It’s been a while since we’ve seen an overcast sky like this one.
On the far left is the north end of Keats Island – I’m on a very broad reach heading up Howe Sound back to Vancouver.
You can see Boyer Island just off my port bow in the background. just to the left of my forward lower shroud. Behind it is the mainland.
By the time I got back to Horseshoe Bay in the early afternoon, the sun had burned off the cloud and it was another hot July afternoon. Glorious.
Had a lovely sail to Keats Island from Horseshoe Bay – a short overnighter mid-week. This shot is mid-afternoon at Plumper Cove.
After I rounded the top of Bowen Isalnd, the wind in Howe Sound was about 14 knots on the nose and I tried a different sail combination – my 60% jib with a full main. Normally I’d have the 100% jib up with a reef in the main in this wind, but I wanted to see how well the smaller jib performs.
I was surprise to find the boat a lot flatter – even with the full main. Beating all the way up, Madsu was never heeled more than 15 degrees and we were doing a respectable 5 knots average SMG.
When North Sails cut this jib for me, they kept it fairly full low down, but the luff only goes about 2/3rd of the way up the forestay – so I does make sense that I’m getting less heel even with the full main.
I like this combination a lot, keeping the main full means more power through the chop. I do think with the 100% jib and a reef in the main I might have a bit more speed, but also a lot more heeling and not as much punch through the waves – or at least that’s my theory.