P165 New high-wind jib

[Straander]

Well after a series of barriers and general busyness of life has kept me off the water most of this summer, I finally got my P165 out last Sunday and finally tested out my high-wind jib I got from Precision.

Shown in the photos, the high wind jib is about 64% the size of the stock jib. My other jib is about 109% the size of the stock jib shown for comparison in the second photo. The third shows the high-wind jib under sail.

Conditions were very windy and wavy, similar to the outing earlier this year I had to abort when my previous motor got overwhelmed by the waves and weeds. Either the weeds were not so bad this time, or the weed-shedding propeller I got combined with the higher blade speed worked like it was supposed to and I was able to keep my desired heading the whole time. The majority of our sail was under a reefed-main alone, but there was enough of a break that let me raise the jib for 10 minutes which was much nicer,  The P165 does not sail well under reefed main alone upwind.

Anyways very satisfied with the purchase. This will give me a bit better loadout to match how breezy the day is as I set out, I doubt I'll be in swapping jibs on the water very much.

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[Krusen]

  Nice sail!  That should go a long way towards having the balance to sail on any heading, without being over powered and on your beam ends.

Many years ago, a friend had a small cabin  boat with a heavy shoal keel.  He had two jibs, a 130, and one similar to yours.

My OPINION was that his storm jib needed to be spaced up from the deck, to prevent the waves that came over the bow from over stressing the sailcloth.  The owner disagreed, wishing to keep the center of pressure as low as possible.  As a compromise, I spliced a line with two loops, at 12 and 18 inches.  This allowed the sail to be tacked to the bow fitting, or 12, or 18 inches off the deck.

The first day we sailed together after the addition, the wind was forecast to be at the upper end of what we would go out in, but the wind in port was not too challenging.  None the less, I fitted the storm jib, spaced up 18 inches, and out we went.

Out in the Chesapeake Bay, the wind was from the NE, with a lot of fetch.  The waves were large, and steep, soon spray of the bow was going over us, and back into the bay at the stern.  A foot of green water came over the bow frequently, and some of the wave tops hit the lower portion of the jib.  With the reefed main, we were still going to 30 degree rolls, but the boat was controllable, and the owner decided the waves hitting the sail would have made things much worse.

We had an enjoyable sail, were very happy that the wind in the harbor was much less due to the surrounding trees, which eased getting into the slip.

A short piece of strong line, as strong as the halyard, with a loop at 12 or more inches, permanently attached to your storm jib might be a valuable addition to improve your handling in breaking waves, or if you simply dive deep into them on the desired tack.  This  is especially true when motor sailing, as bow diving is much more pronounced in this mode.

I had a similar extension for my Mac 22 storm jib, but did not sail in wave conditions severe enough to need it.  Solo sailors are more cautious about when to go out, but are prepared for worse than predicted.

Krusen

[Charles Brennan]

I agree with Krusen about the need for a "jib pennant" for a sailboat.  Besides the water loads on the sail that Krusen described, I find an even more pragmatic advantage in being able to "peek" under the sail for any traffic. I know that's why some people put windows in their jibs, but getting the tack off the deck eliminates blind spots, IMHO.

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My original jib pennant was made from scraps of rigging, including a shroud cover and has a shackle at one end and an "eye" at the other end.  I have a snap shackle on the end of my tack on the jib that shackles to the eye of the pennant and the shackle end of the pennant shackles onto the stem fitting.  This way, I have options. I can easily insert the pennant or remove it, as conditions require.  I kept the pennant in the same sail bag as the jib, but I didn't like how stiff it was and worried about the swaged fittings chafing against the sail cloth inside the bag.
When I purchased a storm jib, I didn't want the aggravation of tracking down the pennant to put with the right sail, so I decided I wanted two pennants and I didn't want quite as much hardware banging around in the bag.

So I made 2 jib pennants out of Dyneema for my working jib and for my storm jib.
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BTW, the working strength of that Dyneema line exceeds that of the 3/32" 1X19 stainless Steel rigging I previously had in its place.

Here's an example of the pennant in use on the jib during the FL120, this past May.
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The improved visibility alone, is worth the effort of making one and NEEDING it on those green-water-over-the-bow days only confirms it.

One guy's opinion,
Charles Brennan

[Krusen]

My friend's big jib went to the halyard block, could not use a pennant.

All but one of my sails on the Mac 22 had one foot pennants, it also went to the halyard block.  The pennant was permanently attached to the stem fitting, and had a shackle.

6 holes in the stem fitting, first, forestay, second, largest sail tack, 3rd, pennant tack, 4th, downhaul block.  2 spares, just because the piece of SS was that long before the 90 degree twist to take it under the foredeck cleat. and share it's hold down bolts.  It was 1/8 X 1 1/2, with the forward end doubled back for the first 4 holes, for stiffness.

When I used my twist the wire jib furler, it tacked in the 3rd hole.  I had both a jib 90%, and genoa 120%, with well secured wire luffs.  I only used that furler on moderate wind day, as I did not trust the furler to successfully wind in the sails in strong winds.  When the furler was not in use, but installed, it was moved to the last hole, and a wire through its top fitting wired to the next hole to prevent it from "unwinding".

I miss my boat!  I had it rigged for easy single handing.     


Krusen

[Straander]

The clew of the new jib is far enough off the deck that I think that gives room for the water to adequately wash over the foredeck with impediment.

I've been out in conditions where the boat is being borderline overwhelmed by wind and waves but the waves were never crashing over the bow. I think the P165 is just too lightweight such that it bobs over the waves too effectively for that too happen. If conditions were bad enough for the waves to be doing that, then I wouldn't want any jib to be flying at all.

Nice sail!  That should go a long way towards having the balance to sail on any heading, without being over powered and on your beam ends.

Many years ago, a friend had a small cabin  boat with a heavy shoal keel.  He had two jibs, a 130, and one similar to yours.

My OPINION was that his storm jib needed to be spaced up from the deck, to prevent the waves that came over the bow from over stressing the sailcloth.  The owner disagreed, wishing to keep the center of pressure as low as possible.  As a compromise, I spliced a line with two loops, at 12 and 18 inches.  This allowed the sail to be tacked to the bow fitting, or 12, or 18 inches off the deck.

The first day we sailed together after the addition, the wind was forecast to be at the upper end of what we would go out in, but the wind in port was not too challenging.  None the less, I fitted the storm jib, spaced up 18 inches, and out we went.

Out in the Chesapeake Bay, the wind was from the NE, with a lot of fetch.  The waves were large, and steep, soon spray of the bow was going over us, and back into the bay at the stern.  A foot of green water came over the bow frequently, and some of the wave tops hit the lower portion of the jib.  With the reefed main, we were still going to 30 degree rolls, but the boat was controllable, and the owner decided the waves hitting the sail would have made things much worse.

We had an enjoyable sail, were very happy that the wind in the harbor was much less due to the surrounding trees, which eased getting into the slip.

A short piece of strong line, as strong as the halyard, with a loop at 12 or more inches, permanently attached to your storm jib might be a valuable addition to improve your handling in breaking waves, or if you simply dive deep into them on the desired tack.  This  is especially true when motor sailing, as bow diving is much more pronounced in this mode.

I had a similar extension for my Mac 22 storm jib, but did not sail in wave conditions severe enough to need it.  Solo sailors are more cautious about when to go out, but are prepared for worse than predicted.

Krusen