would someone with lots of BCC sailing experience please tell me the
sail reduction sequence. Do you reef the main before striking
forward sail? Current sailmaker dogma is to reduce jib size to
number three or less before reefing the main.
Also, what is the easiest way to get a BCC to heave to ?
Thanks,
my new boat is about 60 days away from launce and lots of questions
are are starting to arise.
Jim Hiller
At 11:57 AM 8/11/2002 +0000, you wrote:
would someone with lots of BCC sailing experience please tell me the
sail reduction sequence. Do you reef the main before striking
forward sail? Current sailmaker dogma is to reduce jib size to
number three or less before reefing the main.
Also, what is the easiest way to get a BCC to heave to ?
Thanks,
my new boat is about 60 days away from launce and lots of questions
are are starting to arise.
Jim Hiller
Jim:
Tho’ I only have this summer on WhiteWings, my last boat favored
reefing the main first and I have continued the practice with 118. I have
gone as far as two reefs in the main w/staysail and jib still full. My jib
top is about 110%…the stock version. Seems to keep the helm nicely
balanced while retaining the drive of the jib. Regards heaving-to…I
would suggest finding a copy of the Pardee’s book on storm tactics…we
have very similar boats…
Best regards…Tom
Tom Harrer
S/V Whitewings III
Jim,
When I still had my jib-top (110) I always reefed the main first. Next was the staysail (if I'd been using it); then a second reef; then the jib came down and the staysail went back up. This would leave me with the staysail and double reefed main and she still handled just fine. Even going to weather at fair clip.
I once tried a third reef and a reefed staysail but by that time the seas were too big to catch much wind in the troughs and we had too much slatting of the sails.
But these sail combinations depend on the size of your headsail and the cut (and thus balance) of the main. (Our main is battenless and roachless but still requires a first reef in 20 knots)
When we replaced our sails in '98 we added roller furling on the headsail and went with a genoa (130). We still reef the main first but then roll in the geny a bit before having to go to a second reef.
For heaving too we still like the staysail and a double reefed main best. With the jib aback and the helm up just a bit, she settles down enough to make cooking and sleeping no problem. I note this because the BCC, despite it's heavy displacement, is fast enough to leap right off the back of a wave and drive through the next, no problem. Except it can be rough on the crew for extended periods. We have often heaved-to to enjoy a meal or a couple of hours of relaxation before continuing on. When you're on a long passage, there is nothing wrong with taking your time.
A fast boat is fun but you are not required to beat yourself up as some voyagers seem to do; then complain about how rough the trip was, ...and then brag about how fast they made it.
And congratulations on your new boat. Whoa...hull number 118. We are #22.
Stan "Waxwing"
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Jim:
Our BCC is equipped with the standard suite of working
sails. The jibtop is roller furling. Having sailed 115 for a little
over a year and a half we have found:
-
Taking a reef in the main first (just as many folks have advised)
really works very well. Substantially reduces weather helm and makes
the boat much more comfortable/manageable. -
After taking the first reef in the main and the boat is still
overpowered we have generally (assuming we were flying the staysail)
started rolling up the jibtop. If we are lazy (or I am by myself)
and I expect that conditions will improve I’ll often sail under
staysail and single reefed main. On the other hand, if the rail has
been in the water a lot and seems like it will stay that way we will
take the second reef and then roll the jibtop in or out as conditions
dictate. The boat will sail remarkably well under double reefed main
and full headsails. Although we have a third reef and storm jib
available I have not yet had to go there.
Congratulations on your upcoming launch. You are going to have fun.
These are truly wonderful boats
Pete
S/V TwoLoose
— jameshiller48025 <jhiller@ameritech.net > wrote: >
would someone with lots of BCC sailing experience
please tell me the
sail reduction sequence. Do you reef the main before
striking
forward sail? Current sailmaker dogma is to reduce
jib size to
number three or less before reefing the main.
My experience agrees with the reefing procedures that
other BCC owners have mentioned, specifically tucking
a reef in the main first to keep the boat balanced
while maintaining fullish headsails for power (we also
have our jib top with roller furling and we make
marginal adjustments). I think the bottom line is to
think of the headsails as delivering the power and
using the main to balance the boat.
The article on the BCC in Blue Water Sailing
magazine captures some useful experience from people
who’ve put in more time on their BCCs than I have.
I’ve appended a few relevant paras in the hope that
you find them useful (you can find the full text on
the web, and of course you can buy the back issue from
George Day).
Cheers
Bil
BCC116
From Blue Water Sailing, ‘Lyle Hess’s Bristol
Channel Cutter: “Go small, go simple, but go now”’…
Strong wind:
Wayne tells of a day on the bay when he was sailing in
company with Tycho and Kathy Horning’s Penguin No. 79,
which does not have a roller-furling jib. As Penguin,
a half-mile ahead, headed for the Golden Gate in a
rising wind, Tycho removed the hank-on jib from the
bowsprit and sailed under staysail and main, while
Wayne rolled in a little of his jib and decided to
close on Penguin. Odyssey cut the distance by half,
and Wayne saw “victory in his grasp,” until the wind
reached 20 knots and Penguin, with her main and tiny
staysail flying, walked away from Odyssey with all
sails set. The lesson: There comes a time to shorten
sail to get the most out of the BCC. “Now, the first
time it crosses my mind to reef, I reef,” says Wayne.
The usual reefing sequence, from full main, full jib
and staysail, seems to be: (1) tuck(s) in jib, full
main and staysail, (2) jib dropped (or rolled), main
and staysail, (3) single-reefed main and staysail, (4)
double-reefed main and staysail, (5) double-reefed
main and storm jib, (6) staysail or storm jib alone
(over 40 knots). In 40-knot squalls, Tom Linskey wrote
of “carrying on under staysail alone with his BCC
Freelance” and, between squalls unrolling about 6 feet
of jib, “just the clew radials, and even that tiny
flag of sail was enough to stop us from wallowing in
the seas and start us powering through them again.”
Tom Walker says that his Aloha sails well in 30 knots
with staysail and double-reefed main. "It’s quite
comfortable with that combination, he says. “She
doesn’t heel excessively, everything’s balanced, and
she points well. Going to windward in high winds and
square waves, he’ll motor-sail to give the boat more
drive and to charge the batteries.”
Light air:
“Once you get the BCC going, it has so much mass, it
just moves on through,” Wayne Edney says. “We know how
to tweak the BCC, and once we caught up with and
passed a J/30 in light air.” Tom Linskey also extolled
the light-air merits of his BCC Freelance as she
sailed to the Marquesas: “We are seeing the graphic
importance of light-air performance, a quality largely
lost by many cruisers who fall back on their motors
below six knots,” he wrote in Sail magazine. "Any
barge can sail in 20 knots of breeze … "
Tracking:
Tom Walker says his Aloha “tracks like a freight
train.” Once you get on-course and sails are trimmed,
you can just about forget steering. It will stay on
the course you set for long periods without touching
the tiller. “This is what you want for a blue water
boat. I have an Autohelm 2000, but I sometimes forget
to hook it up.”
On/off the wind:
The BCC tacks through 95- to 100-degrees, depending
upon the owner’s respective abilities to tweak the
cutter rig. The boats are known to be quite weatherly,
with minimal leeway reported by their owners. Before
Roger Olson became involved with Sam L. Morse Co., he
taped from the South Pacific: “I have done lots of
windward sailing and I’m still surprised how well she
points to windward. As long as the seas aren’t too
big, I can point 35 off the wind and make decent
headway.” Off the wind she thrives, as witnessed by
the succession of efficient trade-wind voyages logged
by numerous BCCs. “The boat can easily make 150 miles
per day in the trades with working sails only,” Olson
added. “I have made many 170-mile days, and some
slightly higher.”
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Jim-
I agree with the majority of the responses you received concerning
shortening sail.
I would add just three comments.
-
Shorten sail when you first think of it. It will be alot easier
then than it will be when you are rail down. -
In my opinion, whether or not to take a second reef in the main
before taking the first in the staysail depends on how you are
reaching. If wind is abaft the beam, I take the second in the main
first. If on a close reach or close hauled, I reef the stays’l before
taking the second in the main. Carrying more sail on the jib and
stays’l when wind is abaft or nearly on the beam seems to ease the
yaw induced by heavy following seas. Likewise, striking sail from the
foredeck when close up will help reduce undesirable leeway. -
I have a roller furling yankee headsail. It is usually all the way
in or all the way out. They are essentially ineffective at pulling if
they are furled in more than 25-33%. If less than 66% or so of the
sail is left flying, you add healing moments and leeway without any
benefit of pull. I will partially furl the yankee as a temporary
method of shortening sail when I have failed to follow comment #1
above. Even then, it still shows at least 70% or nothing at all.
Leaving a “spitfire” or “flasher” up does nothing to enhance boat
handling or speed and causes excess wear of the foot, leech and clew.
The bottom line is, do what works best for you and your crew. The
beauty of the cutter rig is that you have many options for the
various conditions you encounter.
For your info, my top speed thus far is 8.1 kts. That was with a 2x
reefed main, 1x reefed stays’l and furled in jib. Wind was Force 5-6
at a beam reach.
Good luck,
Cole Neill
S/V SIRIUS 80
PS-reef early. Or did I say that already?