#Gennaker vs code zero professional

This allows a much larger sail to be furled without the need for a very long line and a large drum. Most foil-less furlers are driven by a continuous line, rather than a line that wraps and unwraps around a conventional furling drum. But if the drum itself has been attached to the boat using a block and a tack line led aft, it can be eased in the same manner under sail. On a bottom-up furler, the tack of the sail is attached to a fixed point on the furling drum with a shackle or a snapshackle. When unfurling and furling the sail, this tack line must be taut, but while sailing, it can be eased to enhance performance. This attachment can be made with a snapshackle, but to gain the advantage of easing the luff, you can attach a block to the swivel and lead a tack line through it and to the cockpit. The tack of the sail is then attached to a swivel atop the drum. On a top-down furler, the furling drum is always attached directly to a hard point with a fixed attachment, such as a shackle.

Easing the luff is usually most advantageous when flying the downwind sails used with a top-down furler. With a foil-less furling system, because the luff is flying free, it’s possible to ease it and let the foot of the sail rise. On a boat that’s not equipped with a spinnaker halyard, a crane can usually be bolted or welded to the masthead. Spinnaker halyards on masthead rigs are usually rigged on a crane above the headstay. The tack needs a fitting in a place on the foredeck that can be suitably reinforced, perhaps in the vicinity of the forward bulkhead. The head of the sail can be kept clear of the headsail furler with a halyard restrainer/ deflector fitted to the mast below the halyard box. Whatever the solution, to ensure many years of carefree sailing, it’s important to take into account that the sail will place quite high loads on the tack fitting.Ī foil-less furler can also be used to set a staysail inside the headstay. I have seen boats where a steel square bar has been fitted to the foredeck with U-bolts and a block shackled onto the end. Some people keep it real simple and put a block on the end of the anchor roller. The furling drum needs a robust attachment point far enough forward to get the sail out in front of the headstay.

If necessary, one can be fairly easily welded or bolted on. On a masthead rig, the best solution is usually a mast crane that projects the spinnaker halyard well forward of the headstay. On a 7/8 or 9/10 fractional rig, it’s easy to keep everything clear by running a new halyard (if there isn’t one already there) a little above the headstay. It’s important to keep the flying-sail halyard, the furler swivel, and the flying- sail headboard clear of the headstay and the top of the jib/genoa furler. In fact, that top swivel is new to the neighborhood up there and can get in the way, particularly on a masthead rig.

#Gennaker vs code zero professional

One of my dock mates, an Aussie who’d been a professional sailor when he was younger, warned me about how my furler might bind up at the top. But if the swivel has to sit lower for some reason, a torsion cable between the halyard and the swivel should keep everything from over-twisting. To prevent this, it’s important to be fussy when measuring for the furler. If it’s not hauled all the way up, the halyard will twist a lot before the furler gets going. When the sail is hoisted, the swivel at the head needs to be close to the halyard block or sheave. I fitted a deck-mounted retract- able bowsprit to project the tack of the gennaker well forward of the headstay, and I already had two spinnaker halyards at the masthead. As I already had the gennaker, I started looking for a top-down furler.įoil-less furling systems can be used on nearly any sailboat, but two primary requirements - an attachment point at deck level and a suitable spinnaker halyard at the masthead - might necessitate modifications to some boats. Top-down furling was developed for sails, such as gennakers and asymmetric spinnakers, that are designed for wider wind angles and have more material toward the head and convex luffs.Ī key benefit to me of a foil- less or flying-sail furler, as they are also known, is that I could hoist the furled sail at the dock, unfurl and furl it at my leisure without leaving the cockpit, and lower it after returning to the dock.

The tack of the sail attaches to a floating ring on the drum, so when the drum turns, the torque is transferred to the head of the sail and furling begins at the top.īottom-up furling is best suited to sails, like the Code Zero or staysails, that are cut for close reaching to beam reaching. For top- down furling, the torque rope attaches to the drum and is separate from the sail, to which it attaches only at the head swivel.

For bottom-up furling, the cable is sewn into the luff of the sail, the tack is attached directly to the furling drum, and the sail tends to furl from the bottom up because that’s closest to where the torque is applied.