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Anchor Sail?

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
I spent the other night on anchor out at a local island here - and awoke at 5 am (after a very still night) to 18 knot winds. My boat's stern was wagging back and forth like a dog's tail!

I'm wondering if anyone has made or purchased one of those little sail kits for your backstay that you use while on anchor (keeps you pointed into the wind)? I'm assuming I'll have to make one, but if they're cheap to buy I might go that route instead......

//sse
 

Ray Rhode

Member III
Sean,

Sailrite has a kit for just such a sail. It's called an "Anchor Riding Sail" and is on page 37 of the catalog I have. I'm sure you can find it on their web site, www.sailrite.com. The kit srange from $67.25 to $72.85.

Ray
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
I wrote an article on the use of anchor sails for Good Old Boat magazine, that featured the use of anchor or riding sails on my Ericson 38. You could probably get a copy of the article from Good Old Boat if you contact them at their web site. (www.goodoldboat.com)

My recommendation is to contact Kent Sails at: Kent Sails Co.: 35942 Jefferson, Mount Clemens, MI, 48045, 810.791.2580. Tell them Steve Christensen of Good Old Boat sent you, and ask about their riding sail that I featured. It's about twice as big as the Sailrite model, and it comes with a solid fiberglass batten that allows you to point the whole sail aft. This is a huge benefit as it allows you to get more righting moment from the sail, and gets it out of the cockpit. They'll build it however you want, and the last one I ordered was made of 8 oz dacron so that it wouldn't stretch out. When using it my boat lies to within 5 degrees of the wind, and I am always the most steady boat in the anchorage.
 

Walter Pearson

Member III
Riding Sails

Steve, I remember reading that article and intended at the time to follow up and ask you if that system could be used with a split backstay. As I recall, it did not seem to be easily adapted - or at least I did not see a ready solution. Any suggestions?
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
It is a bit more of a challenge to rig a riding sail with a split backstay, but the good news is that when you get it right, it works extremely well. What you need is a pair of sails, one on each backstay, with the clews led forward in a "toed in" arrangement so they come together to make a wedge. When rigging the sails you need to be sure that the wedge they make isn't too wide, as you want lateral resistance, not frontal resistance. So if the foot of your sails isn't quite long enough, given the distance between your stays, you might not bring the clews all the way together.

You can see a picture of this type of rig in the Dashew's new book on seamanship (great book, BTW). My guess is that a pair of the Sailrite riding sails, rigged this way, would work quite well.

Of course, if you don't mind your boat being canted a bit to the wind, you can always just rig a single sail on one backstay.
 

robrill

Member I
Rigging the anchor sail?

I just purchased an 30+ that came with an anchor sail. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not clear on how to rig it. Is the leech of the anchor sail fastened to the backstay and the tack fastened to the boom, or does the tack run free and it's merely hooked onto the backstay. Or have I missed the mark altogether?

Thanks for your help!

- Rob
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Thanks for the pointer to the pfd file. I may look into one of these for our boat since it "sails" around quite a bit while at anchor on a windy day. One thing I believe I see from the diagram is that the main halyard is intended to hold up the top. The problem is that on ours (and any other) boat with a rod vang, the halyard should always be clipped onto the end of the boom and tightened up solid when the sail is down or furled. This keeps the boom from swinging back and forth and also protects it from being bent at the vang attachment point if someone grabs hold of the end a puts all their weight on it.
I wonder what alternative would be arranged?
Loren
:confused:
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
So if you have a rigid vang, there's no topping lift, right?

Hmmm..., normally you attach the tack of the anchor sail to the end of the boom and hank the luff onto the topping lift, hoist the sail with the halyard attached to the head, and run a sheet from the clew forward. OR better, you can attach the tack to the top of the stern rail with a short pendant, hank the luff to the backstay, hoist with a halyard attached to the head, and again lead a sheet from the clew forward.

Couldn't you hank the sail onto the backstay, and try using a spinnaker halyard for the hoist? Just bring it around the shrouds, and hoist away, as there really isn't that much tension on a anchor sail halyard. Depending on the rig, there might still be quite a bit of chafe though.

Alternatively I suppose you could just attach the tack to the end of the boom, and the main halyard to the head, and fly the sail free with no hanks, and thereby support the boom. But I'm not sure of the luff of the sail will take that kind of load.
 

Walter Pearson

Member III
Is there a way to use a shroud cleat mounted on your backstay just above the highest position of the head of the riding sail? The Aladdin style cleat has an eye where a small block could be placed to allow hoisting.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Sure, you could easily rig a halyard on the backstay, like a flag halyard, to hold up the sail.

But come to think of it, an even easier rig would be to put the alladin cleat on the backstay where you want the head of the anchor sail to go, hank on the sail, and just hook the cringle of the head over the clete. Then run a short line from the tack down the stern rain, pull it taught, give it a round turn with a couple of half hitches, and it's up. Just lead a sheet from the clew forward to be finished. IF, of course, you can reach up that high...
 
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