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JIB TOP GENOA – Filling a Void on Freedom Yachts
By Eric Christensen
This past winter, two Freedom 35 customers asked me how to improve their light air performance close reaching, and even upwind. I was immediately interested in this project as the biggest downfall of the standard Freedom max-roach mainsail and small Camberspar jib was light air performance.
Other Freedom customers have experimented with PHRF style overlapping headsails, but these large Genoas are usually setup on a roller-furling or are hanked to the forestay. This solution has proved to be too burdensome in moderate to heavy air, and required a change down to a smaller jib. Additionally, the added strain to the freestanding Carbon Fiber mast required the rig to be retrofitted with running backstays. To me the beauty of sailing a Freedom is the simplicity of its rig with its easily controlled mainsail and self-tending jib. Adding a larger headsail that required the installation of a set of Genoa Tracks, dedicated primary winches, and a block and tackle system for the running backstay system, sounded a bit too complicated and defeats the simplicity of this rig.
We discussed the option of a standard all-purpose cruising A-sail, but quickly dismissed this, as it would not be close winded enough. Our next thought was a high clewed, free flying “Code Zero” type genoa. This sail would be about the size of a 150% Genoa, made from a strong, yet light weight 2.2oz specialty laminate cloth and have a Spectra luff cord to handle the luff loading as you tension the halyard and tack line to straighten out the luff when close reaching or sailing to weather. The next big question was how to rig this on a stock boat with out emptying the customer’s bank account.
We originally planned to run a dedicated spinnaker halyard through the sheave that was just above where the forestay intersects the mast, but found that one Freedom was not rigged that way and the other lacked a proper sheave, so we opted to use the standard jib halyard rather than modify or replace the aluminum casting at the masthead. (One cautionary note to this approach is to check the jib halyard for chafe if there are no fairings on either side of the jib sheave).
The easiest and most cost effective way for launching and dousing a sail of this size is with a spinnaker sleeve. We choose the ATN Launching Sleeve for its high quality and robust fiberglass bell for ease of use. For sheeting the sail, Spinlock turning blocks with integral jam cleats were mounted on the aluminum toe rail just forward of the stern pulpits, to provide a fair lead to the cabin top winches. Having the ability to “stop up” the sheet at the block eliminates the possibility of locking out one of the two winches that the Freedom 35 is equipped with, that are also used to sheet the main, jib, numerous control lines and handle the halya rds.
The next issue was to set up a simple tack line system. We set up a short tack line with snap shackle that attached to the eye on the Spectra luff line that exited the tack of the sail. The tack line was rigged through the anchor roller and terminated at one of the bow mooring cleats. A cleaner and less “jury rigged” solution would be to run the tack line aft to its own dedicated stopper on either side of the cabin house, similar to how most modern sprit boats rig their tack lines. For sheets, I find the feel and lightweight of Yale Ultralight to work the best. These sheets don’t absorb water, so they stay light, and the soft fuzzy cover has a nice feel to the un-gloved hand.
Once the boats were launched and the sails delivered to the customers, it was time to go sailing. The first sail was in late June, and I must admit that I was a bit nervous. I knew that we had thought through just about every detail, with the only obstacle being the inconsistency of the masthead castings for running a dedicated spinnaker halyard, but when trying out any new “prototype” sail there is a bit of anxiety. As it turned out, with the sail rigged on the jib halyard, you can tack the sail when beating. So we went sailing, with a steady 8 knot, North breeze. We hoisted the sail, raised the ATN Launch sleeve, and we were off on a 70-80 degree close reach, doing about 6kts. A couple of quick adjustments to the leech, foot and tack line, and the sail was pulling great with a minimum of fuss. My fears that the sail would be sensitive to trim, or hard to read, were put to rest.
Both these sails were extremely easy to fly. As the breeze increased to 12 knots, we headed off to an apparent wind angle of 140 degrees, eased the sheet and tack line so the sail could rotate to windward like an asymmetrical spinnaker, and cruised along at 7 to 7.25 knots. We tried heading off to a run, but the sail became blanketed by the mainsail and would collapse. We all agreed that at this point, sailing dead down in a 12 knot breeze, the self tending Camberspar jib set to weather would be more effective.
On the second sail we had about 5-6 knots apparent, which was perfect to try sailing to weather. After disconnecting the topping lift, we secured the Camberspar jib to the rail with a small pennant and started to go upwind. The boat moved along nicely at 4.5 knots, and even though we could not point quite as high as conventional sloop rigged boats equipped with Genoa’s set on a forestay, we were able to keep moving with greater speed than if just using the small jib. We experimented tacking the sail and that seemed to work fine, though I think if you were going to be in a situation that you had to short tack up a channel that the jib might be better suited for that purpose.
After a whole summer of usage, both customers have commented to me that this sail has been an extremely versatile addition to their Freedom inventory. It has improved passage times, proven effective outside of its originally intended wind ranges and angles, and most importantly, easy to use. To me this sail has been a real winner! It’s large enough to provide ample power in lighter winds over a broad wind angle, but small enough to be manageable if the breeze picks up where a large a-sail might be a handful for a short handed crew. All in all, I am very pleased with results and thrilled that we were able to exceed the expectations of our custom ers and develop a product that would add to the sailing enjoyment of our Freedom customers.
F-35 Jib Top Reacher
Freedom 35 Tri-Radial Main
Freedom 35 Mainsail
F-35 Jib Top Reacher
