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7.4 knots under 110% jib only, 45° off the wind

Sven

Seglare
The various boats I sailed as a kid could never go to windward well enough to even bother under only jib, so I stopped even trying many decades ago.

Imagine my surprise a few months ago when we were drifting along under just the jib and I had to round up and Senta was still moving along, into the wind under only jib. She actually sails quite well under only the jib, going to windward. The Center of Effort (the jib) must be way forward of the Center of Lateral Plane (the keel, and hull) so I don't know she can move along so well to windward under only jib.

Anyway ... yesterday when we were coming into San Diego the wind really picked up as we rounded Point Loma. At one point we were 45° off the wind and doing a steady 7.4 knots under just jib with the Cape Horn in control. Everything was working really really well but it was a bit too crowded with boats everywhere so we ended up disconnecting Yves (the Cape Horn) and starting the engine a bit later.

Once we got close to the dock (another story) the wind died :)



-Sven
 

Rick R.

Contributing Partner
That's amazing!Two weeks ago my wife and I sailed on a beam reach with just the old 135 genny and we were at our hull speed nicely.We sailed yesterday with our brand new 135% and new main with one reef in and heeled big time with a 17kt sustained gust. I was shocked at how much she heels with one reef in......must be the new sails..lol
 

Sven

Seglare
I was so busy looking at the traffic and the speed that I forgot to look at the clinometer, but I bet the angle of heel was less than 20 degrees since we only had the 110 up. It was quite a rush !



-Sven
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
How do it know???

Hi again Sven,

While your points about CE vs CG are correct and one would wonder why the boat would go to weatherso well with just a jib, consider:
1). The windier it is, the better the boat will go to windward under just a jib..the reason is that heeling creates weather helm, which counteracts the inherent lee helm in the unbalanced rig configuration of jib only. The lighter the breeze is the worse your upwind performance should be under jib alone(or, the boat will have some lee helm and you will have to direct the boat against is's will to stay close hauled). Reaching should be OK under jib alone.

2). Aft mast rake will also counteract some of the lee helm induced by that configuration.

If the boat feels really great in 10-15 knots hard on the breeze with jib only (meaning if you let go of the wheel it wants to gently
head up into the wind), I wonder if you may have just a tad too much aft rake. Do you notice a lot of weather helm goingupwind with full main and jib in 10-15 knots?

Not saying you need to change anything, just laying out some of the factors at play..But, if you DO have more helm than you would like when flying main and jib, this would be consistent with what you are seeing with just the jib, and might want to tweak the rig fwd just a bit.

The old axiom still holds true: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Happy Trails!

S
 

mwswart

New Member
Genoa sailing

I've owned an Ericson 37 for 8 years. It is a smaller version of the 39. The boat sails nicely under jib alone. The main is small and the fore triangle is large. They were early IOR designs, heavy by today's standards but fast and comfortable. I sold my 37 and bought a 35-3 last fall. I hope it does as well as the 37.
 

Sven

Seglare
We did find out that the balance is incredibly delicate in light winds. When we were ghosting into Bahia Santa Magdalena after midnight I disengaged Yves (the Cape Horn) to hand steer. I kept losing the sweet spot whereas Yves with his 100% concentration had done a much better job. Supports Seth's hypothesis.

Jeff, Nancy is leaning towards Panama and the Caribbean right now. We'll see where the wind takes us :egrin:



-Sven
 
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