Hanks or foils?
Moderators: Tim Bosma, Tom Elsen
Hanks or foils?
What is the current preference for racing headsails - hank or foil? Our tuff luff died in the barn, and we split the main on Sunday, so we’re starting from scratch.
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reidmefirst
- Posts: 86
- Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:49 am
Re: Hanks or foils?
Looking through the class race photos it looks like a lot of people do foils. I only see a few boats that have hanks. Hard to tell in some photos due to resolution, though. Take a look through the class event photos anyway, maybe you'll notice something that I don't: https://s279.org/Photos/photos.html .
If you're getting a new main too, get one as big as you can. All the racey boats seem to be do a dyneema or spectra backstay with a flicker. That's how I had mine redone this winter, along with a new big-as-the-class-allows main (just dacron for now, had a lot of other bits to repair this winter
). The flicker helps a lot so far with tacking, especially in light air. Just have to keep the backstay loose.
'The guy' for the backstay/flicker setup seems to be Marc Crutcher in Louisville (Unbridled Sailing). He also makes sails. Super friendly guy. He does get busy at times, so might take a few tries to get him at a time when has some time to chat and get an order going.
I had a foil for mine when I first got it. I singlehand and shorthand, found it to be incredibly annoying to get sails up and down. I use a furler now but wouldn't race it in class races (not sure if that's even allowed in the class rules, but we just do phrf here). Furler keeps the spouse happy though, less to do to get moving =).
If you're getting a new main too, get one as big as you can. All the racey boats seem to be do a dyneema or spectra backstay with a flicker. That's how I had mine redone this winter, along with a new big-as-the-class-allows main (just dacron for now, had a lot of other bits to repair this winter
). The flicker helps a lot so far with tacking, especially in light air. Just have to keep the backstay loose.'The guy' for the backstay/flicker setup seems to be Marc Crutcher in Louisville (Unbridled Sailing). He also makes sails. Super friendly guy. He does get busy at times, so might take a few tries to get him at a time when has some time to chat and get an order going.
I had a foil for mine when I first got it. I singlehand and shorthand, found it to be incredibly annoying to get sails up and down. I use a furler now but wouldn't race it in class races (not sure if that's even allowed in the class rules, but we just do phrf here). Furler keeps the spouse happy though, less to do to get moving =).
Re: Hanks or foils?
Overwhelming majority of boats actively raced use a headfoil.
Re: Hanks or foils?
Thank you all. Ordered a new Harken carbo foil 0 to match the #5 luff tape in our regatta genoa.
Re: Hanks or foils?
We use hanks ! Boat came with a foil which was nothing but grief. Foil is fine if you have a boat load of agile, keen crew. For the number of times we actually used the foil to change sail sizes, zero in fact, seemed pointless. Not to mention sails going over the side, trying to corral sails in very high winds is frustrating. So, that leaves aerodynamic advantage which I would challenge anyone to prove conclusively. BTW, friend of mine replaced his Head Foil with a Harken Carbo which turned out to have a shorter life than the original. Says never again for what it's worth. Good luck.