I took the following posts from the OCC Facebook Page:

Toby Norman
19 hrs
I 'm in need of advice please. We have the ability to run twin headsails having recently renewed our 140% jib. Essentially my concerns are putting excessive load on the forestay running the two jibs through the twin tracked proful roller reefer. I have a single pole to fly the windward sail but I 'm concerned with the loads with such big sails over a Pacific passage. Neil McCubbin Peter Whatley and Colin Speedie your advice much appreciated.

Russell Frazer We came across the Atlantic Westbound in that exact mode. It was a really great set up! Yes we rolled and snapped along and I worried about the head stay too. However years later removing the wire and taking the pro furl apart for routine re wire it was found to b just fine.

Toby Norman Really pleased with the pro furls. It 's just huge stress on the stay which concerns me. The profurls like many have the second tracks which I assume is for running twin sails.

Linda Lane Thornton We sailed across both the North Atlantic and the Pacific with two headsails on the twin-grooved forestay of our 20 year old Harken furling system, where both sails could be reefed simultaneously. When the wind shifted onto the quarter, the windwarrd sail could be mo ed to the leward side inside the leeward sail, and again both furled together. An effective rig and no issues with fatigue: that came much later.

Chris Mortimer We thought about this, but for the same reasons decided to goosewing across the Atlantic with prevented mainsail and poled out 140% genoa. Both could be furled from the cockpit, without removing pole and preventer. During the day we flew a gennaker but for safety took it in at night.
Like · Reply · 14 hrs · Edited
Toby Norman
Toby Norman We did exactly that for the Atlantic and made a fast safe crossing although chaffe was really high with the rolling

Peter Whatley Hi Toby this is an interesting question and worthy of consideration and debate as it is sure to produce different views.

We carry a number of coloured sails but the problem in using them when deep sea is the rolling and subsequent moving of the centre of effort that causes more rolling. So they tend to stay in the bag and come out for local sailing. Our solution has been to use twin poles with a 110% genoa on the furler (Profurl) and staysail hanked onto a removable stay close to the forestay. The staysail is not big but is efficient. The genoa is rolled in a bit to keep it taut and this helps prevent chafe both of the sail and the sheet that we feed through the pole end. We have found it better to hand the main completely when the breeze is steady as this prevents the risk of damage and chafe.

Having a clean bottom helps keep the speed up.

We did contemplate having two sails on the furler using one halyard but somehow we couldn 't quite bring ourselves to do this although I know that plenty of people are happy with this arrangement.

When things get a bit exciting (vicious squall with extra rain) we furl the genoa leaving the pole in position (fore and aft guys essential) and if the staysail proves to be a bit much then we just dump the halyard and the sail collapses. We don 't dump the sheet.

A second furler close to the main forestay is quite popular and a system much favoured by designer and past Commodore, the late Mike Pocock.

I have heard many stories of pole tracks being ripped off because most boats have a single track on the centreline. I 'm sure you can envisage the geometry. We prefer twin tracks either side of the centreline. So, to conclude my preference would be for independently rigged sails each rigged firmly with its own pole. I think the Profurl is a strong unit as the section is big although I have always been a bit concerned about the sloppy fit plastic bearings but they seem to survive.

I have no doubt that others will have their own views and experiences that suit their boat.

Isn 't it a great facility within the OCC to be able to ask these questions and get responses from such a wide audience of sailors. It is one of the benefits that I am always extolling to prospective members.

Hope this helps. Fair winds

p.s. New boat coming on a treat! Will send photos.

Toby Norman Thanks again Peter
Alex Blackwell Hi Toby Norman
I would contend and went out from the premise that it is not the forstay we need worry about (bar the attachment points. Much rather it is the back stay that is to take double the load. So when we did fly two headsails, in our case a gennaker and a yankee, we made sure our running backstays were deployed. As mentioned above, we also always reduced sail overnight.

Toby Norman Great point Alex Blackwell, always shy away from rigging them for some reason. Tend to only use them if using the staysail in strong wind which to be fair is rare as the jib alone is normally more than enough drive

Emerald Sea Aroundoceans Toby Norman. You are significantly increasing load into the complete furling and pole system. Ultimately only the manufacturer understands its design limitations and you 'd be best to address this with them. We have done similar with our Facnor and they replied with a reduction in sail area in increasing wind conditions.

Colin Speedie Hi Toby, my concern would be slightly different. 140% is big and with a standard length pole I would partially roll the sail to avoid having a bag in the sail that would tend to generate rolling. And that 's something that cannot be done with twin sails...See more

Peter Morley Personally I 'd want a pole for both sides for sailing relatively direct downwind and/or light winds with rolling, unless you have experience with yours that suggests it 's not needed. My system is something similar to a twizzle rig. I am pretty cautious on deciding to reduce sail as both are hank on. Should also admit I haven 't actually set it in years, great system but has drawbacks for single-handed coastal sailing!

Toby Norman Fantastic advice chaps, thanks so much to you both. Very much respect and value both of your opinions. Colin agreed, 140 does carry a baggy sail even with our huge telescopic pole at full length, granted a reef helps. We have been offered a second huge pole for a very reasonable price but I 'm reluctant based purely on deck space for a second pole that might never get used. I had thought of a small pole for the stay sail instead which might be a compromise, maybe attached as a second pole below the main spinnaker pole. That said, our stay sail is small and requires running back stays.
It 's difficult trying to work out in advance a suitable rig for a ketch to cross the Pacific. I guess I need to play around for the first few days.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Hope your both well and Peter, would love some updated pictures please!

Colin Speedie Toby, a short whisker pole might be fine, or even rig a block on the main boom (with the main stowed) for the staysail. That way you can still reef the genoa at will easily and the staysail won 't collapse. 'Poor mans downwind rig ' it 's sometimes called but works fine - just the usual necessity to watch for chafe. And I 'd just stow the mizzen on a ketch.

Posted on behalf of David (s/v Serendipity)

A twin headsail rig was the initial downwind rig on our circumnavigation. We sailed about 10,000 miles with it but its disadvantages eventually proved its downfall. Let me explain.

If you are going to sail the classic milk run route across the Atlantic, the twin headsail set up works well because once you turn west the wind is generally pretty much dead aft. It can be a bit of a palaver to set up even on the dockside – and even with a dedicated halyard for the second headsail run from the foredeck through a block attached at the head of the genoa. You rig it with one headsail poled out to windward with the spi pole braced for and aft, the other sails sheet led through a block on the end of the boom (braced with a preventer). (I have no experience of the Twistle Rig).

This is a very versatile rig, easy to adjust when a squall approaches, and can easily be rolled away out of harm’s way. In my view it is pretty bombproof. It is true that, if the sails are both in the foil’s luff groove(s) there is a small risk that the foil can split in a squall but you can easily guard against that by keeping a roll in the furler.
This rig works well if the true wind is above say 15kts (i.e. trade wind conditions) and the rig can be carried safely day and night. If the wind does go light, the rig can easily be rolled away and the pole is already rigged and braced for a cruising chute or similar.
I used to be a big fan of this set up but over time its shortcomings began to take their toll:
•   It can be very rolly, there being no dampening from the main.
•   You can only use it with the apparent wind circa +/-140 degrees – less if there is any appreciable rolling. (If you have twin poles when maybe +/-130 is possible). (Note that this is a real drawback once you are through Panama because in our experience the wind was pretty much on the quarter 120/130 degrees apparent for most of the rest of the circumnavigation.)
However, probably its biggest drawback on a long passage is that, when the wind goes ahead you find the windward sail backs and needs to be taken over to leeward. If you set lazy sheets that is easy enough. However, you can’t sail like that indefinitely; there is small but appreciable movement between the two sails which will chafe through the stitching and shorten the life of both sails. So if you are going to sail like that for any length of time (my guide was 12 hours) then one or other head sail has to come down. That is not too hard to do, but when the wind goes aft again and you want to re- erect the twin headsails you are in for much fun and games in a rolling and pitching sea. It is very difficult to do on my boat, even in a calm sea – and pretty nigh impossible short-handed. So once it was down – it stayed down till the end of the passage – perhaps several days later leaving you without a downwind rig for the rest of the passage, other than light winds.
We found a much more versatile set up was to brace the mainsail to leeward with the preventer, lead the genoa sheet through the spi-pole braced to windward – a classic poled out genoa. However, if you are lucky enough have a cutter rig, then then fly the staysail on the leeward side at the same time, but strapped in quite tight. The staysail funnels the wind onto the genoa then through the gap between them and provides substantial resistance against rolling, making the journey much more comfortable.
We used this rig for the remaining 35,000 miles – often in preference to a cruising chute, simply because it requires little attention. You can carry this rig +/- 120 degrees because you can trim the head sail independently. The main advantage is that if the wind goes ahead you can take the headsail to the other side easily to reach for a while then when it goes aft again it is simple to re-erect at sea.
You can’t sail as deep with this rig as you can with the twin headsails, so you will need to gybe down wind to maintain boat speed. However, because there is less roll and less slack in the sails, it is a quicker rig than twin headsails by some margin. It is hard to provide hard evidence to support that statement, other than I believe it and that our average days’ run had increased by more than 15% by the end of our circumnavigation compared with the first 10,000 miles.
With the twin headsails, we were quick to reach for the cruising chute to keep us going when the wind dropped. With this poled out headsail with staysail, the speed penalty was not too hard to bear; after a while, unless the wind got really light, we wouldn’t bother with the cruising chute. Slept much better

Chafe

Flying a downwind rig for any length of time does introduce chafe problems particularly at the spi-pole end – we had the rig collapse on to the guardrail more than once eventually necessitating a replacement spi-pole. By the end of the circumnavigation, we were rigging the end of the pole with a small rope grommet through the fixed eye. To that we attached a block and ran the sheet through that to avoid friction. The snap shackles on the end of the guys and uphaul will eventually to wear a groove in the aluminium pole end so our fore and aft guys/downhauls were knotted onto the grommet using a round turn then a bowline; the uphaul knotted similarly to the top of the pole. This eliminated friction and thus chafe – at the spi pole end at least!