Olson 30 Jib #4

[jamottepParticipant]

Good day,
I have a new to me Olson 30 that still has some of the original sails. One of them is marked as Jib #4. My understanding is that a jib #4 would be used as a heavy weather sail. There is a size down, and that would be the storm jib. Here are the approx. measurements I picked up:

Luff: 717 cm
Luff perpendicular: 245 cm

Using I = 36 ft I get a ratio of surface area to L square of 7.3% (which seems bigger than the recommended 5% for storm jib).

I’m trying to figure out whether this is a true storm jib or I need to find a small one as well. It seems awfully close.

Would anyone have a wind range for this particular jib?

[SWGKeymaster]

I would say wind range for that sail would be 30+. We can easily hold our #3 up to 25kt. The crucial issue with an old sail like that would be it holding together. My boat came with a #4 that looks to have never been used but it’s a laminate sail and old. I would be hesitant to put it up in 30kt.

Our local UK sailmaker calls this kind of sail “Use ’til God says otherwise”.

[jamottepParticipant]

Thank you …

I also have 3 of the original spinnakers. They were made by Horizon Sails in San Francisco, which doesn’t appear to be in business anymore. So … I’ll pop them all and see how they fare? Some of them are letting out some nasty fumes. I’m not experienced with sails (or anything really) so I have no idea what these sails are made of. They’re 35 years old. They all seem to be in ok shape, with the 0.75 needing light repairs. I need a lot of practice anyway …

[SWGKeymaster]

Can’t have too many sails! We have one really old (original maybe) .5 spinnaker that still works great,, it’s very light and perfect for light breeze.

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