A blog about sailing a 36 ft sailing boat with junk rig
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  • Sailing!

    Posted on August 12th, 2007 matti No comments

    This is the first trial sail of Linnea.

    Getting readyReady to sail

    Getting readyLashing tha last lashes

    Idas pictureIda took this from ashore. She can come next time, I promise.

    ParentsMy parents.

    RunningRunning.

    SailingSailing

    Mast topMast top

    Lazy Jacks etcLazy Jacks etc.

    As seen from the harbourAs seen from ashore. 

    Conclusions:

    - We haven’t got the Lazy Jacks sorted out yet.

    - We need to stretch the sail more along the battens.

    - It is a bit heavy to hoist. But we have some optimizations left to do.

    - We might add a downhaul (as in the plans).

    - The sheet isn’t reaved the correct way.

    - The lowermost batten is too thin.

    - We should cut the battens so they don’t extend past the leach, the sheet can get caught.

    - And we have some other bugs to sort out…

    We tacked through about 110 deg true, not pointing. and made about 5 knots in light wind. Running at 6,5 knots. Quite good if you consider we didn’t actually try to trim the sail. She tacked without any problems and hold a straight course by herself while we let go of the tiller.

     

    13 responses to “Sailing!” RSS icon

    • speachless

    • Your work is an inspiration!

    • What a beautiful boat! I especially like the picture as seen from ashore. It is absolutely beautiful. It is great to hear that it sails so well and you have not even begun to tune it up. Congratulations.

    • Thank you!
      /m

    • Fantastic, Matti….I hope to finish my project and follow your wake soon. How tall is your mast? What made you choose a single stick over two? Any pictures of your interior and lastly, what are your plans?

      the best of luck to you!

      Neil (s/v SEA ELF)

    • Congratulations. Been following the last few posts with bated breath.

    • Hi, the mast is about 38 ft above deck, if I remember correctly. All reasons but one favor a single mast. It is lighter, easier to get more sail area without double sheets, simpler, less expensive, more efficient. The only reason to use two masts is that with one sail of 800 sq ft the sail is heavy to hoist. But then you only need to hoist one sail.
      No, we don’t have any pictures of the interior right now. It is difficult to take pictures of it that are meaningful before it is painted.
      Our plans are to play with the boat for two months in the water now to learn as much as possible about it and the bugs that needs sorting out and then take it out of the water to work on the interior during the winter.
      Regarding where we want to sail after that, we don’t know, but we have ideas. Probably not south. We like Norway, Shetland and Scotland, so maybe a revisit there. But we might change our minds.
      /m

    • Stuart Crawford

      Matti,
      When you say the sail is heavy to hoist. How hard is it? Can one person do it with a winch? Does it take more than one person? How long did it take to raise? How difficult would it be to reef, given it’s weight? Would there be much difference in weight if it was made out of the cloth specified in the plans?
      Stuart.

    • Magnificent. Next 2 months should be fun.

    • Stuart. I will try to write a more detailed post about how heavy the sail is to hoist later when I have evaluated it a bit more. But the first and only time we have hoisted it yet I was quite short of breath afterwards. It was quite quick though. One stood at the mast and hoisted and someone else took up the slack. Then the last panel was winched up.
      There isn’t much resistance when using the winch at high gear for the first part and low gear for the last panel of the sail. I don’t know how long it will take that way though, so I will come back about that. I am curious. how far up my six year old daughter could get the sail.

      I don’t think our sail is much different in weight comparing with the plans. We haven’t optimized the weight at all yet, though.
      - The yard is much too heavy in solid spruce. Tom made plans for a hollow yard for me. But we haven’t had time to build it. It should be about half the weight, if I remember correctly, we could half the weight of the yard. Now the yard is even about three foot too long.
      - When I hoisted it we didn’t check that the running lines were let out without friction in the most efficient way.
      - The battens are on both sides of the sail, since they are too thin. It is lighter to use one thicker batten on one side and only a thin strip on the other.

      So I am quite certain we will be able to hoist the sail in all conditions without much problem. In sheltered waters or calm conditions one can hoist by the mast quite fast. Otherwise we can use the winch. It might take longer, but with a junk sail you could always hoist a part of the sail, start to make way with that, and hoist the rest later. Probably even on a dead run.

      Also remember that with two sails you need to hoist and trim two sails. (Sounds silly but i hope you see my point.)

      We don’t need to use the winch for the yard hauling parrel or the luff parrel.

      I can also add that we tried reefing the sail with great success one panel at a time right down to the last two panels. It is a great way to just slow down the boat when maneuvering in close quarters.

      It was also possible to use the luff parrel to position the sail either with very little overlap in front of the mast possibly a good thing while beating, and with maximum overlap, for a balanced running.

    • Congrats! Looking really nice!

      I took the liberty of putting a link from my site:

      http://www.craftacraft.com/s/y_linnea_-_blog_about_sailing_36_ft_sailing_boat_junk_rig

      Take care… I’m looking forward to new entries!

    • Tjena familjen!
      Ser verkligen helt otroligt ut! Sara och pappa sitter här med tefatsögon och vidöppna munnar och undrar – “Hur sjutton bar dom sig åt?”
      Det lyxiga skrovet med den naturliga masten, ihop med det spartanska bamburöret, vilken vacker kombination!
      Låter som en saga, men vi vet ju att den är helt verklig, tycker att ni är fantastiska!
      Kram från hela familjen Olofsson i Gbg

    • Tack!
      /m


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