A short time ago I was talking to a Colorado friend, who's a Catalina 25 trailer sailor. I meet him a few years ago at a trailer sailor convention in Lake Havasu, AZ. I was conducting a sail trim seminar for over 150 participants. These trailer sailors love their boats and really want to get as much efficiency out of them as they can. They're rabid about sail trim!! Anyway, a blizzard was raging outside his home but he was comfy in front of his fireplace enjoying a whiskey toddy -- or two!! He was looking out at his boat as it was being covered with more & more snow -- I almost think he wanted to bring it inside with him!!
At one point in the conversation he said that as soon as he puts his boat in the water, the first thing he wants to do is improve his sail trim technique. He asked me what single sail trim control for the main and jib he should work on first. I told him ALL OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME and then went on to explain WHY I think that's the only way to proceed. This subject has come up a couple of times and I've answered it different ways but it all boils down to this. Think of a golfer at the driving range working only on his grip. What about his stance, how the club face addresses the ball, his back swing and other elements that are involved with hitting a golf ball. It doesn't make any difference what sport a person is participating in (hitting a tennis ball or baseball, shooting a basketball etc) there is a a set procedure a person has to go through to attain efficiency and consistency.
Frequently, sailors tell me they want to work on the traveler or jib fairleads. Here's the problem as I see it. There are 8 primary controls for the main and 6 for the jib. For a given point of sail and wind condition there's a particular setting for each control. If a sailor doesn't get it right it's similar to shifting a sports car into 2nd gear and flooring the accelerator and at the same time applying the emergency brake. In other words, if ALL the control are not in unison they work against each other.
The trick to learning to do anything is to figure out what happens when you push, pull or hit something. That is my advise to beginner sailors (in the frame work of my personal experience, trying to master the intricacies of sail trim) - figure out what is happening when you do something and don't over think it,Over thinking anything, in my opinion, is the kiss of death. Everyone hears a different drummer but once I figured out WHAT the sail controls were actually adjusting, the settings that gave me the best efficiency for each point of sail and wind condition were easy to determine. There was lot of stuff to remember so I noted it all. I even figured out where best to place the crew in each situation!! I didn't know it at the time but those notes became the SAIL TRIM CHART and it's companion THE SAIL TRIM USERS GUIDE.
I'm sure some of your sailing friends have asked most of you the same question. What advise did you give them??
At one point in the conversation he said that as soon as he puts his boat in the water, the first thing he wants to do is improve his sail trim technique. He asked me what single sail trim control for the main and jib he should work on first. I told him ALL OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME and then went on to explain WHY I think that's the only way to proceed. This subject has come up a couple of times and I've answered it different ways but it all boils down to this. Think of a golfer at the driving range working only on his grip. What about his stance, how the club face addresses the ball, his back swing and other elements that are involved with hitting a golf ball. It doesn't make any difference what sport a person is participating in (hitting a tennis ball or baseball, shooting a basketball etc) there is a a set procedure a person has to go through to attain efficiency and consistency.
Frequently, sailors tell me they want to work on the traveler or jib fairleads. Here's the problem as I see it. There are 8 primary controls for the main and 6 for the jib. For a given point of sail and wind condition there's a particular setting for each control. If a sailor doesn't get it right it's similar to shifting a sports car into 2nd gear and flooring the accelerator and at the same time applying the emergency brake. In other words, if ALL the control are not in unison they work against each other.
The trick to learning to do anything is to figure out what happens when you push, pull or hit something. That is my advise to beginner sailors (in the frame work of my personal experience, trying to master the intricacies of sail trim) - figure out what is happening when you do something and don't over think it,Over thinking anything, in my opinion, is the kiss of death. Everyone hears a different drummer but once I figured out WHAT the sail controls were actually adjusting, the settings that gave me the best efficiency for each point of sail and wind condition were easy to determine. There was lot of stuff to remember so I noted it all. I even figured out where best to place the crew in each situation!! I didn't know it at the time but those notes became the SAIL TRIM CHART and it's companion THE SAIL TRIM USERS GUIDE.
I'm sure some of your sailing friends have asked most of you the same question. What advise did you give them??