460 Weather Helm

[liberty420@verizon.net]

I have a 2001 Hunter 460 which suffers from severe weather helm when sailing down wind in 20-30k gusty conditions. I had heard somewhere that this could corrected if I reduced the main sail area by 20-30%. I tried this approach which corrected the problem with little redcution in speed. Has anyone else had a similar experirnce?

L. Lipscomb

 

[Bill Roosa]

yes, my 40.5 does like to have a reef around 15 knots (23 knots wind minus 7 knots boat speed) apparent wind speed. If you are going down wind with the boom out over the gunnel then there is ALWAYS going to be a force that is trying to turn the boat toward the direction opposite the boom. If you drop the main and just use the jib you will reduce the effect. Kinda like having front wheel drive!!!

 

[Mikem]

In my 2003 466 when the wind speed hits 15-17 kts I furl the main to the top spreader. That helps quite a bit. There are times when I have sailed under jib alone and the boat does just fine. In fact it sails quite well under jib alone. When sailing under main alone...it hardly moves, but then roll out some jib and wow, what a difference.

 

[Bowedtoothdoc]

I have a 2001 Hunter 460 which suffers from severe weather helm when sailing down wind in 20-30k gusty conditions. I had heard somewhere that this could corrected if I reduced the main sail area by 20-30%. I tried this approach which corrected the problem with little redcution in speed. Has anyone else had a similar experirnce?

L. Lipscomb

I believe that the sail plan on the 460 is identical to the 450 which is a masthead rig, not a fractional like the newer Hunters. On my boat I like to reef the main beginning in the high teens. Once over 20 you can reef the jib as well.
Last week when I shot this video I was single handing and it was gusting up to the mid to low twenties. I had both main and jib reefed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD0zPkOeIJw

 

[liberty420@verizon.net]

Thanks for your help.

Lenny