Not long ago I was returning to our marina at night with my buddy Mark, his Ranger 23 right at an even match for my E23. Most of the wind had died and we were ghosting along on a broad reach, with barely enough breeze to fill the sails. I'm sure our speed was less than a knot most of that time, but I had turned off the knotmeter to save battery power and was judging mostly by the sound of the water along the hull - it was easy to tell even a slight increase in velocity, as the lake was quiet and very peaceful. It was a wonderful opportunity to play with sail adjustments, and I have always felt an inability to get the most out of the boat in those conditions. One change, more than any others, caused a noticeable increase in speed - physically lifting the boom a few inches, so that its weight did not dominate the shape the sail wanted to take in the less-than-light air that was present. As soon as I lifted the boom with my hand, freeing the leech, I could hear the boat accelerate (from about 0.4 to 0.6 or 0.8 kts) and we began to pull away from the Ranger. If I let the boom drop to its normal position, the speed reverted to its former level and the boats held their positions. We are talking about some pretty pitiful velocities here, but in a race an extra two tenths can make a significant difference. Needless to say, I'm ready to trade my rope vang for a rigid adjustable Garhauer. Comments from you seasoned racers?
An observation on light air trim
- Thread starter Bob in Va
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- air light observation trim
Morgan Stinemetz
Moderator
Bob,
Your lifting the boom put more twist into the sail and more draft. There is an old sailing saying (different from, "I'll drink to that!") that goes something like, "When in doubt, let it out." It has been my experience that many sailors just get things too tight. If you have telltakes on the main, at the ends of the batten pockets, you can monitor the flow off the main.
Morgan
Your lifting the boom put more twist into the sail and more draft. There is an old sailing saying (different from, "I'll drink to that!") that goes something like, "When in doubt, let it out." It has been my experience that many sailors just get things too tight. If you have telltakes on the main, at the ends of the batten pockets, you can monitor the flow off the main.
Morgan
Yes, I keep a pretty close eye on the leech telltales and have found I can get a pretty decent result by using the traveler to get flow across the bottom 2 (or sometimes 3) and then adjust the sheet to get the top one moving. Of course this is predicated on having the genoa set properly, and in our often-fluky lake wind conditions that is saying something. I'm learning to helm the boat according to what the windward genoa telltales are communicating (assuming good flow on the leeward ones, of course) - as my friend and local racing guru Bruce said, "there should be a direct connection between the windward telltales and your hand on the tiller - if one changes, the other should too." I have found that thinking of it that way helps me focus better going upwind. I was wasting time and effort checking the masthead windex to read apparent wind, but his point is that the only wind that counts is the air moving across the sails, regardless of what the windex says. On a reach he sets the sails much free-er than I normally would making sure he has good flow off the leech of the main. He doesn't worry much about backwinding the luff of the main in such conditions if the boat is moving well.
Sail trim
Bob-all good points. And yes, use the Genny telltales to steer upwind. The masthead fly does little to help you steer-except sometimes when runnig very deep and you are concerned about getting by the lee and possibly gybing unintentionally. In this case, a very quick glance up will tell you if you have sailed deeper than dead downwind and cue you to come up slightly.
Back to the headsail telltales, when sailing upwind in heavy air and you feel overpowered either by heel or helm, head up sllightly so that the windward telltales are "luffing". In lighter air this would be considered "pinching", but when overpowered it lets you sail a bit higher(good), flatter (also good), and hence with less helm (very good). This technique is often referred to as a "fisherman's reef". Just another tool to depower the boat without having to shorten sail. Not a long term answer, but if have a short distance to the weather mark and need to depower, it works (beating mostly, though).
Good sailing!
Seth
Bob-all good points. And yes, use the Genny telltales to steer upwind. The masthead fly does little to help you steer-except sometimes when runnig very deep and you are concerned about getting by the lee and possibly gybing unintentionally. In this case, a very quick glance up will tell you if you have sailed deeper than dead downwind and cue you to come up slightly.
Back to the headsail telltales, when sailing upwind in heavy air and you feel overpowered either by heel or helm, head up sllightly so that the windward telltales are "luffing". In lighter air this would be considered "pinching", but when overpowered it lets you sail a bit higher(good), flatter (also good), and hence with less helm (very good). This technique is often referred to as a "fisherman's reef". Just another tool to depower the boat without having to shorten sail. Not a long term answer, but if have a short distance to the weather mark and need to depower, it works (beating mostly, though).
Good sailing!
Seth
Morgan Stinemetz
Moderator
It has always been my understanding that a "fisherman's reef" has to do with flattening the bottom of the headsail while letting the top twist off. To do that, one moves the genoa car further aft than normal (what ever the hell that is) and that will power up the bottom of the sail and depower the top. Less heel. More speed. Happier campers.
Sail trim
That is another, less common use of the term, and it also works, but to a smaller degree. The idea is to move the lead aft of the "usual" spot-as you say. The usual spot is the location where, when beating, the luff is at a constant angle of attack, so that the top and bottom telltales break evenly. This means "full power" from the headsai. If you move the lead aft, you are "unloading" the top of the sail and twisting it off to leeward while keeping the bottom of the sail flat(flatter). You have accomplished this when the top telltales break before the bottom ones. Moving the lead slightly forward with a corresponding easing of the sheet will make the sail more "powerful" in lighter air, and moving it aft depowers it Certainly this would be the first move as you get overpowered and don't want to change sails. If still overpowered, use the "pinching", or :"feathering" method I described. FWIW, the feathering method is only correct when beating, but the lead method works regardless of point of sail.
S
That is another, less common use of the term, and it also works, but to a smaller degree. The idea is to move the lead aft of the "usual" spot-as you say. The usual spot is the location where, when beating, the luff is at a constant angle of attack, so that the top and bottom telltales break evenly. This means "full power" from the headsai. If you move the lead aft, you are "unloading" the top of the sail and twisting it off to leeward while keeping the bottom of the sail flat(flatter). You have accomplished this when the top telltales break before the bottom ones. Moving the lead slightly forward with a corresponding easing of the sheet will make the sail more "powerful" in lighter air, and moving it aft depowers it Certainly this would be the first move as you get overpowered and don't want to change sails. If still overpowered, use the "pinching", or :"feathering" method I described. FWIW, the feathering method is only correct when beating, but the lead method works regardless of point of sail.
S
