J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Cruising the J/30 shorthanded

Dan - I race and cruise. Sometimes when just cruising around Newport harbor on a nice evening, we'll just have the main up. If we do use a jib, my wife prefers not to have her wine glass disturbed while sailing, so I step around her to tack and handle the jib sheets so we can sail short handed. My beer on the otherhand always fits in the beverage holders hung on the lifelines! Whenever cruising I use the #3 because it is easy to handle. The #1 takes more effort to bring across the bow and needs extra hands. The boat sails flatter short handed with the #3. I also race doublehanded with a spinnaker & autohelm and always use the #3 for that. I get a seperate PHRF rating with the just the #3 for doublehanded events.

If you have a furler, by definition it's easier to put up the sail. I don't know what sail size you have on the furler. Does the furler allow you to partially unfurl to reduce headsail size? If not, that may cause you to be overpowered.

Surprizingly, you'll find you don't need to reef that often since you can use the back stay to depower the main - the "bent mast" you referred to in your previous post. That's one of the nice things about a fractional rig.

All other times when racing (my wife is NOT on the boat then), I use the normal one design sail complement with appropriate weight on the rail.

Bill
Rhapsody #348