NowhereMan:
A jib is a sail that goes in front of the main. When Hobie introduced the AI/TI, they said that they planned to introduce a jib shortly thereafter. That never happened, but quite a few people on the Hobie Island forum have DIY jibs. They say that a jib improves performance in light wind conditions, and it improves the ability to "point" into the wind (that is, you can go at a steeper angle into the wind). These are both obvious areas of weakness on my AI.
Btw, Hobie does have a spinnaker for the Islands. That's primarily a downwind sail. I have the spinnaker, but never found it too useful. It seems to me that the spinnaker is only useful in a very narrow range of conditions, and it definitely isn't worth the extra hassle when fishing.
After reading more about jibs on the Hobie forum, I decided to give it a try. So, I rigged one, and finally got a chance to test it on Friday. Wind conditions were light, and I was very impressed with how much power the jib added under those conditions. I didn't get a chance to test out whether it improves "pointing", as the wind was too light.
If you're interested, here's a brief video. In the first part, the wind is extremely light, yet I'd estimate that the extra sail effectively doubled my pedaling speed. In the latter 2 segments, the wind is only slightly more, and it's performing even better, with almost no pedaling effort on my part.
My GPS app flaked out, or I'd have more concrete numbers. In any case, I'm sold on the use of a jib. It was pretty great to be able to get somewhere in a (relative) hurry early in the day when the winds were so light.
What about in high wind situation? Love those videos!
NowhereMan:
--- Quote from: yakyakyak on July 19, 2020, 08:27:29 AM --- What about in high wind situation? Love those videos!
--- End quote ---
Ha ha! I haven't had a chance to test it out in windy conditions yet. But, for anything more than 10 knots or so, I suspect it'll be overpowered with the jib, so in those conditions I'll probably have to keep it furled.