Hello Team OCC,

I’m a newbie to the OCC, still an associate and still prepping my boat for her first >1000nm ocean crossing.

My boat is a 2014 Hanse385 sailing sloop with furling jib.

My plan is to follow a downwind trade wind route, while using a “twin head sail” instead of my existing asymmetric spinnaker or standard jib with mainsail.

I have heard of Elstrom’s “Blue water runner” and Northsails’ “Tradewind sail”.

C/ Please would you share your own twin head sail recommendations?

D/ Would a bespoke twin head sail made with used sails be efficient enough?

+x

 

Sonia.Johal - 22 Oct 2022

Hello Team OCC,

I’m a newbie to the OCC, still an associate and still prepping my boat for her first >1000nm ocean crossing.

My boat is a 2014 Hanse385 sailing sloop with furling jib.

My plan is to follow a downwind trade wind route, while using a “twin head sail” instead of my existing asymmetric spinnaker or standard jib with mainsail.

I have heard of Elstrom’s “Blue water runner” and Northsails’ “Tradewind sail”.

C/ Please would you share your own twin head sail recommendations?

D/ Would a bespoke twin head sail made with used sails be efficient enough?

Hi Sonia,
I am aware of a number of systems that skippers have made work, but none that I am aware of, have come into common usage. We reviewed a number back in the day, but ended up relying on a tried and true: a poled-out jib and a mainsail for downwind work. We decided our planned ocean and sailing plans were not dominated enough by downwind conditions to warrant using a set-up of twinned headsails.
I am also aware that I know many circumnavigators, and can think of only one who used twinned headsails (and that was 40-50 years ago) and he had a bespoke means of using 2 poles to keep the sails from misbehaving.
All that said, we now have thousands of miles under the keel in poled-out sailing and I have written a “primer” on how we have made poled-out sailing easy and safe on Alchemy which is in these pages under “Taming the Whisker Pole” (to cover downwind sailing, we also have a “primer” on how we make using an asym safe and easy: again, posted in the Forum).
I would be interested in the results of your researches.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

Thanks Again Dick,

I will read “Taming the Whisker Pole” and your downwind sailing primer for sure!

It will certainly save a few pennies by installing a pole and more efficient than learning to use a new sail I feel.

I will gladly share my findings to this forum if you deem it useful.

Best wishes,


Sonia
SY Salacia

Sonia,
We had high-clewed twin headsails built for us by Owen Sails in Scotland . They are excellent.
Simon

+x

 

Sonia.Johal - 22 Oct 2022

Hello Team OCC,

I’m a newbie to the OCC, still an associate and still prepping my boat for her first >1000nm ocean crossing.

My boat is a 2014 Hanse385 sailing sloop with furling jib.

My plan is to follow a downwind trade wind route, while using a “twin head sail” instead of my existing asymmetric spinnaker or standard jib with mainsail.

I have heard of Elstrom’s “Blue water runner” and Northsails’ “Tradewind sail”.

C/ Please would you share your own twin head sail recommendations?

D/ Would a bespoke twin head sail made with used sails be efficient enough?

Hi Sonia,
I’m not sure what your stock of sails is, but you could  consider the Twistle Rig, An easy to control downwind set up for short handed sailors. You do need Twin Poles, twin luff grooves on the furler, and a special Twistle fitting to mount the poles. Two similar sized Genoas. We were fortunate as we had all the gear except the Twistle fitting which cost about £200. More details available, just wanted to flag up the Twistle for you. Good Luck. Brian S/V Darramy 

Sonia
There’s another thread that au help you. https://forum.oceancruisingclub.org/Topic3270.aspx?PageIndex=2#3541

The rig Brian mentions was written up in Flying Fish - here’s the link https://liveicomgrshot.blob.core.windows.net/occfiles/ffarticles/FF2010-1-simpson2.pdf

Simon

+x

 

bwallace - 24 Oct 2022

Hi Sonia,
I’m not sure what your stock of sails is, but you could  consider the Twistle Rig, An easy to control downwind set up for short handed sailors. You do need Twin Poles, twin luff grooves on the furler, and a special Twistle fitting to mount the poles. Two similar sized Genoas. We were fortunate as we had all the gear except the Twistle fitting which cost about £200. More details available, just wanted to flag up the Twistle for you. Good Luck. Brian S/V Darramy 

+x

 

Simon Currin - 24 Oct 2022

Sonia
There’s another thread that au help you. https://forum.oceancruisingclub.org/Topic3270.aspx?PageIndex=2#3541

The rig Brian mentions was written up in Flying Fish - here’s the link https://liveicomgrshot.blob.core.windows.net/occfiles/ffarticles/FF2010-1-simpson2.pdf

Simon

+x

 

bwallace - 24 Oct 2022

Hi Sonia,
I’m not sure what your stock of sails is, but you could  consider the Twistle Rig, An easy to control downwind set up for short handed sailors. You do need Twin Poles, twin luff grooves on the furler, and a special Twistle fitting to mount the poles. Two similar sized Genoas. We were fortunate as we had all the gear except the Twistle fitting which cost about £200. More details available, just wanted to flag up the Twistle for you. Good Luck. Brian S/V Darramy 

Hi Sonia,
Hi Brian, Good memory, I had forgotten the name. Sonia, you might have better luck googling the rig under “twizzle”.
Brian, how many boats doing a cn did you encounter with a twin-sail set-up?
Also, Simon brings up a good point with regard to sailing downwind: having the jib clew higher works a ton better for a variety of reasons not least of which: if using a pole, you are far less likely to dip the pole end into the sea if rolling.
My best, Dick

Hi Simon, 
i believe the Twistle rig is different to the Samba rig in that the Twistle fitting is the key factor. 
The inboard ends of the poles fit into the Twistle Pole sockets which are not attached directly to the mast. The Twistle fitting is held by an up haul and down haul line, and one down haul led forward, so the poles are not attached directly to the mast,  This stops the down wind roll being transmitted through the mast, and thus reduces the roll of the boat.it is easily furled to reduce sail area when the wind speed increases and easily unfurled when wind eases.

Brian

Brian
Thanks for the clarification
Simon

+x

 

bwallace - 24 Oct 2022

Hi Simon, 
i believe the Twistle rig is different to the Samba rig in that the Twistle fitting is the key factor. 
The inboard ends of the poles fit into the Twistle Pole sockets which are not attached directly to the mast. The Twistle fitting is held by an up haul and down haul line, and one down haul led forward, so the poles are not attached directly to the mast,  This stops the down wind roll being transmitted through the mast, and thus reduces the roll of the boat.it is easily furled to reduce sail area when the wind speed increases and easily unfurled when wind eases.

Brian

+x

 

Simon Currin - 24 Oct 2022

Sonia,
We had high-clewed twin headsails built for us by Owen Sails in Scotland . They are excellent.
Simon

+x

 

Sonia.Johal - 22 Oct 2022

Hello Team OCC,

I’m a newbie to the OCC, still an associate and still prepping my boat for her first >1000nm ocean crossing.

My boat is a 2014 Hanse385 sailing sloop with furling jib.

My plan is to follow a downwind trade wind route, while using a “twin head sail” instead of my existing asymmetric spinnaker or standard jib with mainsail.

I have heard of Elstrom’s “Blue water runner” and Northsails’ “Tradewind sail”.

C/ Please would you share your own twin head sail recommendations?

D/ Would a bespoke twin head sail made with used sails be efficient enough?

Great News Simon,

I know Owen Sails well, as they completed my last rigging check and provided all of Salacia’s canvas work. I shall call Diane for a quote tomorrow.

Thanks again 🫡,

Regards,


Sonia
SY Salacia