by K.C. Walker » Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:03 am
Welcome aboard!
The twizzle rig is something I had to Google, as I was unfamiliar with it. It seems like a very practical rig for long-distance sailing in the Tradewinds, but I wonder how practical it might be for day sailing. In my questioning mind, I'm thinking that any sailing that I would do, would be short enough legs that I would not bother to set a sail like this.
The reality for me is that I don't even bother to set a single whisker pole when going downwind. As I prefer to sail longer and faster on a reach, rather than running dead downwind, the amount of time that I spend needing a poll is not worth it for me.
Of course, that doesn't mean that I haven't gone outside of the class sail plan. I've use a 120 ft.² reacher/gennaker that definitely amps up downwind sailing. I have used it several times more like the twizzle rig, where I dropped the mainsail to go downwind through a narrow channel to a dock. It did work well with the roller furling to be able to sail right in and then roll up the sail quickly just before the dock.
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002