Mylar Experiences - Richard Spencer

I have been trialling mylar sails for a couple of weeks in Vancouver, and have now sailed with them six times, with four different crews, in conditions ranging from very light air to 15 knots with stronger gusts.  On each occasion I have sailed with, or raced against, other Tasars. I have used them twice in club racing.  The sails will be going to Seattle in a few days, so the fleet there can try them.

John Evetts made me a new forestay, 4085mm long between the bearing points of the sailmakers' (welded) thimbles. With the Ubolt plus one 17mm shackle at the bow, and a single (larger) shackle at the hounds, this gives a total measured forestay length of 4140mm. I am sailing with an extra 17mm shackle at the bow to give more mast rake.

I am using a 2.5mm spectra halyard, running through the thimble at the top of the forestay, with a small shackle to attach it to the head of the jib. I leave my mast up, with the halyard clipped to the whisker pole ring when the jib is down.

I rigged a 3:1 purchase for jib halyard, similar to Frank's recommendations (see photos). One end of a 3mm line is tied through the hollow rivet of a single block with a hook, led down to a small block screwed to one side of the mast, just above the base, back up through the hook/block, and back down to a CL211 Clamcleat screwed to the mast below the downhaul cleat. The hook goes through a loop tied in the halyard. You could substitute a Clamcleat with provision for 2:1 purchase for the small block I have screwed to the base of the mast

Rigging the jib downhaul with 3:1 purchase
Single block with hook through loop in jib halyard	The block at the base of the mast	The cleat for the halyard downhaul

I have left the halyard and tail as a single piece of line, and I lead the tail down into the cockpit and keep it in a bag, so it is easy to lower the jib quickly, e.g. when coming ashore.

Frank has suggested adding a light downhaul to pull the jib down on the water, as an alternative to furling the jib.  I haven't tried this, and I'm not sure how many crews will want to lower the jib and secure it on the foredeck when afloat in strong winds, but some may.

I am currently tieing the tack of the jib to the shackle at the Ubolt. I am going to add a leech line cleat to the tack of the jib, as we do with dacron jibs. There is no need to adjust the tack while sailing, but this will allow me to fasten the tack of the mylar jib quickly and simply when rigging. I tie the tack so the foot of the jib just touches the deck.

The main is rigged exactly as with a dacron main.

I have sailed in very light air on 3 days, in 6 to 8 knots on one day, and in heavier wind (10 to 12 knots, gusts to 15) on two days.

The mylar sails are a pleasure to use, although their transparency gives you a lot more to watch, and think about. The leech of the jib, previously hidden from the skipper most of the time, is now completely visible. In light and medium air the mylar sails appear to perform about the same as dacron. They are light, flexible and easy to sail with in very light air, which is definitely good here. With the greater roach, the jib leech is prone to hang up on the spreaders in these conditions, and mast rotation has to be carefully timed when tacking to make sure this doesn't happen.

In stronger winds I have been impressed with both the stability (no flutter) and responsiveness of the leech of the main. It is very easy to flatten the main with the downhaul and vang, and the shape always looked good. The top of the jib seems a bit difficult to control when broad reaching (but this may be because you can see things you can't see with dacron). The battens in the jib are very light, and don't do much to prevent it flogging if the boat is on shore with the jib up, or luffing on the water.

My first time out in about 15 knots, sailing with Brian Key against Guy and Marie Wall, who can sail faster than me upwind when we both have dacron sails, Brian and I seemed to be slower by about the same amount with mylar. Unfortunately, we couldn't swap boats, but I didn't feel I was seeing any "mylar advantage".

The next day, for Tuesday night racing at Jericho, we still had 12 to 15 knots of wind with some stronger gusts (very unusual for a Tuesday night, but very welcome!). We had about 12 boats out. Unfortunately some of our best club racers (including Guy and Marie) were not competing. Thomas Winkler and Tim Murphy were sailing with their children as crew, but there were several other crews who would nornally have beaten me in these conditions. I was sailing with Wai Chu, who hiked exceptionally well, but was not an expert in boat handling (e.g. setting, gybing and retrieving the whisker pole).

With mylar sails we comfortably won four out of four races (all windward-leeward courses). We seemed to have an advantage both up and downwind (and this was using the standard whisker pole, which I thought worked fine). We led at the first mark in every race, and extended the lead from there.

We also filled in some time between races broad reaching, planing and surfing at good speeds for long periods, fully powered up all the time. The fun factor was very high.

Several people who were watching from the Jericho deck told me later they were in no doubt our boat was faster because of mylar (not good for my ego, but I am sure it was correct!). I did seem to find a faster groove by the last race, going lower and faster upwind. Maybe the mylar advantage is real after all...

I have suggested to Frank that he, as the builder, specify that he will supply fittings that provide a 3:1 purchase for tensioning the jib halyard when he sells a boat with mylar sails. The motion passed by the World Council at Darwin to approve the change in specification covers mylar sails and any necessary related line, fittings, etc.. This means Frank's decision on what will be "supplied by the builder", together with the proposed rule changes, will establish how you can rig mylar sails on a Tasar.  A 3:1 purchase on the jib halyard seems to be all you need.

So far, I have heard nothing but positive comments from both onlookers and other Tasar sailors at Jericho. Tasar owners want to know when the mylar sails will be available, and how much they will cost. Non owners, including a number of sailors in other classes, have all been interested and impressed. "Very cool!" is a common reaction.

One co-op member (a number of co-ops here own Tasars which are sailed by many co-op members) said he thought they would want switch to mylar for the improved visibility alone. I am sure I could have sold several sets of mylar sails on the spot if they were available now.

The mylar sails are a pleasure to sail with, they look great, and they attract lots of positive interest. I am sure the objective of giving the boat a fresh new image will be achieved.

Richard Spencer

Posted 2005-08-06

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