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Enterprise sail advice please |
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Solitaireblue 
Newbie 
Joined: 14 Apr 13 Location: UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 15 |
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 Topic: Enterprise sail advice pleasePosted: 15 Apr 13 at 6:02pm |
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This is my first posting so ‘hello’ to everybody. I wonder if anybody might give me some advice please. I am returning to sailing after a good
number of years and have bought an Enterprise. I used to own one many years ago
and remember having a set of ‘cruising’ sails which I used when sailing single
handed in stronger winds. I just cannot remember what the sizing was or if the
jib was smaller too. The new boat came with two sets of full size sails and I am having one of the mains cut down at present slightly for when I use it on my own, but it has occurred to me that maybe I should have the jib cut down slightly too to match. If I don’t and use the jib from the full size set with the ‘cut down’ main version would that unbalance the boat? Any suggestions would be very welcome. Edited by Solitaireblue - 15 Apr 13 at 7:11pm |
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SUGmeister
Sailwave Moderators 
Joined: 08 Jun 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 265 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 9:32am |
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It's been a long long time since I saw a set of Ent Cruising sails, maybe the 1960s.
To be honest to get a set of reduced size sails that gave you approx balance I would be inclined to buy a set of 2nd hand Firefly sails (with rope/wire strops to cater for the halyard length differences). 6 inches of sticky backed plastic and you could change the F to an E and have a unique set of white ent sails. Good sailing Edited by SUGmeister - 16 Apr 13 at 9:33am |
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Simon SUGmeister
I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me. |
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MerlinMags
Admin Group
Joined: 19 Mar 04 Location: UK, Guildford Online Status: Offline Posts: 585 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 10:10am |
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The Firefly seems a common choice for people after sails slightly smaller than full size. It will definitely turn heads to see an Enterprise without the blue colour though!
Here's a few classes with their sail area in square metres:
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JimC
Really should get out more
Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6649 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 10:11am |
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To my mind the exact balance between main and jib is a lot less critical than some of the old school thinkers would have you believe. These days with masts raked a lot more than they used to be, the side load is shared between rudder and board, so if you chop a bit off the main all you really do is move the balance back forward a bit. I wouldn't worry unless you run into issues.
Having said that there is an awful lot to be said for having smaller sails off another class, but the big problem you may run into is the jib sheeting angle being wrong, especially as there isn't a lot of fore an aft adjustment on Enterprises. If you end up having to have a jib recut anyway you may as well et an Enterprise one changed. |
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transient
Really should get out more
Joined: 21 Aug 12 Online Status: Offline Posts: 715 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 11:15am |
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We have an old Ent with a set of reduced sails, jib and main. We used it for cruising with a couple of kids. Great times.
In the end we didn't bother with the small jib. Too much mucking around and it didn't make much difference to handling. If we were overpowered on the water with the small main we dropped the main and sailed on jib only. The ent will go to windward quite well on jib only, you just need to give yourself more water when tacking.........Practice on jib only in safe conditions to get the hang of upwind sailing, you'll be surprised how well it goes.
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Solitaireblue
Newbie
Joined: 14 Apr 13 Location: UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 15 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 11:46am |
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Thanks for all the advice so far, appreciated. The company reducing the main sail did mention sizing the sail the same as a Firefly. I left it in their hands to get the size right and waiting to hear back. It’s good to hear your experiences sailing with the full size jib with ‘cruising’ main. Using jib only in certain circumstances never crossed my mind. I will take your advice and try this out when conditions allow. It has also been suggested that I use a Roller furling jib but guess maybe more trouble setting up than it’s worth? |
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Late starter
Far too distracted from work 
Joined: 24 Feb 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 481 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 11:49am |
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I wonder if reefing or using smaller sails on dinghies isn't as common as it used to be? I can recall several of the Ents at my club back in the 70s going out with reefed or cruising sails for really windy races.
Re the point about sailing with jib alone - yes I used to do that sometimes when my kids were very young. Gave a very relaxed sail even in complete windy nutter conditions ! |
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Medway Maniac
Really should get out more
Joined: 13 May 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2788 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 12:08pm |
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I was musing about sailing under jib alone while watching our asymmetrics in huge trouble trying to get home in Sunday's wind.
Sailing on the jib was all part of learning to sail way back when, but would have been quite impossible with the boats I was watching, esp. with a short footed, self-tacking jib. And high-aspect, minimum area centreboards are great all the while you can keep moving fast and in balance, but otherwise...
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PeterV
Posting king 
Joined: 24 Feb 07 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 131 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 12:50pm |
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When I wanted to cruise in my Lark I had a set of reefing cringles put in about 2' above the boom on an old sail, making sure that the leech cringle was a bit higher to raise the boom. I found I could quite happily put in the reef afloat (simple lashing at tack and clew) and then carry on with the full size jib. When it got really windy I just lowered the jib. Even though singlehanded I could still be out when all other dinghies had gone in.
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PeterV
Finn K197, Finn GBR564, GK29 Warsash |
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alstorer
Really should get out more
Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899 |
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Posted: 16 Apr 13 at 3:39pm |
However, reefing is still a technique taught on RYA courses- a well equipped sailing teaching centre certainly needs boats that are reefable, ideally in a more complex manner than a Topper, and most of the "plastic tub" boats tend to come with reefable mainsails (often using zip-reefing rather than old style "round the boom" roller or tie-down slab)
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Al |
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