Head sail vs Main sail

[Phil Prater]

Recently, while on chags boat in San Diego, I noticed lots of boat, probably a majority, sailing on just the main. Don't see that much around here. I have always been lead to believe that on a masthead rig, the engine is the foresail. For me, when just having a lazy day, not interested in getting anywhere in particular, not in any hurry to be anyplace, and just kickin back, I use the foresail only. This is much simpler than taking off a sail cover, untying the sail and raising it, all requiring deck work. Am I the only truly lazy sailor around, who just enjoys being on the water, and not wanting to put forth much effort to do so. Since I'm older than most, maybe it's just that. How bout the rest of you. Or is always WFO, balls to the wall, as fast as you can go.

[zeehag]

was nice having phil over here on my side of the earth --addendum to his--i was always taught the main sail is the driving sail on a sloop and the jib is the pointing sail----i was taught on gaff rigging so i donot know if that has anything to do with the discussion or not--i did observe one of my naybores trying to get to his mooring under main alone---wasnt able to point---centered his dinky under his rudder perfectly instead of avoiding the thing!!--his is a cutter.....but i am still noticing many of the dago-ites using main alone--rarely does anyone use jib alone.....interesting observation......

[Liv]

I see both here, head sail alone or jib alone.
I think it all depends on the boat, sail set up, how it takes to the wind.
With our small sloop, CS 22 , in light air, the jib alone will not do. I loose steerage.
In heavier air, I get away with just the jib, which is what I prefer if not in a hurry to go anywhere.

[h]

I remember one icident where our engine conk out, due to dirty fuel filter.

We tried to go by mostly rolled in Genoa alone, with the thinking that it would be easier to roll the Genoa once close to our penn.

How wrong was the thought. We never tried this set up before. And with small section of the Genoa alone The helm can not counteract the Genoa. IE no steerage. Most of the time the Genoa will make the bow point downwind. It does not matter where the helm is pointing.

We have tried main alone, and that works well. Perhaps because the center of force is more central to the boat's center.

Worth trying these set up on your boat, when trying to make a selection whether to use Main or Jib alone during tight maneuvers.

On open waters I prefer main alone, because there is no tacking the jib & sheets involved.

[Liv]

I read you and totally agree with you.
We've sailed with the main alone, in med/heavy air, and the boat reacted good. Other times, with the main alone it didn't, depending on the wind direction. We're relatively new to sailing [ 5 years ] so the learning process NEVER STOPS...LOL

[___/)ances With Sails]

Hey Phil,,,just a quick responds to bein 'older or bolder' -I think its more of about bein bolder.
I tend to be lazy as far as what I wanna deal with as far as work goes. I know my boat will fly w/ jid alone if the winds are just below mediocre, but I'll sure fly th main just to get speed and extra adraneline from a day of effort.
Dont refrain from gettin insane and pushin yer balls to th wall. Experience is gained from workin the reigns 'n livin it all fer th haul.

A good nights rest is left fer th best that has left nothin to test.

___/)

[Veranda]

Might be a maneuverability thing. I'll go anywhere with the main up but I'm more careful when the genoa is up.

We always put the main up first, then its a simple matter to unfurl the genoa. If I have the genoa out and decide to put up the main it becomes a pain in the ass. If we leave the genoa up when we try to raise the main it screws up the airflow when we head straight up wind to hoist the main. The main will do its best to tangle in the lazy jacks. Not to mention that the genoa is beating the shit outta me at the mast base. We gotta furl the genoa, raise the main and redeploy the genoa.

Bill
s/v Veranda
Veranda422.blogspot.com

[John Shasteen]

Simple rule of thumb - it all depends on your boat. Try it both ways and see which works for you.
I always thought the main would be best as well - mostly because Paloma is an old time IOR, MORC downwind racer. But, following our enduring the March '08 storm in the Gulf and loosing the mainsail, we had to sail back from Tampico Mexico with just a 110 working jib. We had good SE winds off the starboard quarter beam and 5-7 foot following seas - we made it back to the US (100+ miles) in just a little less time than we would have made it with both sails and probably better than we would have made it on only the main.

[David Royall]

In general, I will use my mainsail alone to stabilize the boat when traveling more or less upwind. It seems to act as like the wing of an aircraft, balancing out the keel that functions as the second wing.

In some circumstances, I use the headsail by itself when the wind is aft of the beam.

Naturally, this all depends on quality of the wind, sea state, and my general attitude at the time.