A short while ago I was reading in my Seal 22 technical handbook an article by some bloke that had rigged a self tacking jib on his boat. He seemed quite pleased with it, and it got me thinking is this a way of making my sailing even easier?

Now please correct me if I am wrong, but I have been given to understand that with a fractional rig such as the 22s, the mainsail is the main driving force on the boat. If this is the case then it seems to me that a self tacking jib of the proper shape and proportions should be worth considering?

I have probably mentioned it before, but most of my sailing is done single handed, and I am always looking at things that might make life easier. I have roller reefing on my genoa (about 120% I think) so I would want to have a sail that would be usable on that.

Any thoughts / observations would be most welcome.

Cheers, Ray.

Seal 22 MK3 "Morveren" Number 384

(the last one built by John Baker)