In your new weather book, do you cover storm tactics in a yawl? On a mizzen staysail where do you place the clue? We are thinking of getting a mizzen staysail for our Crealock 37. The mizzen mast is about 21′ tall, is this too small for a mizzen spinnaker or stay with the staysail? Thanks, Dave
Hi Dave: In Surviving the Storm you will find quite a bit of data on heaving to, lying to para anchors, as well as various active techniques which require helm balance. The mizzen gives you a leg up on single stickers as you can hold the bow closer to the wind with the mizzen sheeted hard.
As to a mizzen headsail, this is very much a function of separation between the spars. North Sails made a beautiful mizzen genoa for us, with a slight roach to the backside of the sail. Think of it as a conservative code zero of Whitbread race style.
This mizzen genoa has Vectran luff rope and rolls on a Profurl free flying roller furler unit. It is extremely powerful–our favorite sail off the wind. Good Luck–Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
