With the advent of furling genoas, you could assume that they had been consigned to history books, remaining a mythical and elegant part of a cutter rig, such as on the famous French yacht, Pen Duick. But much admired by the majority of circumnavigators, and with recent developments in design, they are making a comeback. What are we talking about? Why, the staysail, of course. What’s all the fuss about? We’ve got the full story!
Image
1
/
1
Publié le
16/12/2016
Par
François Trégouët
Numéro :
146
Parution :
Mar.
/
Apr.
2016
The furling genoa caused a real revolution in our boating lives. The dangerous crawl along the foredeck in a rising gale was quickly forgotten. One foresail which could be adapted to suit all conditions, adjustable without the need to leave the cockpit, it quickly brought the “leisure” back into “leisure sailing”. The flipside however, was that this sail had to be able to do everything: from a lightweight genoa to a stormjib, via a heavyweight genoa and a solent. We have maybe forgotten a little too quickly that, even though the furling gear can only accommodate a single sail, there’s nothing …
