Even though the term may not be common up here in the land of the America\u2019s Cup, I\u2019ve heard headsails called \u201cheadies\u201d by those sailors from down under who seem to keep winning everything. There sure are a lot of names that these sails are known by, compared to that workhorse piece of canvas aboard, the mainsail. A small change in a headsail can make a tremendous difference in a boat\u2019s performance, especially upwind, so it\u2019s not surprising that sailors are a bit obsessed with them. Here are a few names you may have heard: Yankee, drifter, windseeker, #4, genoa, ghoster, blade, 135%, storm jib, working jib, reacher, screecher, blooper, big boy, gennaker, jib top, staysail, gollywhomper, code zero, spinnaker, asymmetric spinnaker, cruising \u2018chute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nterm \u201cheadsail\u201d refers to any sail set foreward of the forewardmost mast. The\nnext most general term is \u201cjib.\u201d According to the PHRF rules, a jib is \u201cany\nsail, other than a spinnaker, that is to be set in the fore triangle.\u201d (\u201cOther\nthan a spinnaker\u201d would seem to be an unnecessary refinement, since the\nspinnaker is flown outside<\/em> of the\nfore triangle.) So a spinnaker is a headsail but not a jib. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All\ngenoas are jibs, but not all jibs are genoas. A genoa is an overlapping\nheadsail, where the jib may or may not be. The overlap referred to is that of\nthe clew of the genoa, which overlaps the luff of the mainsail. A more specific\nway to describe the size of any jib is by a percentage, e.g., 135%. This number\nis the ratio between the LP of the headsail and \u201cJ.\u201d The LP, or longest\nperpendicular, is the length of a line through the clew, perpendicular to the\nluff. \u201cJ\u201d is the distance between the pin of the forestay and the mast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another\ncommon way of referring to headsail size is by numbers: #1 would be the largest\njib on the boat, #2 a little smaller, etc. For spinnakers, the numbering may be\nS1, S2, or for asymmetrical spinnakers, A1 and A2. This system is relative to\nthe sail inventory on a particular boat, so your #1 could be another boat\u2019s #2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nspeed of the America\u2019s Cup catamarans have made traditional spinnakers\nirrelevant and all headsails have lost their former pre-eminence to the wing. Us\ncommoners can still have our blades and Yankees, however, until we go that\nfast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even though the term may not be common up here in the land of the America\u2019s Cup, I\u2019ve heard headsails called \u201cheadies\u201d by those sailors from down under who seem to keep winning everything. There sure are a lot of … Continue reading