can any one offer any info
I went for a sail with my neigbour on his macgregor26 yesterday. He is not an experienced sailor and i was hoping to get some advice on his mainsail set up.
I did sail an 18ft cat in my teens and now sail boards, so my terminology/description may be hard to understand.

So, after motoring out of the marina, the main was hoisted. I noticed that most of the sail was hoisted/held to mast track/guide/slot with plastic runners which were attached to the luff of the sail. The remaining part of the sail (approx 1/3) was not attached to the mast and plenty of daylight could be seen between the luff and the mast. To me this didn't seem right, but neighbour said thats how he bought it and has always sailed it and something about not being able to reef it if needed.

The plastic bits/runners seem to be the weakest bit in the chain and the unattached section of the sail just doesn't seem to be efficient not to mention the turbulent wind flow accross the sail.

Even if the sail was to be hoisted/fed/attached up the mast using the rope/chord which is sewn into the sail luff, it couldn't be, because those plastic runners would not allow it to be fed into the mast.
It did have eyelits punched into the sail at about the height where the sail wasn't attached to the mast. Could this be for reefing.

Any advice would be appreciated and would it be a safety issue as i will be sailing on it again one day.
Thanks in Advance

Sounds like a typical MacGregor... average as a power boat even more average as a sail boat.

Seriosuly, it doesnt sound right. Even with reefing you should still have slugs or a bolt rope all the way down the mainsail. This does not effect reefing in anyway.

If your mail sail is not connected to the mast then obviously your losing a lot of power in the sail.

lungs said...

thanks guys, i will tell him he should take it to a sailmaker, but I won't pass on the comments regarding macgregors as he is wrapped in it, as for me i don't know anything about them or any others, out of curiosity what seems to be the problem with them, could it be they tried to mate a sailboat with a power boat as i saw on their website a skiier being towed behind one. for now I'm happy to sail with him if there is not enough wind to make sailing my windsurfers fun.

Chatting to a mate yesterday who visited the factory in the States, his son lives down the road so he went and had a look. He was impressed.

The concept is ok but the shape of the stern to carry a large horsepower outboard and the weight just where you don't want it are not good for sailing.

You are all being far too nice about the mcgregor. It is not worthy of being called a boat more like floating barge.......