[Greg Pierson]

Has any one tried to cut or have a sailmaker re-cut a main to make it into a headsail?..I recently aquired a mainsail from a J24 and the luff is the right length for my MacGregor 26 masthead rig…It has a nice shape…being very “High Aspect Ratio” compared to the stock genoa…Is that too crazy?..

Topic

[Bill White]

adding a lot of roach to a genoa would affect the sail balance and recutting a sail would be more than half the cost of a new sail and in the end you would still have an old sail

[Bruce_Sailboatdata]

We agree with wewhite74. It’s not the best idea to convert a mainsail to a headsail. Re-cuts are expensive. Patches, batten pockets, reefs, etc. are rarely in the correct location for the new spec.

[Bruce_Sailboatdata]

Looking a little further, the foot of a J24 main is only 9’9″. About the same as the J measurement on the MacGregor. Hoisting that sail at the angle of the forestay would mean cutting the foot of the main far enough up the leech to make the sail about 90% (rough guess). So now, not only is it expensive to do but the sail ends out too small.

[Greg Pierson]

All good points here…I got the sail for free… and after re-rigging the Mac from a fractional rig to masthead… I was looking for a more high aspect ratio headsail for more drive when the wind pipes up…In “round the buoys” racing , it’s all about the tiniest advantage…And bragging rights at the club (ha ha)

[Bill White]

high aspect is undesirable for stronger winds you will heel more as the pressure is on a longer lever a flatter cut sail will give you much nicer ride and easier to sail upwind without having to dump the main as much in the gusts

[Author]

Replies