Two Headsail Setups

Have you ever wondered about different types of two headsail setups  on a sailboat?

There are actually three different types. Cutter, Slutter, and Solent.  

A cutter has the mast set aft of 40% line of the boat, meaning that 40% of the boat is bow and 60% is stern. Since the mast is farther aft, there is more space for headsails and that means that you can easily fit two different headsails on the bow and fly them at the same time.  

If the mast is forward of the 40% line, the boat is a Sloop, but a sloop only has one headsail. When you add a second headsail, the boat becomes either a Slutter if the inner headsail is set on the deck like a Cutter, but runs all the way up to the masthead. A Solent has the inner headsail set just aft of the headsail, making it a sloop with two different headsail options.  

Slutters and Solents don’t work well at flying both headsails at the same time like a cutter can, except when Sailing dead down wind with the headsails set wing on wing. 

Why you might be wondering why the inner sail leads to the top of the mast on both of these sloop combinations? Well, there are two reasons: 1. The space for the inner sail is so small that if it doesn’t lead to the masthead, it would be too small to have any effect. Leading it to the masthead gives it the extra sail area that makes that sail effective. 

The second reason: 2. by leading the sail to the masthead, the counter loads are supported by the backstay meaning they don’t need to rig additional running backstays. 

These are the different options available to sailboat that wants to have two headsails. Either already be a cutter or be a sloop with a Slutter or a Solent rig.  

Transatlantic: Day 17

We are moving! Another day of 90+ nautical miles and we are quickly gaining on the next place we can make landfall!

Yesterday, some clouds warned us that conditions were going to be deteriorating. Today, those conditions arrived and we were ready!

With our staysail and trysail set, we are ready to handle any conditions that could come our way.

While I’m not a fan of squalls, and I’m really not a fan of squalls in the dark, squalls at sunset are breathtakingly beautiful! The colors of the sunset mix and combine with the moisture in the air from the clouds. What would have been another ordinary sunset was a world of pastel and surreal but all in front of our eyes!

Having our storm sails set and ready took the fear that loomed in my mind and shut it away! We were ready for the winds that could accompany a squall and all we had now to do was enjoy the beauty that was being presented to us hundreds of miles from civilization.

On a side note, an easy way to judge how bad a squall will be is to look at the rain coming out of it. If the rain is vertical, there probably won’t be much wind. If the rain is slanted, then that is the direction of the wind.

Do you see the flaw in this method of observation? What if the rain is slanted towards you? It looks like the rain is falling vertically and you would expect no wind, but in fact it could be quite tremendous and catch you off guard.

These clouds were all around us and the rain in all of them seemed vertical. The lack of white caps also meant that there was little wind at the moment, but it is always best to reef down in anticipation and simply lose a few knots of boat speed for a while than to be caught out at sea with too much sail up!

Transatlantic: Day 15

The winds have arrived!

If someone tries to fear-monger you into getting a giant and expensive diesel motor for your sailboat because they tell you that you will "DIE” in the doldrums from running out of food or water, don’t listen to them.

Sailboats have made their way through the doldrums for millennia without a diesel motor. All you need are the right kind of sails! We have nylon (spinnaker material) sails for just this purpose. We have a drifter and a light air mainsail which give us a full suit of sails for these windless regions of the world.

The best way to get out of the doldrums is to sail straight through them in the Gulf Stream. The current will keep pushing you along and you will make it through this region in about a day.

If you are like us and wandered too far from the stream, you are going to spend some more time in this region of the Earth. We spent a grand total of 4 days crossing the doldrums. Once we were on the Northern border of it, the Westerlies (winds that consistently blow from the West) popped up and began carrying us along.

We were going downwind, and the mainsail kept fighting the windvane with weather helm. It also stole clean air from the jib, making it really annoying to us.

With the sail lowered all the way, the boom would shimmy and scoot around, making a really annoying noise and chaffing on the canopy.

Our solution was to lower the topping lift and let the boom rest on the bimini. The friction of the boom on the rails held everything still and made for some peaceful times in the cockpit. The jib filled with clean air and produced lee helm that the windvane loved for our course.

To make this moment even more special, we got a great sunset to match our moods as night befell us!

We were once again on the move!

Transatlantic: Day 13

Doldrums: No wind today, no wind tomorrow, no wind anywhere.

In 24 hours, we sailed a grand total of 17.8 nautical miles. That translates into an average of 0.74 knots.

There is no wind out here, and then a squall will come up on you. This gives you a significant push (or so you think) until it passes and you realize that you have only sailed a few feet from where you once were.

We fly our light air sails and slowly make our way through this windless region of the Earth.

Wind Speed and Sea State

The Beaufort Scale is used as a method for judging wind speeds based on sea states. Wind drives the formation of waves, so the stronger the wind, the larger the seas will be.  

The problem with this is waves take time to form, and in the beginning, the sea state will be relatively calm compared to the photos of the sea states that correspond to each Beaufort level.  

Here, we see a view of the ocean on what looks like a mildly choppy day. There are scattered whitecaps and bits of spray flying through the air. The winds were sustained at 50 knots with gusts of 83 knots.  

Since the winds cropped up out of nowhere, the seas did not have time to mature into the towering walls that you would expect with these winds. 

These conditions are Force 10 and should produce waves of 29-41 feet! These waves look no taller than 6-10 feet.

Why the discrepancy? Well, a few factors can come into play here. First is duration of the wind. Second is depth of the water.  

The water in the picture is about 400 feet deep close to the shore and 4000 feet deep just a bit past the shore. Deep water allows waves to mature into their full size without breaking, as the water is deep enough to support the wave and allow it to move without interruption.  

The second is the duration of the wind. At the time of this photo, the winds had only been at this level for about an hour. To fully mature into the giants of the Beaufort scale, they would need at least a full day.  

If you find yourself out at sea in horrible conditions like these bit feel like putting off reefing down to your storm sails “because the seas don’t look all that bad”, consider how hard it would be to reef once they pick up! 

Reef before the storm hits they way you are safe and prepared for the winds and seas to come!