Light schooner sail configurations

Sail Configurations

With a heavy crew, all plain sail (ie with staysail down) can be carried even in 25-30 knot winds. We normally sail light (2-3), so here are our normal configurations:

all sail Everything up (the full 266 square feet): For pleasure, winds up to 15 knots. For adrenalin any wind on the beam or quarter (crash helmets, lifejackets and rescue boats a must in anything over 27 knots)

All plain sail: Up to about 20 knot winds

normal reefed Fore and reefed main: Over 20 knots (this is the intended heavy weather rig)

reefed with staysail Fore & reefed main + staysail: Lulls in strong winds (picks the speed up and staysail easily

let go when the gusts come back

Full main only Starting out or coming in to moorings in light winds, with someone ready to let go the halliards. The boat has a bad weather helm under just the full main.

lazy reef Jib and full main: the laziness rig, but still balanced. Roughly equivalent to the intended heavy weather rig and a useful alternative when sloth strikes (just drop the foresail). Can get you into trouble though if you do have to move to the next rig-you might have real problems reefing the main as well as getting the jib in.. .. ..

disaster rig Reefed main only Disaster conditions (30 knot winds, waves). This will move the boat comfortably, with a bearable weather helm, and will sail happily to windward. Also, it's feasible to single-hand in this configuration, which might be useful knowledge to have in an emergency or on a delivery run. Two is the safe limit for minimum crew, however.