I started off in a puffy inland lake myself last year. Roller furl the gib first and then put in some reefs in your main sail. If the wind gets really bad (pending on the size of your lake and how quickly you can get into safety), you might want to think about a storm jib (or the fancy French Storm bag). Smaller but tougher.

Have fun,

Immo

Thank you all very much for your advice. The roller furling with a 150% genoa is the first planned improvement for NEXT season. My gut wants to do the main only for higher wind days and that seems to jive with consensus. I have pretty crispy new Dacron hank-ons that came with the boat. The main has 2 sets of reef points. I take delivery of her tomorrow and job-1 is to rig in the driveway and see what I have. I took your suggestion and updated my profile a little. Thank you all for your time and insight. I look forward to being a part of this class and this community.

I am in Cincinati, Ohio

When I bought a new main for my 26D, I asked them about putting in an extra reef point. They said that two reef points was over kill for these boats and I should consider my Mac a big day sailor. Instead of reefing the main, first take down the jib, the boat will sail good in heavy wind just the main, if it's still overpowered, then you can reef the main. Me, I head home.

I have the same problem running a strong wind with just the jib, and a reefed main doesn't do the best job by itself either. Unfortunately, I don't have a furling jib, yet..

I found using a reefed main, and the jib worked the best... Just had to get the wifey to steer and handle the main, so I could put some weight on the rail while handling the jib sheets. Of course, once we get the furling genoa, it will be a different experience. Should be coming in this week to install this weekend.. Yeah..

On the lower Chesapeake, we have been getting some strong winds this spring.... Averaging 20-25 knots of wind when we have gone out, with some gusts to 30 knots.

I had a nice sail late this afternoon, in a force 2-3, under jib only [105% CDi furler]. I was too lazy to raise the main, and having my wife aboard for the first sail for her this year, I wanted to keep things nice 'n easy. I've decided that a jib only is fine for a broad reach or downwind, but you really do need a main as well to point anywhere close to upwind, either that or start the engine, as I did. Using the jib on its' own upwind loses steerage way and of course, pointing ability, but off the wind it's really rather nice, and easy to control and wind up quickly, if needed.

Paul.

kitcat wrote:I had a nice sail late this afternoon, in a force 2-3, under jib only [105% CDi furler]. I was too lazy to raise the main, and having my wife aboard for the first sail for her this year, I wanted to keep things nice 'n easy. I've decided that a jib only is fine for a broad reach or downwind, but you really do need a main as well to point anywhere close to upwind, either that or start the engine, as I did. Using the jib on its' own upwind loses steerage way and of course, pointing ability, but off the wind it's really rather nice, and easy to control and wind up quickly, if needed.

Paul.

Keep the weight well aft if you're running jib only. With the center of effort forward, and weight forward the boat will be "standing" on the bow which is not nearly as stable as the stern because it's a deep V.

Matt

Yes, that's a good point, thanks for pointing it out.