Tanbark vs White Sails Part 2

Last time we talked about the pros and cons of white sails, now we will talk about the same for tanbark sails.

The advantages of tanbark:

They are more visible in fog than white sails
They are not blinding to look at during the day
They are easily recognized
They don't show dirt

The cons of tanbark:

They cost a bit more
They can't be seen by night
The material is slightly more stretchy

In low light, the white sails still shine while the tanbark sails appear black

To address cost, they are a bit more expensive. My sailmaker charges about 25% more for tanbark. This turns out to be a difference from $1100 for the staysail in white to $1600 for tanbark. For the main, it would have been a difference of $6800 for tanbark vs $5000 for white. With the main, I went a completely different direction which will be discussed in the future when we talk about laminated sails vs cloth. When taken into the grand scheme of total sail cost, it wasn't that much of a premium to have the sails made in tanbark as opposed to white.

The sails look black even at sunset

Night time sailing is an issue and there is no way around it. We like to sleep next to each other all night rather than doing watches, so night sailing isn't an issue for us. We like to anchor if we are in the bay, or heave to if we are off-shore. When I would have to trim in the dark, I ended up doing it by feel to avoid blinding myself with a flashlight. I would grind the winch until the leech would stop fluttering or the sheet would stop shaking, but I had no idea what the tell tails were doing.

The other downfall of tanbark is that the dying process of the dacron cloth is rather harsh. Natural dacron is white, and to make the dye stick they have to treat it with harsh chemicals. This does make the cloth slightly more stretchy and decreases its longevity. 

A reduced working life and higher price does detract from the sails allure, but is it worth it? Would you rather stare at a pretty, easy on the eyes sail for say 6 years before it looses shape, or a blindingly white sail for 7 years before it looses shape? As you can tell, I chose the tanbark route for the headsails because I feel that paying a little more for comfort is worthwhile. 

Next time we will talk about the positive points for Tanbark Sails in Part 3

Overlapping Headsails Part 3

Tacking a large headsail can be troublesome. The sail sliding past all the shrouds, and then rubbing on the front of the mast as it makes its way across the deck. It's just asking for something to get snagged and catch the sheets on something during the tack. For a novice sailor with a large sailboat, this could be quite challenging. I think this might be why the sailboat manufactures are switching over to self tacking non overlapping jibs.

A non overlapping jib is able to flop from one tack to the next without any interference. As long as the lazy sheet doesn't get snagged on deck hardware, the tacks are fast, easy, and stress free. The logical progression from such a simple to tack headsail is to make it able to tack by itself. 

The self tacker makes the headsail as easy to tack as the mainsail, allowing the captain to focus on steering his sailboat to windward rather than worrying about setting and trimming his sails after each tack. This can change tacking up a river from being a chore to an extension of the journey.

This amount of ease will make infrequent boaters more likely to fly their sails, as they won't see it as such a chore and instead find it rather enjoyable. Self tacking headsails on a roller furler would be the ideal for someone interested in the minimal amount of set up and clean up involved with going sailing. It would simply involve them unfurling their sail and setting the sheet. To put the sail away, its just a matter of furling it back up! Nothing to flake, never needing to go forward, all the ease of modern sailing.

The smaller sail area would also be less difficult to manage on the larger boats which would otherwise have monumental sails. This may also seem less intimidating to the captain, knowing that even full sail is still easy to manage by hand and winch use is a matter of convenience rather than mandatory.

I think the switch from genoas to self tacking jibs is a wonderful transition for sailboat manufacturers to make to appeal to a wider consumer base. It might make someone who was reluctant about a sailboat more interested in them, bringing them the joys of sailing that we have been enjoying for years! What are your thoughts on headsails? Do you prefer to fly a genoa or a jib? Let me know in the comments down below.

Overlapping Headsails Part 1

I have noticed a shift in head sails lately. For awhile, everyone had massive genoas overlapping the mast and coming back very far. More boats now are coming with non overlapping jibs instead.

The explosion in genoa use was partly due to the rating rules that were applied to them. A massive headsail didn't add to your racing handicap as much, so it was almost like free sail area. The shift to non-overlapping headsails seems to be fueled more by simplicity of management. 

Many modern boats feature self tacking jibs. For this to work, the clew needs to be ahead of the mast. I personally have a self tacker set up on my staysail and it is a dream when short tacking out of a harbor or river. I will purposely sail under canvased simply for the ease when sailing short handed. 

It seems that windward performance is the top priority of modern sailboats. To do this, they have switched from shorter rigs with short and long sails to much taller rigs with skinny sails

High aspect ratio sails offer more lift compared to the amount of drag generated by the sails, while low aspect ratio sails will generate more drag for the same amount of lift. This is because the longer the air is in contact with the sailcloth, the more resistance it generates.

It seems counter-intuitive that the shift towards high aspect ratio sails would generate more use of long overlapping, low aspect ratio headsails. This is because all the sail area behind the mast helps to move the center of effort aft, pulling the vessel to windward rather than creating lee helm. A large overlapping headsail paired with a high aspect ratio mainsail will really help drive a sailboat to windward.

More to come in Part 2