sailing only with the main

[pjk170]

Sometimes I sail with only the mainsail raised. I read somewhere that sailing without the jib can cause the standing rigging to loosen to much and could potentially damage the boat. Is this true?

[kokko]

I'm not buying it. You can, and should check the tension of your rigging regularly. You can and should put pins in the turnbuckles to prent them from backing out. In some winds you can sail on the main just fine, but tacking will be less efficient, as you have moved the center of effort aft of the mast.

[persephone]

I joined a small lake yacht club. There are several daysailers that race singlehanded under main alone (due to club rules) once or twice a week. I have not heard of any rig failures. I have sailed mine under main alone once in moderate wind and even got it up on plane.
I agree that tensions should be checked regularly.

[talbot]

I often sail with main alone when the wind is too great to balance the boat. Standing rigging does need to be checked regularly, but I never heard that sail configuration was a cause of loosening.

Sailing with the main alone has other problems:
--The main isn't nearly as efficient without the jib. Once the jib comes down, the boat speed drops dramatically. In a strong wind, I first see if I can keep the jib flying with a reefed main.
--With main alone, there is a lot of sail aft of the centerboard, which means the boat has a strong weather helm. Another inefficiency, as you have to sail with the rudder pulled over to counter the weather helm. The weather helm isn't as bad with the main reefed (less sail aft). So my preferred order of sail selection as the wind rises is:
1. full main and jib
2. reefed main plus the jib
3. reefed main only
4. jib only (very inefficient; impossible to get much higher than a beam reach).

Of course, there are other reasons to sail with the main alone, such as the club rules mentioned in another post, need for visibility forward, or because you just feel like it.

[navahoIII]

I posted a recent thread - "mainsail only, close-hauled" (DSI) about that. Read the responses. They give good info on why it doesn't work well.

But, I'll repeat, I was very pleased with how she sailed on a reach. She made excellent headway -- with mainsail alone!!!