[C320-list] Asym halyard block or second jib halyard?

[Pat Ireland]

All

Your help is appreciated.  I have two questions.  If you only have one light
air sail, should it be a jib or an asymmetrical spinnaker?  And is it best
to fly It from a block on a spinnaker crane or is there a second jib halyard
block available.  My pictures of the 320 mast head look like there is only
one shieve, but the mast drawings show two.  The pictures show a strap that
centers the furler halyard and it looks like it would block the use of a
second halyard.  Going to start cruising the 320 site for mast head pictures
next.

When we purchased Cherie, I believed we need better heavy and light air
sails.  We have the heavy air condition reasonably covered and I'm looking
to address the light air conditions.  Since the intention is to keep a heavy
air Dacron jib on the head sail furler, the two approaches under
consideration are 1) use a light weight 150 jib and free fly it on a luff
wire or rope and 2) use an asymmetrical spinnaker.  The jib would allow us
to point higher and perform through all points of sail.  Therfore it was my
original preference.  However, I am concerned that the motion of the boat
will shake the air out of a jib when we run down wind.  Since reaching and
running will likely makeup most of of our light air sailing, I am
reluctant to optimize for windward work at the expense of off the wind
performance.

And yes, the iron jib works quite well in all of these conditions and may
well be a better solution, but I would really like to expand our ability to
sail as the wind drops off.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.  Your input would be helpful.

Pat, 801