Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
   Mainsails
   Genoas and Other Jibs
   Spinnakers
   Asymetrical Spinnakers
   Cruising Spinnaker (The UK Flasher)
   Dousing Sock (The UK Stasher)
   Staysails
   Drifter
   Blast Reacher
   Storm Sails
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

       A “Blast Reacher” is a sail which is intended primarily for sailing with the wind forward of the beam, but not so far forward as to be sailing on the wind. Its draft is therefore noticeably greater than that of a genoa, or even a drifter, and the draft is positioned further aft in the sail. It has a very high clew so that it can be set properly with the sheet eased, something a low-clewed genoa can’t do as well. The high clew also keeps the foot out of the water in big waves. Unlike a drifter, it is not primarily intended for use in light air. As a matter of fact, because today’s special purpose spinnakers will outperform a reacher in light air, the reacher comes into its own only when the wind gets stronger. For that reason, an appropriate fabric weight is about the same as, or slightly heavier than that of an all purpose No. 1 genoa.
     Some sailmakers have in the past offered a sail called a “reacher–drifter,” purporting to combine the functions of both sails in one. We do not, because the characteristics we have described for each are mutually exclusive, rather than compatible.