We got a great piece of mail today from Andrew in Santa Barbara. Andrew owns a 12′ Point Defiance, and the squirrely winds in his favorite sailing areas were playing havoc with the stock jib. We love the ingenuity of our customers! Andrew built a self-tending club jib on a custom sail, and it works like a dream. Pictures and his email below.

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Got some photos of the boat and the new self-tending jib. Please see attached.

Was a test today of the concept. The new jib, which is stiffer fabric than the standard sails, needs a bit of wind to really work properly. In light air, the jib is too flat and doesn’t respond to the light wind pressure. But when the wind passes about 8 kts, it comes into its own and really makes a difference. There was virtually no wind in the harbor today, so it was a slow getting out, but once past the red buoy, it picked up to over 10 kts from the west and things got better. I can sail without sitting on the rail an a brisk breeze with the smaller jib, yet we don’t seem to sacrifice any speed. Much of the way back to the harbor on a close reach was at hull speed or better. The down side is that the jib halyard needs to be REALLY taught once the wind pipes up. The first haul on the halyard isn’t enough and you need to tighten things up after about 10 min to ensure that the luff doesn’t sag off to far. Anyway, it’s been a fun experiment and seems to have been a success. She balances well, is much easier to handle by a lone sailor, and comes about just fine, if not rapidly. For a single hander, this is a better solution than trying to sail her as a catboat, which doesn’t balance very well.

Thought you’d be interested. Also, you can see the compass installation, as well.

Andrew

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Keep those letters coming!

– GH Boats