Rare bird - A Beneteau First 260 resource

A recent addition to modern spinnaker handling are a set of control lines called 'twings'. Twings are used to control the position of the spinnaker sheet and guy to shape the sail, and although they are not standard rigging from Beneteau, they are easy to rig on a First 260 or First 25s.   In the picture, you can see both the sheet and guy. Although hidden on the port (guy) side, you can see the twing attached to the sheet of starboard, holding it slightly down to give a better lead angle to the clew. This gives better sail shape. On the pole side, the twing helps the pole-down line control pole position. This diagram gives a good feel for how the lines are laid out. Ideally, you can control the twing from the cockpit as shown. Looking back at the first picture, the control device (F) is a Harken 150 camcleat with a Extreme Angle fairlead on it, mounted on the outer side of the coaming. You can see it easily in the picture. Here it is easily accessible by crew, and ...

We enjoy listening to music in general, and while listening while sailing is a particular pleasure. Based on the experience gained while doing audio installs on our other boats, here is an overview of what we did to add music to BlueJ. The first choice was selecting a head unit, but for us that was rather easy. Because of their overall quality and  GREAT iPod/iPhone integration, we use Fusion Marine radios on all of our boats. On BlueJ, we selected the MS-RS200. This small marine radio has a direct iPod connector, and you can control the music via a scroll wheel and a huge display on the unit. It control two sets of speakers, and supports a wired cockpit remote and BT audio. As you can see in the picture above, the small size of the unit makes it easy to mount on the panel. The website for the unit is HERE . We leave a 160Gig iPod classic on the boat, which has our full 27,000 song iTunes library on it. It is very nice to have your full collection of music with you. If we w...

To be successful in windward/leeward racing, a good tactical compass is a must. Without it you cannot read wind shifts, and if you miss shifts you miss sailing on the shorter, lifted tack. The diagram on the right shows it... the boat on the right tacks when knocked, so is sailing lifted after the tack and straighter to the mark. All else being equal, she will be the first boat to the weather mark. So tactical compasses are a big deal. The question is, which one? On BlueJ we have used several units, always mounted to mast below the boom where the whole crew can see them from anywhere on the boat. And we are always looking out for a new edge. Here is what we have learned. NOTE: Much of the device review below is outdated. BlueJ now uses a dual Sailmon MAX mast mounted system, integrated into the boat's NEMA2k network via WiFi. Read more about that system HERE . First up is the Velocitek ProStart. This US$600 device has three functions: 1) GPS-based Speed over gr...

Due in part to her non-overlapping rig, and her great stability, we have found that optimizing the off-wind sail inventory for a First 260 can pay huge dividends. So our inventory contains 4 primary spinnakers. It's a collection of symmetrical and asymmetrical sails. One thing is very clear; if you are doing any windward/leeward racing, you have to use a poled kite to go deep enough to hit your polars. On the other hand, distance race reaching (and in particular light air reaching) requires asyms. Based on that, here is a detail of our inventory, from top-left going counter-clockwise. AP Runner . Because our venue is primarily light airs in the summer, we will be using a  0.6oz kite for running any time the mark is deeper than our polar angle. This kite is 35x19 (almost 600 sqr ft).  This sail powers up the boat in even light air. It can be too much however in a breeze, so.. Heavy Air Runner . This 0.75oz fractional kite is sized for the First 260 I and J measurement...

The First 260 comes from the factory with a pretty typical vang setup for a boat of her size: a soft 4:1 purchase unit with the control line led back to the cockpit. There are several modification that you can make to give this setup give better sailing handling, make it more convenient, and make life easier on your crew. The first modification is to add a medium sized block to the boom where the vang was attached. Then run a length of 8mm dynemma from the top of the soft vang through the block and back down to the mast base where the bottom of the soft vang attaches. Size this so you have full range of vertical boom motion. This mod increases the vang purchase to 8:1 and makes it much easier to use as a hand load. Then think about replacing your old vang cam cleat with a new Harken 150 with an X-Treme angle fairlead as shown in the picture. This lets your crew play the vang from anywhere in the cockpit. If you already have Harken 150s as camcleats, you can add the fairlead easi...

When sailing upwind, many crews focus primarily on good headsail trim. Headsail trim is important because it steers the boat to windward, the luff telltails leading the way. But sadly, too many sailors underestimate the value of the mainsail when it come to upwind sailing, in particular on fractional non-overlapping rigs. Look at the picture at right, which shows such a rig going to windward in perfect trim. The target breeze would be 7-13 knots. The colors represent pressure differential (lift), with green then orange being the greatest. You would expect the jib to look like that, but look at all the drive that comes from the mainsail, and the top of the main in particular. That lift means boat speed, and more efficient foils underwater. On BlueJ, the helm can immediately feel when the main goes in and out of trim. Boat speed drops, and so does the windward angle, and the helm comes out of balance. Key to obtaining this level of trim is the ability to get the boom to the cente...

Because of our love of sailing, and because WYC encourages boats to stay in as long as possible, we play a little game with Old Man Winter every year. The game is to stay on the water as long as possible, doing as many Shackleton Cup events as possible. So we do. It also helps that the 260 is such a safe dry boat. We have won the Shackleton Cup every year we have been at WYC. We try and stay in to the Thanksgiving time-frame, or the last week in November. So when is the game up? Three things can press the issue: Snow - If a big snow is forecast, and the likelihood of it staying on the ground is high, out the boat will come. Cold - The cold air temps will freeze the boats systems. I winterize the the water systems before all this starts, but the diesel cooling system always worries me when it gets cold. We place a heater on the boat, but that is not fail-safe Ice - Ice always seems to get us. Once the water temp gets below 39F, the lake can skim over with ice after any cold n...

The Beneteau First 260 comes standard with an inboard diesel, in our case a Volvo-Penta MD-2010. This 10HP, 2 cylinder motor is a little jewel. It powers the boat quickly and efficiently. From the factory, it drives a 2 blade fixed propeller via a shaft. Fine for regular sailing, but for racing this simply HAS to go. The time credit PHRF and other handicap system grant a boat with a fixed prop in no way makes up for the time lost to the extra drag. For example, PHRF gives a 3 second credit for a fixed 2 blade prop. Its is understood that in lighter conditions, the drag can actually cost 30 seconds a mile. So a folding prop was needed. But what one? Kestrel uses a 2-blade Flexofold that we are very happy with. So I called Flexofold to discuss. Even though you call a USA number, the call is answered by a tech in Denmark where they are made. This is good news, because experts will size the prop for you, eliminating guess-work. If they get it wrong, they will swap out the blades. ...

NOTE : The backstay on BlueJ has been upgraded from this system and is documented HERE . The portion about the flicker is relevant, but a better solution exists for the backstay. Both work of course. For maximum performance, a 260 should have a mainsail cut to its IMS-MAX girth dimensions. This is the maximum sail area allowed under most handicap systems without penalty. The roach of this sail, however, will extend well past the backstay, and in lighter air will catch when passing on a tack or gibe. To fix this problem, two modifications must be made. FLICKER At the mast-top, a fiberglass batten must be secured to the masthead. The batten will have a stainless steel clip on the aft end, and the backstay will be led through it. When the backstay is released, the batten will straighten and hold the stay up and off the roach of the sail, The sail can then be tacked or gibed without worry of the sail getting stuck. When the backstay on on, the batten bends and the stay tightens as expec...

The 260 has a very modern racing rig; a 9/10s fractional mast with a 105% non-overlapping jib. The tall mast and big mainsail give 400 square feet of upwind sail, and helps make up for lost area due to not being able to fly an overlapping genoa. This sailplan works well for all sailing conditions EXCEPT for lighter air reaching. Here with the lower apparent wind angle a big head-sail would be nice but not possible, and the apparent wind angle is too hot for a spinnaker. NOTE - While this post is historically accurate, every aspect of the gear and sails has been updated on BlueJ, and documented HERE . The trick in these conditions is to fly a flat reaching asymmetric. Ours is what a sail-maker would call a Code 1. Modern rules now measure so-called Code 0 and Code 1 sails separately and depending on your racing rules they often have to be declared. This sail can come out almost any time in distance racing or sailing where we can fetch the mark. It is cut from 1.5oz nylon and has a d...

With the new sails, we looked forward to the last three series of the year: A month of around the lake mid-distance Commodore Cups A W/L Frostbite series Shackleton Cup races to Maynards until the ice came. First up were the Commodore Cups. Mid-distance racing around the lake. Crew was going to be an issue because Chris and his wife just had a baby, so he was out. That meant the three of us, WHEN fire-fighter Jon had the weekend off. Happily we had some subs. and the distance racing meant that a premium was not going to be on maneuvers. We did VERY well in the 3 or the 4 races we did; never placing worse then 2nd. Here Jon and Pia and I reach to the first turning mark. After 10 miles of racing we missing winning this race by 30 seconds corrected to a J-27. The frostbite race did not go so well. The breeze was up, blowing 15-18 knots. Pia, Jon, Dan and I on board. The upwind was very fast, and we had the leading Soling in our sights. We stayed with him downwind and now had...

Halfway through the 2012 season we discussed the 260/sail issue. It was very clear that we were not going to be competitive 90% of the time with the old sails. New sails would make the boat faster, but by how much? Because it was the only 260 in the county, we really had no one to ask. So we decided to look into what new racing sails would cost, and figure if it was the risk. We had gotten a quote for some very nice UK Silver Tapedrives, but the cost was well above what we were willing to risk. So I looked father afield. On a hunch, I asked several new First 25s owners who was making their sails. The answers were all over the board, but one recommendation caught my attention. Somerset sails had made a set of laminated sails that the owner loved, and and what he described as a very reasonable cost. I reached out to Somerset and liked what I heard. More references checked out. And Martin (the owner) was very knowledgeable and made it clear that no money would permanently change hands...

The 2013 year started out in a bit of a quandary. Over the winter, Pia and I talked long and hard about what boat we should race at WYC. We had looked at a Beneteau sport-boat, a First Class 7.5. Very quick. The issue with BlueJ was sailing in light airs. Below 7 knots we might as well not go out, and lots of our races are held in light airs. New sails MIGHT help, but they might not help as much as we needed. So we waffled on sails. We starting the season with just Pia and I on the boat. This made spinnaker work tricky at times. But we got to know the boat better, and we swapped positions often. The season started on a good note, with us winning the tune-up race while doouble-handed. A fun little video as we reach back to the club for a victory beer. And crew wise things were looking up. Brett and his friend Chris wanted to join us on Thursdays. Brett had been at the club for a few years, and Chris was new to sailing, but learned very fast. And as he is an engineer we got along...

Fall is some of the BEST sailing on Lake Minnetonka. The breeze is better, all the yahoos in Powerboats are gone, as are the Milfoil weed beds. You need to dress for it, but that's simply part of the game. The last series is the Fall Commodore Cup distance races, followed by the informal Shackleton Cup races, when boats depart the club at the same time and race to Maynards Grill and Bar at the far side of the lake. Due to her size and general seaworthiness in the 40F water, she is a popular choice with any crew that shows up looking for a ride. Many times the races are held in below freezing air temps. When that happens, there is a 50/50 chance you will have to broom snow of the decks. Or just let it BLOW off. Happily is not always that cold. Sometimes it is downright pleasant, in particular if you are warmed by an adult beverage and the wind is behind you. Here we sail home with a following 12 knots breeze on the hip. Andy and Val, competitors on our bigger boats, j...