Self Tacker vs Genoa

I cannot speak for the 430, i own a 370 from 2008, but the 430 ist just a bigger boat from the same era.

This means the mast is much more forward than compared to the most recent models and the shrouds are not on the outside of the hull.

The selftacker on our 370 is pretty good in very strong winds and espeacially when sailing into the wind.

Downwind the selftacker is useless, exept you sail a max angle of 145degrees.

In calm winds the selftacker is not powerful enough.

Since the beginning in 2008 i have a selftacker and a big genoa. The first years i always changed between the sails depending on the wind. Since several Years we did not use the selftacker anymore.

It is better to sail with a third reef in the main and the full genoa in strong winds than having changed to the selftacker.

The power and the performance with the genoa is so much better that i do not miss the selftacker anymore. We nearly never furl the genoa! We nearly always reduce the main only.

This works from 1 to 7 Bft perfect.

GO for the genoa, it will be a complete diffrent, much more powerful, boat. We are able to match nearly the speed with normally much faster boats of the same size as X-Yacht or a Dehler 38 with our genoa and the main.

BTW using a genoa makes furling much more easy! As the sail has a diffrent shape and the sheets are running directly and not via the mast, it is a total diffrent world furling it. But in stronger winds it is important to sail downwind for some moments to furl the sail, so that it is behind the main. This is something i always did also with the selftacker. Never furl in strong headwinds. Always turn downwind for some seconds.

Both boats need about 8kts true wind before they start to feel alive and below this a Genoa might be beneficial but there is certainly no need for greater sail area upwind once true wind is in double digits.

I had the Elvstrom FCL on the 385 and the equivalent Quantum sails on the 458 so these are stiff, battened and new enough to hold their shape.

Off wind in light airs I use an Elvstrom Furlstrom on a self furler.  Previously I used an asymmetric with a snuffer.

My logic was that these are the sails I use the most so why not address that issue first. 

In lieu of a Code 0, I am planning on adding an A2 spinnaker. I’m in the process of ordering this. 

To close out my initial post, I’ll comment on how I like the sails and what changes in sailing performance I notice. Probably a couple months out.

As a side note, I’m also going to revise my single sided main sheeting to go with two separate sheets. I’m aware of the post on this site where another Hanse ripped his block out of the deck so I’m planning on adding reinforcement to my block support.