Gennaker

Encyclopedia : G : GE : GEN : Gennaker

---

A gennaker is a recently-developed sail used when sailing downwind; it can be described as a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker. It is asymmetric like a genoa, but, the gennaker is not attached to the forestay over the full length of its luff, being rigged like a spinnaker. The gennaker has a larger camber than a genoa, making it optimal for generating lift at larger angles of attack, but the camber is signficantly less than that of a spinnaker The gennaker is a specialty sail primarily used on racing boats, bridging the performance gap between a genoa, which develops maximum driving force when the apparent wind angle is between 35 and 60 degrees, and a spinnaker, which has maximum power when the apparent wind is between 100 and 140 degrees. Due to its geometry, the sail is less prone to collapsing than a spinnaker and does not require the use of spinnaker pole. The lines between gennaker and asymmetric spinnaker are blurry; they are both high camber downwind sails, rigged similarly to a genoa. The difference is the amount of camber, which dictates the points of sail. A gennaker is optimal for a beam reach, while an asymmetric spinnaker is optimal for a broad reach or run. .

-->

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?