Yesterday we flew a fourth sail for the first time: the mizzen ballooner, as it is known in the U.S. The French, however, call it the foc d'artimon, which translates mizzen jib. In Spanish: foque de mesana. But in reality it is a mizzen spinnaker, and like any other spinnaker, one must fly it as one might a kite, yet this one almost flies itself.
The months of exercise on Slangevar and Rumble Bee held us in good stead.
In this photo, you can see deployed the mizzen sail at left, the main sail center, foreground, and the ballooner behind the main sail. Not pictured: the genoa sail flying forward of this small forest of cables, ropes, antennas, spars, and cloth.
This sail is quite uncommon. It can only be used when the wind blows from 80° to about 170°, i.e. the wind flows from about perpendicularly to almost from behind in relation to the direction of travel of Peregrinus. Also, winds should not exceed 15 miles per hour.
We had a sailboat under power come and circle us completely as we sailed East under four sails yesterday in Long Island Sound. Guess they wanted to have a peek.
Unlike our other sails, which are new this year, this one is vintage 2002. The colors have bled.