Consistantly Losing Racer needs Help ! Used Racing Genoa / Main WANTED

[ellispe]

Another Year has passed, so I thought I would reach out once agin to My Catalina 34 Brothers and Sisters.

Fellow Catalina 34 Racers. I have a 2005 Catalina 34 std rig. I have been racing consistently in Los Angeles in Redondo Beach California  and seem to consistently come in last place each week. I have an experienced crew, a folding prop, a two year old Doyle cruising main and old NORTH Sail 3DL 155 Genoa that due to a run in with a spreader was shredded. Due to its age and fragility, it does not pay for us to put any more money into repairing it.

The winds in our area are light and average someplace between 6 to 8 Knots.  We are looking to purchase another used 155 racing sail preferably for a SDT rig, though we could cut down a tall rig version. We may also be interested in a used Racing main as ours is a cruising main. If you know of anyone with some used sails, we would appreciate if you could have them email me at peter.ellis@ngc.com

If you do not have any sails, I would be grateful for any recommendations for the types or cut of sails that may help us to go faster in light winds. Is a deck sweeper better thn a high clue sail for light winds ?.  Any insight if you know of any places to get any new sails at reasonable costs would help as well.

Thanks again and happy sailing!
Peter Ellis
Ellis Island II
Catalina 34 2005

[sail4dale]

hey I can relate!  I "cruiser" race at CBYC in the "gulch"   I still have the original sails and my racing is not what  is was with my Cat30.  However .... with my 135 tired genny and asymmetrical chute I too find our 34 not competitive with those hot boats with Kevlar and better sails.  Nowadays without the hi tech sails, Dacron sailors haven't a chance.  In a cruiser category giving allowances for 135's, Dacron, and roller furling, etc it gets to be more fun here at San Pedro.  We have a bunch of Catalina boats in our All Catalina fleet.  Cruises and cruiser races.  Come on down to CBYC and I sure you will be able to beat a few of us old duffers.

I really do not feel the 34 is a competitive boat in PHRF against the newer racing machines.  We are heavy and do not point with the best.  However with good sails We should be able to keep up with the older PHRF boats.  Also a true racing bottom can make a big difference.  When I raced my CAt30 the bottom paint was sprayed on ... not rolled and was smooooooth. 

[Gary Brockman]

Peter -

We race our boat out of Marina del Rey just up the bay from you and have had good success racing Squall over the last two years.  To do well, you must have good sails, a clean bottom, and stay away from windward/leeward around the cans races.  The boat just doesn't go to weather very well, especially in light air.  Our racing genoa is a 3DL 155 on the roller furler.

We mainly race in the cruiser class, against other older designs from Catalina, Cal, Ericson, Hunter, and Beneteau, where your PHRF handicap can be adjusted for such things as having a fixed prop, roller furling, smaller sized headsail, and laminate sail material. It is not uncommon for a boats rating to be adjusted by 6 to 30 points, depending on how they are set up.  Our cruiser rating is our normal PHRF rating of 141 (tall rig) because we gain 6 seconds for having roller reefing but lose 6 seconds for having a laminate headsail.  The cruiser class races are mainly random leg or point to point races that usually include a lot of reaching but sometimes have a lot of windward work.

You should try coming over to MDR for the Del Rey Yacht Club Stein series for the cruising class. There are four races left (3/3, 5/5, 6/9, and 6/10). In the first race a few weeks ago, a Cat 34 won class B and there was one other Cat 34 in the race.  We won Class B last year and have been moved up to class A this year.  Cal Yacht Club is starting a new 3 race random leg series this year, the Pacific Cup, for PHRF and cruiser classes on 8/19, 9/16, and 10/7 that should be a lot of fun.

Gary

[ellispe]

Gary and Dale,

Thanks so much for dropping me a note.  It does not seem like the Catalina 34's are not represented from a fleet perspective on our coast like they are in San Fran. I was happy to hear from a few folks in my backyard that are members of the 34 club.

I used to have a Catalina 30 Tall rig and was able to win races.  I thought I would have the same luck with the 34, but it was not to be.  On the rare day we have strong winds, we can do better, but those days are far and few, and better is next to last instrad of last.

I had a 3DL, that I had been using but it was extreamly old and patched to to hills with hundreds of feet of mylar tape. I was happy to have gotten it, but I do not think from a performance perspective, it was giving me everything a new racing sail would give me.

Our rating is a 150. We are rated as the fastes boat in the B fleet as we do fly a spinnaker.  I have been looking on line to see if I could find out sail sizes for a catalina 34 155%, but that has been hard to find. I figure, if I know the sail size I am looking for, perhaps I can find a sail from another boat that is close.  I measured my 3DL, but it seemed shorter than some of the sizes I found online.

The Pacific Cup sounds interesting. Can you use a spinnaker for those ?.  As for my bottom, perhaps if I dont paint it for a few years it will get faster as the paint comes off, assuming of course that I clean it.

I am going to keep the search for a new used sail going. I need to find somthing before my crew jumps ship to a faster boat.  :)

[noworries]

We just started racing last year.  We took 2nd (6 seconds from first) in the Long Beach to Dana Point race.

I've got T&A sails (140 genoa and main w/ 1 reef).  I believe my sails are about 10 years old.  The UV cover on the genoa failed so I removed it.  I've got to get another genoa but not sure if I'm going to go with a 155 or something more general purpose (135-140).  The boat also had a North 155+ genoa that was from another boat, it was in great shape but I think it had 1983 written on it, and after a couple of races it started to delam pretty bad.

There's a few C34's in our club, 3 of them race, and I'm pretty sure mine is the fastest ;)

[Gary Brockman]

Peter -

The best sailing answer would be to buy a new 155, but that may not be the best economic answer.  In general, most of the used sails I have seen are good sails but not necessarily good racing sails.  They are most likely made of dacron and of a heavier fabric weight then you would want for light air conditions. I think it is easier to buy a used spinnaker to race with than a used headsail.

The best two places I have found for buying/selling used sails are Minney's in Newport Beach ( http://www.minneysyachtsurplus.com/ ) and Bacon Sails in Annapolis ( http://www.baconsails.com/sailsearch ).  Minney's has a huge selection of sails that are searchable online by luff size. Most of their sails are listed in "good" condition with some listed as "excellent" and others as "fair".  Last year I sold two Catalina 34T mains to Minney's that I never used, an original UK main (1986) that was in excellent condition, and a racing main that was in fair condition.  Likewise, Bacon Sails has an online search capability with a large inventory.  I bought a windseeker/Dazy staysail in excellent condition from Bacon last year for a very reasonable price, including shipping.

Your best bet would be to measure your existing sail and/or to measure your hoist as there can be a variance from one boat to another on depending how the roller fuller was set up. For example, my hoist in 10" longer than the boat next to me because of where they set the top of the fuller.  Regardless, having a sail cut down a little bit to fit your boat is a simple task for a sailmaker and is not very expensive.

Regarding the Pacific Cup, most of the Cruiser class boats do use spinnakers while those that don't are given a non-spinnaker offset of 16 to 18 seconds per mile to their PHRF rating.

Gary

[ellispe]

Gary,

Many Thanks for the recomenmdations. I will check with both of those places.   I am also now looking for a replacement cruising headsail as mine is starting to fall apart so it looks like I now need two sails.  Thanks again and I will let you know how it goes.

Peter