Took the 170 out today for the first time.

[Shorefun]

So forecasted winds were 7-10 around 10am and reducing some in time to around 5.

I get there the wind was pushing some, closer to 10 as we got out on the water after 11. The winds were supposed to change direction and die down. Just to be safe I did what turned out to be a bad job at reefing before we went out.

After doing any number of things wrong. I had the main sail up and sailing at various angles to the wind. My idea was to head into the wind figuring it would always blow us back to the dock.

Tried to flip around downwind. Not sure what I was doing wrong. Unintentional gybe being one of the things. So pointed into wind pulled sail down and motored back to the dock.

Motor works great. I was worried it was too short at 18" from plate thing to the top of transom. Petty sure next time is either going to be with an experience person or 5 knots or less wind.
Too busy doing stuff to do much video, but I will see what I can do with what I have got.

 

[BobbyFunn]

Fantastic! For no experience, that is about what should be expected for a first sail.

See if you can find a community/county adult education or summer program for intro to sailing. It sounds like you had the general jift of what to do, just need to "pick the bike up off the sidewalk and try again". See if you can make a day trip to some local sailing club. Just watching them launch, sail, return, packup and taking notes will be useful.

10 mph is to high for noobs, but less wind is hard to find coastal during daylight. See if there is an inland lake/fishibg pond with a ramp nearby you can train on.

Check out the "chicken gybe" if turning downwind seems sketchy.

Keep getting out there.

 

[shemandr]

Love to hear the smiles! I make a general practice for daysailing of doing my upwind work first and then heading back off the wind. Another general strategy is to reach out and reach back. But you can't learn to sail upwind by reaching - or downwind for that matter. So for learning if you can sail a triangle I think you'll learn faster. Reverse the triangle now and then.
I used the chicken jibe many times with my Bandit 15 centerboard boat. But downwind jibing is an art and it is worth learning to do successfully. I don't think there is a single trick. On a 17' boat if the boom is coming over too fast, you can grab the mainsheet and give a little brake to it. Other than that it's a matter of turning down thru the wind while reeling in the mainsheet (Sometimes it works to just grab the mainsheet), and make sure the main is cleated so that it doesn't travel out too much and fetch up with a rig shuddering slam. But you have to be ready to release the main as soon as the main fills with wind on the new jibe to keep the boat from heeling excessively on the new jibe. Easy - right? It's actually easier on larger boats. But once you have it on a small boat you'll be good to go on almost any boat.

 

[BobbyFunn]

Recorded this to show some reefing and heaving to. This is my last sail of the season as it is getting too hot to be out unless making way to a sandbar.

Found a crack caused by a flexing deck. I have a repair to make this summer.

 

[Joe]

I suggest installing some leech telltales on you mainsail..., the existing ones are useless. The leech tells will enable you to get the correct twist in your main.

You may also experiment with you jib lead block position (actually you just have cleats, no lead blocks) it will allow you to shape a fuller headsail as conditions warrant. You don't need T track... just the smaller lighter weight stuff that dinghy sailors use... a small stand up block on a slider...with a foot or two of track ahead of the cleat... Another method is to anchor a line few feet forward with a small block that will allow the sheet to pass through... when you tighten the control line it will pull down on the sheet changing the lead angle which will alter the tension on the leech and foot of the jib.

 

[BobbyFunn]

I suggest installing some leech telltales on you mainsail..., the existing ones are useless. The leech tells will enable you to get the correct twist in your main.

Yep...the leech telltales are worn out wool strands that usually end up sticking to the stiching. I will replace with ribbons before heading out again.

The main has an upper and lower set of tells. Top set is always used. Lower set is mostly for sailing without jib. I sail with just the main more than 50% of the time. With a jib the lower front set is spurious.

Id love to figure out a way to add an adjustment for the jib cam placement. The cams are set on a recessed mount so it is challenging. Better design would have been a nice flat area up front where owners could easily upgrade a fixed cam for one with a track. or at least a track with a block for redirection

 

[jwing]

In regard to jibing, I have three rules:
1) Understand what causes unintentional jibes and don't sail close to the point that they are likely to happen. Whatever benefit can be gained is not worth getting hit by a wildly swinging boom.
2) Learn how to jibe properly and practice, practice, practice every time you go out in low wind speeds. Build up to jibing in higher winds gradually as your jibing skills improve. The key is to steer the boat gradually toward a run while the boom is being brought to the centerline. With a 170, that is done with the mainsheet. After the boom crosses the centerline, steer gradually toward a broad reach on the new tack, while simultaneously allowing the boom to reach its optimal trim position.
3) If the wind speed is too high for your skills/confidence, do a chicken-jibe. That is: from a starboard broad reach, turn your boat back up wind to a starboard beam reach, keep turning toward the wind into a starboard close haul, tack through the wind to a port close haul, keep turning in the same direction through a port beam reach until you are on a port broad reach. It's actually easier done than described. And much safer than a poorly executed jibe.

 

[Hunter216]

Recorded this to show some reefing and heaving to. This is my last sail of the season as it is getting too hot to be out unless making way to a sandbar.

Found a crack caused by a flexing deck. I have a repair to make this summer.

BO
Good images of heaving to in the video.
Sorry to hear about the new crack.

SH
Invaluable skill to acquire early as it’s an effective way to deal with a LOT of events. Settles things down FAST and gives you time to think. I would spend time focused on this as it’s easy and safe to chicken jibe your way home where trying to stop a boat quickly in MOB situations etc isn’t something you should be trying to figure out during the actual event.

 

[Shorefun]

Bobby, Great video as it has given me a picture I do not thinks words could do.

So I am trying to establish what is different in your rig from mine.

I see what appears to be a padeye added to the port side of the rear boom. That is where to tie off one end of you reefing line.

You added on the mast below the boom mount a padeye (port) and a cleat (starboard). This is for reefing the tack.

There is something red on the rear part of the boom on the starboard side. What is it?

What is the green thing the looks like it goes through the rear reef point and around the boom. It appears you tie down the clew tight to the boom.

Towards the end you appear to be close hauled but I see the keel look like it is not out very far. What is the reason for that?

Is there a reason you do not use the slats under the bow cover?

Do you have video of the actual reefing process?

The forecast has 10 knot winds for a while so I doubt I can even practice reefing in the yard this weekend.

Thanks a lot for that video!!

 

[BobbyFunn]

You are correct about the additional pad eyes and cleats. My boat came with this set up. If you dont have this, then I can measure mine up and maybe build a google sketchup image to post in the 170 section.

Red line is the topping lift. I leave that connected all the time. It flops loosly when the main is hoisted.

Green tiedown is a "best practice" for reefing. This prevents the reef point from being pulled away from boom. Its not required though.

What you might not have seen is i take out the two bottom sail slugs, but leave the eye attached to the boom. Some people dont do that.

The ride home was almost a beam reach. I raised the centerboad since i was going a pretty good clip. Think of it as "reefing" the centerboard. You have two mainsails, one up top, the other underwater. When i got to the channel and was limited in my mobility i dropped it all the way down again.

Hate the slats. When docking i tack upwind and use the irons bleed off speed. That usually puts the bow right at the dock. I do not have time singlehanding to screw around with a 2 fiberglass spring loaded rods while hustling from the rudder to the bow so i can step like a boss onto the dock.

 

[Shorefun]

No, mine does not have some of those extra pieces.

I am not sure how critical distances are. I think I can estimate off of a good set of pictures of both side of your mast and boom.

 

[BobbyFunn]

I am not sure how critical distances are. I think I can estimate off of a good set of pictures of both side of your mast and boom.

See if these help. I would double check your reef point to be sure the gromet is forward the boom eye and block.

 

[Shorefun]

Thanks you so much for those pictures.

So I sorted through my pictures and my boom and mast are missing 3 pieces yours has.

On the starboard side of the boom opposite the block on the port side yours has a padeye.

On the mast yours has the padeye and cleat below the boom mount point. They are also mounted rearward on the taper.

In looking at various 170's for sale I have noticed the booms have different hardware attached and some at different places. I know I have seen more then one without the starboard side block.

I will be adding cleat and padeye on the mast as that looks like a simple helpful thing for reefing. Plus that is not very expensive to add.

 

[JimInPB]

...
Green tiedown is a "best practice" for reefing. This prevents the reef point from being pulled away from boom. Its not required though....

On my boat, this improves the shape of the sail when reefed.

 

[Shorefun]

So I did some practice today.

I set up the sail and tried reefing without the additional parts (2 padeyes and one cleat) BobbyFun has on his 170. What I found is the clew and tack are not very well 'placed'. At the tack I just tie to the eye in the sail and cleat it off at one of the lower cleats. This makes for a very loose tack with movement side to side and fore-aft. The clew is similar and it did not want to pull tight. I can see how the clew would need the extra loop around the boom. to keep it down for tension on the roach.

I can also see why you want the reef line run to the forward cleat on the boom. Then you can control both ends of the foot from one position.

So I have added the padeye on the boom and the mast. I need to find a cleat for the mast. They use the dwyer aluminum cleat and I have not found another reseller with that cleat. Dwyer wanted like $16 shipping for the $15 in parts which would fit in a $2 package. I got some padeyes from WestMarine and pop riveted them in place.

 

[JimInPB]

The most important thing about reefing is that you put the stress on the two big grommets in the leach & the luff of the sail, rather than the little lines that hang from the kringles in the middle of the sail. Stress on the little lines in the middle can result in a ripped sail. You can actually tie the main two reefing lines off in any number of ways, as long as you are pulling the correct parts of the sail in the correct directions. Don't be afraid to get creative if you need to.

Adding the extra hardware to let you jiffy reef, is worth the effort. It makes things much easier when sporty weather sneaks up on you.

If you can't find an aluminum cleat for reasonable money, just grab a Nylon cleat from some marine supply place. Even at West, they are just a couple of bucks.