Inner vs Outer headsail leads/sheeting

[Frank Langer]

I generally sail our 1984 E30+ with the headsail sheets led on the blocks/track on the toe rail, and she sails nicely like that. Lately, I've been wondering if she would sail better/point higher if I used the inside tracks just below the cabin windows instead. That would bring the headsail sheets in about a foot or a bit more perhaps, presumably enabling the boat to point higher in a close reach. It would make sense then to use the outer leads when on a beam reach or broad reach.

I have not had a problem with how she sails using the outer leads, and my guess (eyeballing) is she sails about 35 degrees off the wind in a close haul sail. I generally use a 125% headsail on our Harken furler.

As I'm always "playing" with things on the boat and working to refine my sailing techniques, I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on when it's best to use the inner vs. outer leads and how much difference this makes. If it weren't foggy here today, I'd take her out for a sail right away myself to experiment.

Thanks for any insights.

Frank

 

[rwthomas1]

Experiment. My E38 sails better off the wind with the 130% on the toe rail but close hauled, 50* and up, the inner track is way better. RT

 

[Meanolddad]

Hi Frank
We usually sail with the headsail sheets on the inner track. Most of our sailing seems to be upwind once we pass Angels Gate and I guess I am lazy and just leave the sheets on the inner track when we are reaching back. We wind usually clocks around to the point that we have to occasionally tack once to get back into the marina, so since we are not racing it does not make much sense to move the sheets around.
Hope this helps
Greg

 

[Frank Langer]

Thanks, guys.

Thanks, guys. That's useful information. I'll try moving the headsail sheets to the inner track.
Frank.

 

[Gary Peterson]

One of the main things to look out for when sailing upwind with the inside track is back-winding the main sail. When the slot starts affecting the flow of wind past the leeward side of the main sail then it is time to either roll in the head sail some or put the head sail on the outboard track. This will allow the head sail to remain full size and to reduce the back winding of the main sail. Going upwind in lumpy seas needs a full head sail. Off the wind the head sail needs to be on the outer track. IMHO

 

[Loren Beach]

Harumph!
Ye young whipper snappers need to discover the "Barber Hauler"...
(Unless the location of the shrouds vs the sheet lead for the amount of overlap rules that out.)

With a floating block on the sheet you could experiment with changing the lead on a continuous basis, in and/or out.
:nerd:

Cheers,
Loren

 

[Randy Rutledge]

Thank you Loren.

I was trying to remember the Barber Hauler name last week. I could not find it in a book or my grey matter.

 

[Seth]

tracks and backwinding

IF you have a main and headsail which have not lost their design shape, and IF you have the headsail lead in the correct spot fore and aft, and IF you have trimmed the mainsail correctly, you should not see any backwinding-or very little (which is OK when at the upper end of whatever headsail you have up).

If you do, and are sailing upwind, before going to the barberhauler to widen the sheeting angle (and detract from pointing ability), try moving the headsail car back a few inches. This will open the leech of the headsail, allow more air to exit cleanly, and greatly reduce, if not eliminate backwinding.

Other things to try before widening the sheeting angle with the barberhauler or toe rail track:

1). Flatten the mainsail with outhaul and backstay, and be sure you have adequate halyard tension (with or without cunningham)-if it is too loose, the draft in the main will move aft, and into more of the exhaust of the headsail-increasing the backwinding effect
2). Make sure you have proper halyard tension on the headsail-if you do not, the draft will be too far aft of the design point, and this will force the air into the back of the mainsail..

Now, if you are NOT close hauled-you should still do all these things, BUT-widening the sheeting angle will now help your performance-as opposed to reduce your pointing ability. An exception is upwind in very big seas: sometimes some boats just cannot get going with everything trimmed in as close as possible, so in this case some barberhauler or toe rail sheeting will get the boat going (don't forget to lower the Trav and crack the mainsheet), and the loss of 5 degrees or so of height is more than offset by getting the boat moving, and the keel working, which will get you better VMG upwind.......

Clear as mud, right?

Cheers,
S