New mainsails

I’d like to give folks the heads up on some sails that have become available from Elliot Pattison the original supplier to Samlmorse. They are full battened three reefed for less than half price. Go to their website and look under used sails. I only wish they had become available before I bought but that’s life…

Could be a great deal for some, I know there has been lots of chat about it on the forum.

Thanks for calling that to my attention. It pushed me into action about finally getting a new mainsail. I had not seriously considered a FB main but now I am excited about it. So I ordered the sail from Elliot Pattison. I hope I like it. I do race my boat so I am looking forward to getting some better upwind performance. Now for the jib?

Ron Thompson
Ho’okahiko 97

Pleased to be of service!!

Here’s a question re full-batten mains on a BCC. I used to race a friend’s Victoria 34 which had full battens and they had some advantages, particularly in not flogging when head to wind, reefing, motorsailing, etc. But don’t they usually require specific batten cars in place of the usual slide or slug at the mast track or groove? I’m interested in these Patterson mains, but wonder how much retooling is needed at the mast. Has anyone any full batten BCC experiences to contribute, pluses or minuses?
TIA,
Scott

Hi Rod:

Yes, there are different cars on the sail, but they are designed to fit your track, so there is no alteration to the mast.

It is important to ensure that the sail is clear of the topping lift, or you can damage your sail.

So there was only one sail available, right? And Rick bought it… or am I missing something…

uh… Ron bought it I mean :slight_smile:

The FB mainsail that was offered at discount was one that was ordered and partially built when it was discovered that it was supposed to be tanbark as ordered instead of white. So they had a partially built sail with no owner. I bought that mainsail and I also order a new jib and staysail at the same time.

Ron Thompson
Ho’okahiko 97

Got ya, lucky you with 3 new sails! I’ll be sure to not enter into any races with you :wink:

Ron, wanted to contact you off list to ask about the wind gen pole. Can you email me at ben@bccelizabeth.com. Thanks.

Hey Ron,
Have you got any feedback for us regarding the fully battened main you bought?

I’m looking at ordering a new main, and would appreciate your comments.

Any issues with the topping lift as John Cole warned?
Regards,

Mike

Hi Mike,

I definitely like the new full batten main sail. Along with the new head sails I have seen much better performance. At first I thought the topping lift would be an issue so I would remove it from the boom and attach it to a small cleat on the backstay. However, I found leaving it in place on the boom really isn’t a problem since the sail curves to leeward away from the topping lift so it doesn’t interfere with the leech of the sail. As far as trim I haven’t noticed any difference in weather helm. It just has standard track slides on the luff and goes up and down easily. I’ve been able to reef sailing downwind in 30kts. I can’t say anything bad about it. One small thing is you need to keep an eye on the battens when raising the sail so they don’t catch on the lazy jacks.

I won 1st place in our Beer Can 12 race series this year. I think they will lower my handicap for next year. Everyone commented how much better the boat is sailing with the new sails.

Ron Thompson
Ho’okahiko 97

Hi Ron,
Well done taking the honours in the racing series!

Thanks for the comments. I think I’ll take a similar step this year and go for the battened main.

On the subject of foresails, Adventure came with the high cut yankee jib and staysail.

I’m inclined to think that getting a lapping headsail would improve the weather helm by taking the centre of effort forward.

Which sails are you flying normally?

All the best,
Mike.

Hi Ron,
Well done taking the honours in the racing series!

Thanks for the comments. I think I’ll take a similar step this year and go for the battened main.

On the subject of foresails, Adventure came with the high cut yankee jib and staysail.

I’m inclined to think that getting a lapping headsail would improve the weather helm by taking the centre of effort forward.

Which sails are you flying normally?

All the best,
Mike.

Hi Mike,

My headsail is a Jib Topsail which is larger than the Yankee but not overlapping. I consider it a 100% working jib. I always use the staysail as well. To control weather helm I depower the mainsail a little as needed.

Good luck with the new sails.

Ron

Hi Mike,
I use the yankee because of all the trade wind sailing I do. Although I sailed with a jib top yesterday in 12-16kts of wind and was doing 5kts to weather. But as the wind built up we were rail down at 20-22? (16kts) of heal and we had to finally put reef in the main. Shanti stands up a little better in a breeze now because of the lighter rig :smiley:
For everyone else:
Does anyone sail with the yankee that has taken the rake out of their mast?

Gary

I hear you Gary !

We had 20 kts here on Friday afternoon, and on the log, we were showing 7.5, 7.6 knots through the water,on a reach and 7.8 for a moment with the yankee, staysail and single reefed main.
Rail well in the water…! Yahoo !

I still have to look at the mast rake when I get her out of the water, and can once and for all establish exactly where the waterline groove is in the hull.
Only then I think, having balanced her exactly on the waterline mark, can I really address properly the mast rake issue.

All the best,
Mike.

Mike, make sure you really have to much weather helm first.

The BCC has a huge rudder, and holding a course requires a great deal of force to hold the rudder in place. About 3 degrees +/- of helm is considered good. This is easy to check next time you sail. The tiller should just point inside your companion way. See attached photo that illustrates 3 degrees.

Of course all boats pick up more weather helm as they crack off the wind. This is normal and un avoidable, but with the big rudder of a BCC it can be a bear.

Some very large boats with tillers have to use relieving tackles to handle large rudders.

If you happen to have a Freehand steering system, you can use the trim tab to trim out some of the force on the tiller due to weather helm.

Gary, I missed this post somehow.
Thanks for your comments!
I do believe the Freehand windvane is the right choice for the BCC, but Adventure has a Pacific Windpilot, which has lines going directly to the tiller.

Once I’ve sorted out the mast rake properly, I’ll be more certain about what’s going on.
I need to get her out of the water to find the waterline groove, then probably re-distribute some of the tons of spares on board, to set her level!