Thoughts and Comments wanted on Tuff Luff vs. Hanks for head

[John O'Rourke]

Hi

Do most S2 7.9 have a tuff luff system or use jib hanks on the forestay? I have been doing alot of crewing on J24s the last couple of years and have come to notice how easily the genoa comes down after a set with the hanks with no need of the foredeck to go forward to help it down. The halyard tension is also to change to set the sails draft location.

95% of my racing is around the cans with jib changes. I did one headsail change this year on a distance race. My Tuff Luff is very old and needs to be replaced. This also coincides with time to purchase a new headsail. Is it worth changing over to hanks?

John

[Tim Bosma]

We use hanks. We switched after 2 years wen the TuffLuff was ready to be replaced. The hanks make for easy up and down with the headsail. They will make it take a longer time to change a headsail, but in the 10 years racing, I can count on one hand the number of times we changed headsails during a race. 3 of those 5 were changed on the downwind leg so the sail was down and we had time to change it. I prefer the control we have over sail shape with the hanks.

[Rudeman]

I would vote for hanks, more so as the 7.9 is a frac. with a good sized main.

Worst case scenario for a well oiled crew it is faster to reef than it is to change headsails so you can hang in to the weather mark and change your headsail downhill.

Not to mention hanks always make for faster mark roundings and as Tim pointed out you do far more mark roundings in a season than you ever will do headsail changes.

Of course the mast is also easier to get up and down without fear of cracking the headfoil....plus your bow guy collectively spends less time at the very pointy end having to re-feed after every rounding, etc,etc.

Also nice to not have to spend the extra money replacing the headfoil once it breaks or wears out.

[Tom Elsen]

I agree with the advantages of the hanks as stated above. That said, some people believe that you get a more regular headsail shape (that is also easier to 'read') with a foil.
IMHO, the deal deal maker / breaker is crew. Hanks will snag your chute if the drop isn't done well. So if your crew is relatively less experienced you'll likely need a spare chute, a good supply of repair tape and a good sailmaker.

[Rudeman]

"That said, some people believe that you get a more regular headsail shape"

The funny part is, race against a top notch J/24 and the boat will move well in ALL conditions and will never,ever have anything but hanks.

As for the torn kite comment I am curious as to where your launch and retrieve from that you have had some snags - I ask more as a research project and curiousity than anything else.

Cheers.

[Tim Bosma]

We have snagged the spinny on the hanks when we raise it. This comes from the prefeeding the guy and holding the sail close in board in a bundle before it goes up. We found the key to be easing the sheet while raising the sail to keep it off the hanks. Also if the spinny is strapped in while lowering the headsail, the bowman has to help the hanks past the foot of the spinny.
Speaking as a bowman, I think all of the problems are due to the crew in the cockpit, of course.

[Rudeman]

Hi Tim,

That was all good information from the heat of battle - Much appreciated. I can see both pre-feeding being an issue and when strapped as well.

I wonder if those fabric snaps help to mitigate the damage. I have yet to try them.

Always working on new ideas as winter projects to keep busy.

[Tom Elsen]

We almost put snaps on one of our sails a couple of years ago. But I've since come to believe that these might be the worst of all possible worlds on the 7.9.
True, they won't snag like hanks. But they're really slow coming down, and the sail tends to bunch up on the forestay. They're a lot slower than hanks going up, and likely slower than a foil unless you don't have a pre-feeder. It's a real pain to change sails. Plus you run the risk of popping snaps open. Net/net, all pain and no gain from what I can see.

[Gumby]

I am in the market for an S2 and keep seeing many with roller furling. In my ~ 30 years of racing, I have never considered the RF system to be that efficient when it comes to speed, and have always preferred TuffLuff or Hanks (Hanks preferred). It seems from this string that my experience is consistent with those serious about racing the S2.

Can anyone confirm that the RF system in an S2 is a convenience for those less interested in speed on the race course?

Thanks,

eg

[Rudeman]

From my experience, an RF on anything under 30’ from a racing perspective is a complete waste of time. I cannot emphasize that point enough and more so on boats with a single swept spreader rig as you end up with gobs of headstay sag and all kinds of other evils. Friends do not let friends race with RF in my books.

[Coldduck]

I installed a RF on my S2 a few years ago because half of my sailing was ith my wife and my two sons 4 & 9. It has performed pretty well. I think I was a bit lucky, I obtained a Harken flex furler before they stopped production the furler is a little bigger than the tuff luff but it seems to offer the best of both worlds. It uses #5 luff tape so my older sails work with it when I tack them to the deck.

If I did not have the flex furler I would probably switch to hanks.