Twin Headsails

[Shaun]

Hi,
Has anyone tried hanked on twin headsails?
Im thinking about getting another headsail of similar size to my existing & hanking it on, with the hanks put onto the forestay alternately & using one jib halyard.
Or do I have to add another forestay?, which wouldn't be a major, the forestay is there purely just to hold the headsail on my rig.
I suppose both need to be poled out?
Could also set up relatively easy self-steering for the twin hardsails on dead downwind runs.
cheers

[Phillip]

Twin Head sails are really for ocean cruising.

Where are you going Shaun??

During my recent cruise I only poled out the head sail on a couple of occasions in light winds that were not directly from astern.

I found that when I had winds dead astern they were strong and I was sailing in seas up to 2 metres and then it was better to bring
the wind so it was off either quarter that was the best direction to where I was heading.

Probably better to raise a spinnaker as a a cruising spinnaker.

[Tales]

We have used two head sails a lot.

Pole out the into wind one then set the other flying (ie don't hank it on) and sheet it to the spinnaker block.

The second sail (and it doesn't have to be the same size) catches the wind off the into wind one and will give you 1/2 to one knot more speed.

It is easy to get the second sail down quickly if the wind gets up but we used to drop the main before that and just run on the two head sails as it is much easier to steer.

Cheers,

Tom

[Mike]

Possibities came set up for twin running, although as Phillip said that was when it was crossing oceans. I believe the 2nd jib was used without an inner forestay and wasn't hanked on, so the second jib was just stretched down the luff between halyard and the deck. I think I've heard of people running that set up with a spectra line or wire left in the luff, dinghy style, although lowering short handed could be a challenge that way if the wind came up.

I haven't tried the twin set up yet, but we ran across bass straight with a single pole out and, apart from the rolly ride, that worked well, even in a few 60 knot gusts inside Mariah Island.

If you want a project you could always build a twizzle rig, they look fun: http://www.simetric.co.uk/twizzle_rig/

Michael

(**edit: I just read up and saw Tom has used the free flying set up and sounds like it worked well.)

[Swift]

Hi
Just to expand on the setup with possibilities I think it worked like this: Possibilities had a furler with an internal halyard which meant the foresail halyard was available for other uses. The foresail halyard was all wire (the same as on my Mk 1) and was tensioned with a wire drum winch. These winches are horrible things because they are very slow and awkward but at least once all the wire is rolled up you can put some real tension on the halyard. A U bolt was mounted slightly aft of the forestay and when a second forestay was required the wire halyard was clipped on and tensioned with the wire drum winch. The U bolt was backed up by a piece of triangular shaped plywood. Mounting it so far forward where there was is lot of strength removed the necessity for complicated reinforcement below deck which would be required for a true inner forestay.

Cheers
Keith

[Shaun]

Thanks for the replies gents.

Good the hear you used the twin headsails a lot Tom.
Thanks for that link on the Twizzle rig Mike, because I cant connect the inboard end of a whisker pole the mast (not high enough anyway, don't want to connect it lower than the boom),
a similar set-up might work to get a pole out.
I did a rough mock up with a spinnaker pole & it was surprisingly stiff, with dedicated lines, with knots etc at the correct lengths etc, to allow it to be put up quickly & easily at sea, it might just work, as I'd only be attempting it in very light winds.

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