I spoke to a new Hunter owner yesterday and he told me “mainsail trim is mystifying to him!!”. I thought “no kidding, join the club!!”. On a fractional rig the mainsail is the most important source of upwind power.
The first thing a sailor has to understand is WHAT are ALL the sail trim controls for the mainsail (and jib) actually adjusting. Secondly, there is an “adjustment sequence” a mate has to follow so that the mainsail controls don’t work against each other. Obviously, you might think, the first adjustment is the halyard but the next time you’re out on the water check the boats you encounter and notice how many mainsail have a sag along the luff. These boats are “adjustment doomed” from the start as no matter what they do with the outhaul, traveler, mainsheet etc it’s going to be ineffective. The trimming tools such as the telltales and battens are not going to be giving incorrect adjustment input and the sailor will overtrim. It just get’s worse when he starts adjusting the jib and tries to mirror the poorly trimmed mainsail.
So what’s the answer? I think first it’s a matter of knowing what you’re looking at and what you’re looking for. Once you get to that point you have to figure out the correct setting for each sail trim control for each point of sail and wind condition. Once you get to that point your boat starts to liking you and performs at 100%.
The first thing a sailor has to understand is WHAT are ALL the sail trim controls for the mainsail (and jib) actually adjusting. Secondly, there is an “adjustment sequence” a mate has to follow so that the mainsail controls don’t work against each other. Obviously, you might think, the first adjustment is the halyard but the next time you’re out on the water check the boats you encounter and notice how many mainsail have a sag along the luff. These boats are “adjustment doomed” from the start as no matter what they do with the outhaul, traveler, mainsheet etc it’s going to be ineffective. The trimming tools such as the telltales and battens are not going to be giving incorrect adjustment input and the sailor will overtrim. It just get’s worse when he starts adjusting the jib and tries to mirror the poorly trimmed mainsail.
So what’s the answer? I think first it’s a matter of knowing what you’re looking at and what you’re looking for. Once you get to that point you have to figure out the correct setting for each sail trim control for each point of sail and wind condition. Once you get to that point your boat starts to liking you and performs at 100%.
