Securing Cheek block mounts
- Thread starter Willie G
- Start date
I think its OK, most pics of the boat show it in pretty good trim with the car there.
Like any boat with jibcars on the cabin TOP (vs side deck) it should use outhaulers whenever sailing off the wind with the headsail. The cars are very close to the CL and the back half of the jib blows breeze onto the main, killing speed.
That was the consideration. The foot of the sail seems to be ok. There’s not a lot of track to play with, and given those two thoughts, maybe the picture angle is adding to the perception. It looks like the sheet is pointing towards the top couple feet of the sail, and that should make the foot look like crap. It doesn’t seem to be.
Maybe it’s just odd. The couple on-board seem to be enamoured with life in general
so I’ll just let them be.
Maybe it’s just odd. The couple on-board seem to be enamoured with life in general
so I’ll just let them be.
Sail shape is a great conversation and goes to demonstrate how much I have to learn. Interestingly the jibcars only have 18 inches of travel. I have a lot to learn but as with most purchases, I continue learn a lot about what I don’t know with my first purchases. I wonder in the priorities of trimming if the fact ( now don’t laugh) the fact that my sails are original (23 years old) might have as big a detrimental effect of being able to effectively trim the sails as any other aspect. Sailing close to the wind is difficult as I get a lot of early onset of luff in the job.
As @DrJudyB would attest to, the jib sheet is in a good place when it roughly intersects the sail 1/2 way up.
This scenario does, can and will change, but as a simple exercise, it’s a great place to start.
The boat in the picture may be an anomaly. The picture would have one (ok maybe I’m the only one) believe the car is too far forward. The trouble is, the foot of the sail has what appears to be a less than excessive shape, indicating that maybe the happy couple is not just happy for the promo photo but in fact the sail is doing what it should.
Best advice, start with as close a sheet angle to the center of the sail, then move the car forward or aft to get the shape you want. Play with it. Your boat will be different than every other one, you said it yourself, the sails are not the same vintage as anybody else’s. It’ll tell you when it’s happy.
This scenario does, can and will change, but as a simple exercise, it’s a great place to start.
The boat in the picture may be an anomaly. The picture would have one (ok maybe I’m the only one) believe the car is too far forward. The trouble is, the foot of the sail has what appears to be a less than excessive shape, indicating that maybe the happy couple is not just happy for the promo photo but in fact the sail is doing what it should.
Best advice, start with as close a sheet angle to the center of the sail, then move the car forward or aft to get the shape you want. Play with it. Your boat will be different than every other one, you said it yourself, the sails are not the same vintage as anybody else’s. It’ll tell you when it’s happy.
@Meriachee tagged me, so I thought I’d drop in for a short post to this thread.
The angle of the photo is not square to the beam, so there’s foreshortening. In addition, the boat isn’t close hauled (look at the boom) so the clew is rising.
As Meriachee pointed out , a vertical angle intersecting 1/2 way up the luff is only a starting point. As a rule of thumb It produces precision results only for a very limited application. The analysis is specific useful when designing on paper, drawn in non curved, 2D projection onto a plane side view, for mid sized genoas.
This picture Is of a jib of less than 105%, a #3, a high aspect sail. High aspect sails need comparatively more leech tension to control leech twist, so I’d expect to see the vertical sheeting angle intersecting the luff a little higher than 1/2 way. ( When viewed In a 90 degree side view, when you draw it out on a paper.).
In summary,the specification of vertical sheeting angle is all about controlling leech tension and twist. Keep in mind that as you ease the sheet from close hauled to furtheroutboard, leech tension will decrease more than foot tension, so the sail will twist more (and ifthe clew is a low height, the clew will tend to hook inward, which is undesirable)
This is a complex topic, and I’ve simplified it. I would caution against using my comments as a basis for calculating the dimensions of the edges of your next headsail.
Judy B
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