Storm Sail Setup

I finally got around to raising the storm sails on Victoria. OSR requires three sets of sails: Storm Jib, Heavy Weather Jib and Storm Trysail; Pac Cup gives a choice between Storm Jib or Heavy Weather Jib and leaves Storm Trysail as a requirement. For the Storm Jib I picked ATN Gale sail because Victoria does not have a second forestay so the only viable option was to get the sail that can be set over the Genoa. I fell in love the ATN Gale sail; in all respects worth having. Victoria has a very large Genoa that is great in light winds; in strong winds it becomes a liability is difficult to handle and is very inefficient when partly furled in.

ATN Gale sail sets very nicely over the Genoa and protects it from unfurling. Someone had mentioned that it could chafe the Genoa but ATN denies it completely and so far I agree. Trysail is nice to have but it is a little more difficult to put up compared to the Mizzen sail. I think Mizzen/ATN sail combination is a perfect setup for storm weather, but Trysail is not too bad either. Independent track for Trysail is an OSR requirement and I think that Schafer external sail track is a good pick for it because it allows to set Trysail at almost any angle to the wind - having to face the boat into the wind to change a sail is very difficult task to perform while shorthanded in bad weather. Victroia’s main mast allows for a setup that keeps away halyard and Main Sail away from the Trysail (eliminating chafe points), but this may be a problem for boats with limited winches cleats positioned at the mast.