[Andrew Freese]

Dear John

I bought my Mac 26 two years ago and found it had secondhand sails from some other boat and also suffered lee helm. Having read info. supplied by The Association I do know that some 26’s have an added bowsprit to overcome excessive weather helm. My 26 does not have a bowsprit and I was very nervous when ordering my new sails about introducing too much weather helm. It seemed difficult to establish the recommended sizes. In the end I ordered a Jib with a luff of 27′ and foot of 11′-8″ and a Main with a luff of 25′ and a foot of 9′-6″. A had found the Genoa that I had inherited rather too large to handle on my own and therefore the jib is deliberately a little small. Once on the boat I found that in both cases the luffs could have been 6″ longer.

I had the mast stepped with a slight lean aft. The result is well balanced and the weather helm is not excessive even in a force 5 gusting 6.

I am sure that adding a larger Main would cure your problem but we seem to be in a very windy period of time (needing a smaller sail area) and initially I would sail with some of the foresail unfurled to see if you can establish the perfect ratio of sail sizes to achieve the desired balance. You may decide the cheapest and most satisfactory solution is to have your existing foresail cut down.

I hope this is of some help.

Kind regards

Andrew Freese

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