A staysail significantly enhances a cruising boat's capabilities. By placing an appropriately sized sail in the ideal location on the boat, you will sail faster, heel less, and not work as hard. If passage making is in your future consider adding a staysail to your sail plan.
What is a staysail?
Headsail terminology is diverse and getting broader by the day. Let’s start with the headsail, this is a sail forward of the mast without a free-flying luff. The classic example is the jib, by definition a non-overlapping head sail – typically 100%, but no larger than the foretriangle (does not extend aft of the mast). The most common is the genoa, which is essentially a larger jib – typically 110% to about 135%. Depending on where you sail and the vintage of your sails, you may have a huge overlapping genoa (150% or more) that extends all the way back to the cockpit, but these sails tend to have limited use offshore. I won’t get into lightweight reaching sails with integral luff ropes - these are technically headsails, and described by a broad spectrum of trade names.