over the weekend we had some steady wind, 10-13kts in the morning and 12-17kts in the afternoon. we also had a few sustained gusts of 20-22kts....
after we weighed anchor, we pulled the 140 gonoa up just to see how it sails by itself before we changed to the working jib...
what I discovered surprised me....
the boat is loaded with gear and sits trim in the water but with only about 1" of the water line visable. with the mainsail only the boat is a slug. when its rigged with the jib and the main it sails decent and points decent, but in anything over 12kts I have to reef the main and fly the working jib. it will run close hauled at 4.3-4.7kts
any more sail up and she lays over and slogs thru the water quite a bit slower...
so when I tried the 140 by itself, I found the boat stands up well in winds up to about 16kts and will run at a steady 6.5 to 7kts... we did see a couple 10-15 second bursts to 7.8kts in the higher gusts... this is running close hauled and actually being able to point higher than when Im running the main and the jib in combination.
when we were not tight to the wind and were running off a bit, the higher gusts would lay us over and the boat would slow down to about 5.3kts, but what was most noticable was, as it layed over that far I was expecting a round up, but the tiller seemed almost perfectly balanced. it was responsive left and right and without pressure.
at about 24degrees of heel, (according to the meter on my contest compass) my rail is at the waterline, and it seemed to be sailing fine that way on the genoa alone in 20kts of wind.
but it does sail a lot faster when she is standing up and not heeling over.
so my questions are....
..why should i hoist the main when it sails so well on the genoa alone?
..do you think i am putting too much strain on the rigging running that much jib in that much sustained wind?
now that ive learned it will go fast and sail well on the jib alone, I need to find out why its so difficult to sail on the main by itself. it either wants to round up or fall off, depending on the strength of the wind, regardless of how I manage the rudder. could too much bend in the mast cause this?.... my rear stay was a bit tight and i havent tried the main alone since i slacked it...
even though the sail has had very little use and is in great condition, but im sure it is probably a generic cut. it is the original sail that came with the boat.
after we weighed anchor, we pulled the 140 gonoa up just to see how it sails by itself before we changed to the working jib...
what I discovered surprised me....
the boat is loaded with gear and sits trim in the water but with only about 1" of the water line visable. with the mainsail only the boat is a slug. when its rigged with the jib and the main it sails decent and points decent, but in anything over 12kts I have to reef the main and fly the working jib. it will run close hauled at 4.3-4.7kts
any more sail up and she lays over and slogs thru the water quite a bit slower...
so when I tried the 140 by itself, I found the boat stands up well in winds up to about 16kts and will run at a steady 6.5 to 7kts... we did see a couple 10-15 second bursts to 7.8kts in the higher gusts... this is running close hauled and actually being able to point higher than when Im running the main and the jib in combination.
when we were not tight to the wind and were running off a bit, the higher gusts would lay us over and the boat would slow down to about 5.3kts, but what was most noticable was, as it layed over that far I was expecting a round up, but the tiller seemed almost perfectly balanced. it was responsive left and right and without pressure.
at about 24degrees of heel, (according to the meter on my contest compass) my rail is at the waterline, and it seemed to be sailing fine that way on the genoa alone in 20kts of wind.
but it does sail a lot faster when she is standing up and not heeling over.
so my questions are....
..why should i hoist the main when it sails so well on the genoa alone?
..do you think i am putting too much strain on the rigging running that much jib in that much sustained wind?
now that ive learned it will go fast and sail well on the jib alone, I need to find out why its so difficult to sail on the main by itself. it either wants to round up or fall off, depending on the strength of the wind, regardless of how I manage the rudder. could too much bend in the mast cause this?.... my rear stay was a bit tight and i havent tried the main alone since i slacked it...
even though the sail has had very little use and is in great condition, but im sure it is probably a generic cut. it is the original sail that came with the boat.
