Storm Sails for A33

[Greg Campbell]

Hi All,

Apologies if this thread has been covered before, in which case someone please direct me onwards.

In looking to add some further cruising to the extensive "Mico" logbook I'd like to have the benefit of experience by other A33 owners on the storm sail options they use.  We presently have a main with a deep third reef and roller furlers on both the headsail and the staysail.

While the original masts do have a second track for a trysail, I am fairly comfortable with the deep third reef in lieu of carrying a trysail.  On the matter of deeply furling the staysail instead of setting a storm jib I'm less certain.  What do people use and recommend and has anyone used a "Gale Sail" (storm jib that wraps around the furled staysail)? 

Cheers to all

Greg 

[Greg Campbell]

Hi All,

No advice on storm sails seems to have been forthcoming, but following other inquires I've now taken delivery of a new 5.43 square metre gale sale storm jib.  Nicely made from 9 ounce German sail cloth by Far East Sails in Hong Kong.

Cheers

Greg

[Gregory Hickman]

Thanks for the picture Greg. Is that gail sail hanked to a sleeve? I have one for Fantasia but I just switched to furling on the stay sail. Maybe I just need to get a sleeve like yours.

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[Greg Campbell]

Hi Greg,

Yes you have it right.  The gale sail is just a flap sown to the luff of a storm jib, wide enough to easily wrap around the furled jib.  The piston hanks are fitted to the luff as usual, but then once the flap passes around the furled jib, the hank is clipped to an eyelet in the flap, creating a sleeve, which then hoists up around the furled jib.  The spinnaker halyard isn't quite right for the staysail positioning but would probably suffice, whereas if the sheet blocks are pushed full aft on the staysail tracks they give a fairly good sheeting angle for the high clew. I've only fitted it in the harbour but found it's a bit more fiddly than hanking on a jib, so if heavy weather is expected, better to set it up earlier than later.  Of course we hope never to use it but it won't blow out if we do.

Cheers

Greg

On Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 2:32:50 PM UTC+9:30, Greg Campbell wrote:

[Shaun Sims]

HI Greg,

The storm sail looks great.

We got by with just furling the inner stay sail in heavy weather but that certainly brings the stresses back toward the mast for greater support.

I looked at that second track in the mast many times and toyed with purchasing a storm main but in the end, when we had the new mainsail made we went for three reefing points instead.

That certainly worked well when we had to battle 30 - 40kt winds for almost a week between Brisbane and New Caledonia.

The only thing I regretted when we had the new main made for Mico was not going with the sailmaker’s recommendation of making a loose foot main.

We did go for heavier cloth and extra stitching but up to that point, in all the yachts I had owned, my mainsails had always been secured to the boom in a track.

It was only after we purchased a large ketch in Borneo after Mico that had a loose foot main that I discovered how well they worked downwind.

The new main on our catamaran is a loose foot but I’ve since discovered that running downwind on a catamaran you usually drop the main altogether and run on a Code Zero, Screecher/Asy spinnaker as there is no way to dump the wind out of the main with the side stays running so far aft.

Live and learn I guess.

We have a vacant 12 m marina berth all waiting for Mico if you ever get up this way!

Fair winds,

Shaun 

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[chewthecud]

Hi Shaun,

Thanks for getting in touch and your views always appreciated. Have just returned from a few days in Hong Kong where we collected the gale sail, saving freight and gst. Gradually getting things done with the view to heading off mid Feb. New bunk cushions for saloon, new lifelines, liferaft onto stern and my old ply dinghy to the foredeck. Bulwark cappings brought back to life (scandinavian oil) and now refreshing some of the interior woodwork. New waeco fridge system going in Tuesday. New stereo and 3 fans to fit. Also need new dodger and bimini top. It's costing a bit but is essentially the first refit and refurbish since you did all your good work. We are going to South America for 2 months (June/July) so probably won't make it to Cairns next year, but we'll see. I'm doing radio operators course next week which will allow me to register the AIS. You'll then be able to check our progress from time to time. Certainly will enjoy catching up when we do.

Cheers

Greg

Sent from my Samsung GALAXY S5 on the Telstra 4G network

[Shaun Sims]

Hi,

So you still have the Standard Horizon VHF with AIS connected to the Raymarine C80?

The catamaran we purchased had no radar or AIS but I managed to pick up a full Raymarine C80 plus radar in Perth for a pittance so have now married that to a Standard Horizon AIS on Ladybird - it’s just like old times! ha.

We get lifted out at the end of next week for a long overdue antifoul. That will totally complete our refurb of the cat after rewiring, new batteries, solar, wind generator, davits, barbecue, re rigging and new cushions, covers, fridges and watermaker. - We head up to Lizard Island Christmas - old stomping grounds of Mico. Do you still use the watermaker? I think your pram dinghy works well - did the RIB die a death?

Kind regards,

Shaun

Penticost Island, Vanuatu - one for the books - 30kt bullets off the hills and the only sail configuration that seemed to work was this!

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[chewt...@bigpond.com]

Hi Shaun,

It’s still the same nav. system you had and has been working well so no need for changes.  The modern Raymarine radars of course are all wireless, so can be brought into iPads etc running Navionics and the like, but at this stage it all works.

Not news you would like to hear after your clever installation, but the watermaker was perhaps last used by you, and since Mico carries a lot of water, I couldn’t see it being a necessity for our sailing plans (east coast and west side of the South Pacific), so I removed and sold it to some friends sailing the 2020 Bali Race.  They intend going on to cruise the Indonesian eastern archipelago and Papua, returning via Darwin and the Kimberley.  I’ll perhaps store fenders in that back section and it has much reduced the confusion of hoses.  It also strikes me that the moulded deck/gunnel drains on Mico were perhaps intended to catch fresh water.  I’ll look at fitting a three way tap and hose to the water tank for the starboard (accessible) side.  I figure that once the deck has had a good storm on it, the tank could be filled with the deck run-off.  Why else wouldn’t the deck scuppers have not been cut down to deck level, instead of adding the complicated deck moulding to accommodate the drains?  Anyhow I hope you’ll forgive me.

The RIB was long gone or kept by somebody and with my purchase came a new new Highfield inflatable with new 2 hp outboard.  I’ve had my 8’6’’ pram for many years and it has been a good little cruiser dinghy and luckily it fits comfortably on the foredeck.  I’ll probably keep the inflatable in a quarter berth in case the main one gets lost or stolen or sometimes two is handy.

You’ve done a lot of work to your cat so a cruise to Lizard Island will be a nice holiday break to enjoy the upgrades.  Very much looking forward to the warmer waters and the snorkelling myself next year.

Cheers

Greg

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[Shaun Sims]

Yes - we have been running Navionics are our ipads for many years. The C80 we mainly use for the AIS alerts and for night sailing which we do a lot of.

We sailed Mico to New Caledonia and Vanuatu one year and it barely rained at all. Fortunately we were sailing in company with some large vessels that have big water maker plants so we survived quite well. When we got back we were keen on getting a watermaker for more blue water sailing and took it to Papua New Guinea as a back up. The funny thing was it rained non stop!

You are absolutely correct about the gunnels for water collections. We always did that and simply put a towel around the back of the hole to make a small dam to direct water into it. Worked a treat all the time - so yes - do try that as the water tanks fill very quickly when you do..

We have not had a lot of rain up here but I noticed that the catamaran roof has two stainless steel spigots for water collection so we will certainly try that before starting the watermaker. 

Kind regards,

Shaun

On 2 Dec 2019, at 2:00 pm, chewt...@bigpond.com wrote:

Hi Shaun,

It’s still the same nav. system you had and has been working well so no need for changes.  The modern Raymarine radars of course are all wireless, so can be brought into iPads etc running Navionics and the like, but at this stage it all works.

Not news you would like to hear after your clever installation, but the watermaker was perhaps last used by you, and since Mico carries a lot of water, I couldn’t see it being a necessity for our sailing plans (east coast and west side of the South Pacific), so I removed and sold it to some friends sailing the 2020 Bali Race.  They intend going on to cruise the Indonesian eastern archipelago and Papua, returning via Darwin and the Kimberley.  I’ll perhaps store fenders in that back section and it has much reduced the confusion of hoses.  It also strikes me that the moulded deck/gunnel drains on Mico were perhaps intended to catch fresh water.  I’ll look at fitting a three way tap and hose to the water tank for the starboard (accessible) side.  I figure that once the deck has had a good storm on it, the tank could be filled with the deck run-off.  Why else wouldn’t the deck scuppers have not been cut down to deck level, instead of adding the complicated deck moulding to accommodate the drains?  Anyhow I hope you’ll forgive me.

The RIB was long gone or kept by somebody and with my purchase came a new new Highfield inflatable with new 2 hp outboard.  I’ve had my 8’6’’ pram for many years and it has been a good little cruiser dinghy and luckily it fits comfortably on the foredeck.  I’ll probably keep the inflatable in a quarter berth in case the main one gets lost or stolen or sometimes two is handy.

You’ve done a lot of work to your cat so a cruise to Lizard Island will be a nice holiday break to enjoy the upgrades.  Very much looking forward to the warmer waters and the snorkelling myself next year.

Cheers

Greg

 

 

From: alajue...@googlegroups.com <alajue...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Shaun Sims
Sent: Sunday, 1 December 2019 7:08 PM
To: alajue...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Storm Sails for A33

 

Hi,

 

So you still have the Standard Horizon VHF with AIS connected to the Raymarine C80?

 

The catamaran we purchased had no radar or AIS but I managed to pick up a full Raymarine C80 plus radar in Perth for a pittance so have now married that to a Standard Horizon AIS on Ladybird - it’s just like old times! ha.

 

We get lifted out at the end of next week for a long overdue antifoul. That will totally complete our refurb of the cat after rewiring, new batteries, solar, wind generator, davits, barbecue, re rigging and new cushions, covers, fridges and watermaker. - We head up to Lizard Island Christmas - old stomping grounds of Mico. Do you still use the watermaker? I think your pram dinghy works well - did the RIB die a death?

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Shaun

 

Penticost Island, Vanuatu - one for the books - 30kt bullets off the hills and the only sail configuration that seemed to work was this!

 

 

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[Timothy Havens]

Boat had new Yanmar YM30 installed in 2019. Low hours. But boat needs work on mast post and bow sprit. We're moving and out of time. Let me know if you're interested. Located in North Carolina. 

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[Shaun Sims]

Hey Greg,

Good to hear from you and glad to hear our old companion Mico is still going strong.

We sailed Mico from Brisbane to the top of Vanuatu in some big seas and found reefing right down as far as we could go on the main and sailing just with a slip of inner Yankie did us fine although, up the western coast of New Caledonia we were bare poles for four days with huge following seas. 

In that case we dragged a drogue behind us which kept us tracking reasonably well but the biggest safety feature we found was the Alajuela’s canoe stern. As most have already discovered, that stern allowed the seas to break evenly down each side - a big comfort to other larger bluff sterns we’ve had in the past.

You’re right, there is a second track on the mast and we did look at a tri sail but in the end, we always felt safe with the fully reefed main and a partially reefed inner yankie.

When it really got bad we hove to for a couple of days and Mico just sat as quiet as a lamb.

We also carried a 15’ sea parachute that was set up with large chains inside thick plastic hose then tubed in kevlar which looped around our samson post, out either side hawser hole and ran back down our side to the aft cockpit, secured to the rail by cable ties - already to deploy from the cockpit.

Fortunately we never got to use it.

As you know, we now sail a 35’ catamaran and sorely miss Mico when we’re out in crap weather.

Last month we were closely hauled in 55 kt winds trying to beat to weather and we just slammed (a life time of mono hull sailing makes you a bit reckless!) and we had to admit to the fact that our catamaran Ladybird is no Mico.

That experience did confirm for us that our para anchor would be of little use to us in big seas so we’ve reinforced the Ladybird’s stern on either side with large backplated S/S tangs from which we will run a large Jordan series drogue all pre set up on the stern.

Again, hoping not to have to deploy it but we head straight out from the Whitsundays in October into the Coral Sea and slowly make our way north through the far flung outer reefs. With SE’s the usually go, it should be an easy sail downwind but it will be of some comfort to be able to deploy that drogue in huge following seas. 

In that case we’ll run the barest of furled headsail with no main and just hang on!

Fair winds mate!

Hope to see you up this way again sometime.!

Kind regards,

Shaun & Robin

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[Greg Campbell]

Hi Shaun,

This seems to be an old post of mine to the group, but nice to hear from you anyhow.

Trevor Robertson, who bought the A38 "Diva" (now renamed "Ironbark") and has posted on this group, has tested a Jordan drogue numerous times in gales and is a big fan of that option. The loads on the securing points on the boat are understandably immense so bulking up the attachments as you've done would be very wise. Hopefully though, not needed in your Pacific cruises.

By chance I'm sailing almost in your waters at present. Steve Francis, one of my old crewmates, who you've met in Cairns, has bought a Hanse 370e called "Andiamo". I jumped aboard at Airlie Beach and we cruised up to Dunk Island, now under sail from Palm Island back to Magnetic Island and then into Townsville.

I then crew on a Beneteau 35 First for Magnetic Island Race Week, and will help the co-owner sail it back to Brisbane.

If you are in Townsville to Whitsunday waters in mid September our paths could indeed cross.

Best regards to you both.

Cheers

Greg

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From: 'Shaun Sims' via Alajuelaboats <alajue...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2025 9:00:36 am
To: alajue...@googlegroups.com <alajue...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Alajuela 33 project boat

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