From: scott@soldev.tti.com (Scott Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: Re: Tuff Luff and other headstay foils
Date: 13 Nov 92 18:52:55 GMT
Organization: Transaction Technology Inc.

In article <1992Nov10.221143.13020@klaava.Helsinki.FI> tarkkone@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lauri Tarkkonen) writes:
>In <1992Nov10.183134.2735@das.harvard.edu> bloxham@geophysics.harvard.edu (Jeremy Bloxham) writes:
>
>>In article 22963@klaava.Helsinki.FI, tarkkone@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lauri Tarkkonen) writes:
>>>In <1992Nov9.125516.8324@das.harvard.edu> bloxham@geophysics.harvard.edu (Jeremy Bloxham) writes:
>
>>>
>>>>Twin grooved headstays are essential for efficient genoa peels and are 
>>>>probably one of the most significant developments in sail handling gear 
>>>>for racing boats in the last few decades.
>
>>    A peel with a twin groove system probably results in a loss of three or
>>    four boatlengths; a bare-headed change about ten times that amount.
>>    Not changing at all can result in a blown race and a very expensive
>>    visit to the sailmaker.
>
>I am afraid your people performing the bare headed change vere fumbling,
>opr then you are comparing some amateurs to some professionals.

I am afraid that you know not of what you speak. When sailing bare headed
you lose both boat speed and pointing ability. On a large boat, where a 
headsail change will take 3-5 minutes with hanks, you could easily lose
30-40 boat lengths.

>
>Did you see the posting refering to the fleet of J24s, where the fashion
>of foil luffs is going away?

Certainly the effects of changing sails on a J-24 would be much less
costly than on a Maxi. On a J-24 there would be about 10 hanks to 
undo on the sail change. On a Maxi there would be 40 or 50 of them.

>>    A Tuff Luff for my boat (30' LOA) costs under US $400 and installs
>>    in a few minutes. It comes with a 5 year warranty, so it's not a
>>    major expense given its useful life.
>
>How much do you pay your sailmaker to change the hanks to a foil tape.
>For some reason my sailmaker has always some sails with foiltapes under
>rapair. Not only his own make, but all of them.

I don't pay my sailmaker anything to change my sails to hanks, since
I have never had anything but a foil on my boat. How much do you pay
your sailmaker to change all of your sails to hanks?

For some reason my sailmaker always has a lot of sail in for repair. 
I don't think it has anything to do with whether they have hanks or 
luff tapes. If it does, it is probably due to the high tech material
used in racing sails (which almost all have luff tapes {Gee, I wonder
why?} compared to the heavy dacron usually used in cruising sails.

>
>>   We have never lost a race because of a problem with our Tuff Luff. 
>
>You lucky man, I have won because of the luff foil in the other boat.

No, you have won because of human error or improper maintenance on the
other boat. I only pat myself on the back when I win a race by sailing
better than the competition. 

>
>>   I believe a twin groove headstay is essential for racing. Just because
>>   something can fail doesn't mean it's not worth having: we lost a race
>>   (and the summer series)  this season because our mainsail blew to
>>   shreds, but we still use a mainsail.
>
>If you would have spent the money you spent for the tuff luff and foiltape
>in buying a new mainsail a bit sooner, then you propably could still have
>a decent finish in the race.. :-).

Sorry, but you cannot economize on racing. You either spend the money that
the rest of the fleet spends or you might as well stay home.

>
>>   Jeremy
>
>Happy sailing, hope your faith in your equipment will never be too harshly
>betrayed.
>
>- Lauri Tarkkonen

Happy sailing to you too, and I have never had an equipment failure that
I wasn't equipped to deal with, and I haven't had to use the life raft yet.

Scott Taylor

Scott Taylor, Citicorp/TTI
pyramid!ttidca!scott
(310) 450-9111 x2321
Newsgroups: rec.boats