I would take extra care with corner patches to make sure the corners were as strong as possible and ensure that the clew, tack and head will stand up to years of steady and heavy use. We would use tensioned webbing where appropriate to reinforce the corners and the corner ring attachments points.

For a client who is going to be sailing south to the Caribbean for the winter, where the wind often blows 15 to 25 knots, what two headsails would you recommend?

The Dacron genoa on the Jeanneau 42 is a basic multi-purpose cruising sail.Dave Flynn: First, we would look at the balance between the mainsail and the headsail on the boat to see if we could go with a smaller headsail. If the boat has a long boom (longer than the J dimension of the foretriangle), then it will sail well with a smaller headsail. For many modern cruising boats, this will be the case.

A smaller headsail will be easier to tack and will offer plenty of power in the stronger breezes. In a perfect world, I'd like to see a non-overlapping headsail that sheets inside the shrouds. Even though the smaller headsail has less area, it will still provide enough power and will have narrower sheeting angles so the boat will point higher.

The second sail we would recommend would be a big reaching sail, similar to a Code Zero, that can be rolled on a furling unit. Hopefully the clients will be doing a lot of reaching and running in the trade winds between islands, so a good reaching sail will make sailing fun and fast.

For smaller or non-overlapping headsails, what trimming issues will a sailor be dealing with?

Steve Cruse: From my point of view the ideal sail plan has a large mainsail that can be controlled from the cockpit, swept-back spreaders so you don't need running backstays and a small, 105-percent jib. If your headsail plan is non-overlapping, the jib will be a high-aspect sail, which means it has a long luff and a short foot.

Many of the new daysailers and several new cruising boats have self-tacking jib systems. The issue with these is you do not have forward and aft lead adjustments. However, at North we have developed a multiple-position clew plate that can be adjusted for different lead angles to the clew. What this accomplishes is the ability to adjust leech tension.

The Wauquiez 45DS has a cutter rig with a Solent jib and a reacher on roller furling units, as well as a cruising chute flying free.Reaching off with a small jib you will find that the sail loses power as the sheet is eased and the leach twists off. One solution to this is to rig a second set of sheets outboard of the shrouds. As you ease off, you have to go forward and attach the second sheet, which is led farther aft so you can maintain leech tension and sail shape.

The Solent Rig, with a high aspect roller furling jib and a roller furling reacher, has gained popularity in Europe. What do you think of the rig?

Robbie Doyle: A high-aspect ,100 percent jib works well for a cruising boat. The sail is easy to tack and can be powerful if it is well made. For offshore sailing, I would like to see the Solent jib have a nice high clew for more powerful reaching and a good shape for sailing up wind in light winds. If the sail is cut too low to the deck it will lose performance as it is eased and won't have a good shape when reefed part way.

But I have some issues with putting a large reacher on a roller furling unit right in front of it. The rolled up reacher creates a lot of windage and disturbance right at the leading edge of the jib, the most important part of the sail. I would like to see some separation between the jib and the reacher. A better way to do this is to have the reacher on a roller unit that can be hoisted and lowered easily.

Looking at the Solent rig concept, what advice do you have for cruisers who want good performance through the whole range of wind angles?

Steve Cruse: For sailors who are looking at sails for the whole range from upwind to off the wind, a smaller or even non-overlapping jib will be great going upwind. They are efficient and useful in a wide range of wind strengths. Many cruisers will add a down wind sail such as a genniker or cruising chute that they launch from a spinnaker stuffer. But between these two sails there is a gap where neither works particularly well.

The jib will be effective from about 30 to 50 degrees apparent wind and the cruising chute works well from 90 to 160 degrees. To fill the gap between 50 and 90 degrees we suggest sailors looking for good performance carry a roller furling reacher that is like the Code Zeros used by racing crews but adapted to the needs of cruisers. The North version is called the G-Zero. These should be flown on soft luff furlers that are hoisted free and tensioned with a halyard. There are several models of these furlers that work well.

With three headsails, you can get the best from your boat in a wide range of wind strengths and sailing angles.