Ok so second time playing with my new asymmetric today. Even had the wife on board and she put it up and put it down once. Pretty light breezes never saw much more than 11 knots and for brief periods it was only a couple of knots.

Haven't played with spinnakers for a long time but I'm thinking they need to exhaust just like a normal sail particularly when they are shy and I'm wondering whether I should take this sail back and get the luff tape relieved or if that is even a possibility. Actually the foot does the same thing.
Maybe I could have taken better photographs but I attach one photograph together with a zoom in on the Leech and the foot using the same picture.

I would really appreciate some guidance here. Thanks in advance.

For my two bobs worth Need to know true wind angle at the time you took the photos. If the wind is asternish hooking probably not that bad, but if you are trying to reach it might slow you down. You want the breeze to flow smoothly off the leech. The hook stops that. But as Galatea said its not going to make much difference unless you are in a match race.

Its possible the sail has stretched. Or maybe the original cut was for more downwind performance. Im not knowledgeable about that. At one time I had a light weight Genoa that hooked. I took photos of it and took at to a sail maker who cut vertical strips out of it near the centre and that improved it a lot.

These are questions you should be asking the sailmaker. What did you ask for. What wind angles and strength did you want to cover.
You are pointing pretty high by the looks of it as the breeze is light. Get a bit more pressure in the sail or come down a bit and it will go away. I think as someone already said if it's too loose and flutters it's a lot worse. So if there is no hook when sheeted in tight there will be flutter as pressure builds and you come down. Making A'sails that cover a large wind angles and strengths is not easy. Like everything in sailing there is a compromise and a hooked leech in light airs is better than fluttering in more pressure.
But ask the sailmaker.

Thanks for all the answers and ideas.
I didn't realise that there were tiny thin little leech and foot lines. I backed these right off today but there was too much wind to try the sail. It's 0.9 oz and I only really want it for light breezes so I didn't want to risk stretching it or blowing it out today. The boat was hitting 8.7 knots in the gusts coming home in the flat water back down Pittwater with only my relatively high cut 108 percent jib/genoa. Not expecting that the lines were the problem though.

lydia said..

julesmoto said..
Thanks for all the answers and ideas.
I didn't realise that there were tiny thin little leech and foot lines. I backed these right off today but there was too much wind to try the sail. It's 0.9 oz and I only really want it for light breezes so I didn't want to risk stretching it or blowing it out today. The boat was hitting 8.7 knots in the gusts coming home in the flat water back down Pittwater with only my relatively high cut 108 percent jib/genoa. Not expecting that the lines were the problem though.

If it is 0.9 oz on a Northshore 38, it is good for plenty of breeze.
The boat will fall over before it blows out.

Thanks. I kind of assumed that because Rolly Tasker only offer theirs in 1.5 oz for that size that 0.9 was a bit light. The boat already goes fast in medium to strong breezes so I only wanted it for light stuff and I didn't want it to collapse. Already had it up on a pretty light day so happy with weight. Good to know it's safe for a bit more though :-)

DrogueOne said..
Attached a couple of pages from perf race trim on asyms. Interesting about easing different lines depending on your desired point of sail.

Thanks :)