Griffp1 - That's a great looking sail, would love to see some more pictures or a video of it in action.
vetgam wrote:
Thanks for commenting Matt. I understand your point and maybe I've just been lucky so far with my jib.I would be very nervous putting any jib on a TI without reinforcing the bow due to that bow weakness in the front hatch area. Chadbach has reinforced his TI bow very effectively with aluminum rods. He''s been sailing with a jib for a couple of years now. When he flies that jib he is next to impossible to keep up with.
I will admit that when I added a Jib to my 2012 Ai, I took on more water. So I must have been some flexing going on in the bow. It was countered effectively with alpine butterfly knots in the hatch bungies. My 2016 Ai has been watertight jib or no jib.
Greg
Ha, thanks Greg. I might be a bit faster when going with the wind, but I think you'd blow me away on any point of sail going windward. The TI is too unbalanced, especially with the jib, which I expected. I've learned that it's pretty useless anywhere less than 70 or 80 degrees off the wind. Though, when the wind is off the beam, it works very well and makes things a lot more exciting! The aluminum bow bracing has been working out good. I got the idea from other posts on here.
Pescatoral Pursuit wrote:
I’ve toyed with the idea of stitching a D-ring 2/3-3/4 of the way up the mast in order to stay it on both sides. You should gain efficiency from a sail shape not out of whack from a ) shaped mast, and the shrouds would help distribute the load over several points so as not to add more stress to the base. Make them easy to unclip and they can be furled into the main. I think this would also really help close-hauled performance.
For the last year or so, I've been playing around with shrouds to help distribute forces. When hiking out and trying to keep the boat level, they alone give some boost to the boat since they keep the sail from spilling as much wind. This, of course, makes the boat noticeably less stable, so watch out. I only use them if the jib is out or when I want a more active ride - hiking out and trying to squeeze out a little more speed.