Drifter Jibs

Imagine a beautiful summer day… blue sky, big puffy white clouds, light breeze of around 3 or 4 knots, with puffs to about 6.  You are cruising along on your sailboat with a full mainsail and a 135% genoa jib (possibly part of a roller furling system).  Your boat is making headway at about 2 to 2.5 knots.  Not great – but it’s a beautiful day……

How’d you like to have a way to be sailing in those same breezes and be able to attain 60% increase in boat-speed?  Well, there is a solution… an easy one… and it’s called a drifter jib. 

A drifter jib is not a cruising spinnaker.  It is a genoa cut jib sail that is used just like a “normal” jib… but this sail is made of 1.5 oz. nylon spinnaker cloth instead of Dacron or some other sail cloth.  This sail is also the largest jib sail that you’ll have on your boat.  Mine – for Snickerdoodle – is a 155% genoa.  And, because it’s nylon, Kathy designed the colors to look like an American flag – stars ‘n stripes.

Because it’s 155% (some skippers have drifters as large as 170%) it’s very good on all points of sail.  Because it’s made of 1.5 oz nylon, the lightest breeze fills this sail and drives the boat.  Add some 5mm or 6mm diameter line for ultra lightweight sheets and you’ll have a real performer.  Best of all, the drifter is sailed just like you would any other jib-sail… ie. The sail tacks back and forth between the mast and fore-stay.  Sheet in for close hauled, ease the sheets out for reaching or running (wing ‘n wind is a blast).

You’ll use the drifter in breezes up to about 7 or 8 knots… tops!!  In breezes stronger than that you’ll want to shift to a sail with heavier sailcloth to prevent blowing out the drifter.

My drifter has a 3/8” polypro line for a luff bolt rope.  The polypro line stretches like crazy and allows me to easily alter the luff tension with the jib halyard tension; and move the max draft around on the sail to match with wind velocity.  My drifter hanks onto the fore stay with 3/8” nylon straps and snaps.  These work fine in the intended light winds.

If you have a roller furler, it would be easy to simply not hank the sail’s luff to the fore stay and set the drifter “flying”.  You could use a second jib halyard or even the spinnaker halyard to hoist this sail.  Putting tension on the halyard (stretching the bolt rope) will keep this jib’s luff where you want it.

I sailed last Sunday afternoon in breezes 5 to 7 (puffs to ~8 knots).  The main was full up and the drifter was working perfectly.  My boat-speed was between 4.5 and 5 knots for more than two hours.  And, we passed every other boat on the water except for a J80 with it’s spinnaker flying.

So, if you want some great light wind sailing, consider getting a drifter jib for your boat too.