Problem: can’t sail closer than 60 degrees. Boat: H260 water ballast, centerboard fully down, single handing, lightly loaded. Wind: 8 mph min, 15-17 mph av, 22+ sustained gusts. Sails: Main reefed to 75 sqft out of 190. Jib reefed to 50 sqft out of 130 . Heel: 10-15 with 20+ on gusts. Lee helm switching to weather helm on 20-degree heel. I would let out the main to build speed, 3 knots max, then come up ,sheeting in until speed was lost. I couldn’t get closer than 60 degrees to the wind. If I put on more sail for more power/speed then the heel angle would be greater and the rudder goes soft over 20 degrees. I don’t seem to notice any hardening up of the boat at higher degrees of heel. It seems to go from 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 and beyond in one straight line. At 60 degrees to the wind it takes a long time to get there. I noticed when motoring in these winds, the boat heels at 5 degrees without any sails up. Could more ballast help the boat stand up to more sail and therefore allow more speed and closer sailing? Better trim on the reefed sail? It’s hard to get the top batten lined up with the boom when its reefed. Any experiences , suggestions or techniques that would help make our boat more weatherly would be greatly appreciated.
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H260 Pointing
You are trying to turn a oldsmobile cutlass into a corvette. Some of the bad things about this boat are the wide round hull, high freeboard, lack of a conventional keel and rudder, no adjustable backstay, traveler, jib fairleads etc., which would allow you to sail closer to the wind. Some of the nice things about this boat are the interior space, small jib, the lack of a backstay, traveler, fairleads, full keel and rudder etc...
You are trying to turn a oldsmobile cutlass into a corvette. Some of the bad things about this boat are the wide round hull, high freeboard, lack of a conventional keel and rudder, no adjustable backstay, traveler, jib fairleads etc., which would allow you to sail closer to the wind. Some of the nice things about this boat are the interior space, small jib, the lack of a backstay, traveler, fairleads, full keel and rudder etc...
George summed it up pretty well w/ the Corvette
analogy but I'll give a go . . . I don't have a 260 but my 280 is very similar except for the keel/rudder configuration. Our boats have a LOT of hull windage. That coupled with your reefing down to near storm sail configuration - very small and very flat - and the type ballast you have prevents you from sailing higher. Using just the main at about 120 sq ft. might do a little better.
analogy but I'll give a go . . . I don't have a 260 but my 280 is very similar except for the keel/rudder configuration. Our boats have a LOT of hull windage. That coupled with your reefing down to near storm sail configuration - very small and very flat - and the type ballast you have prevents you from sailing higher. Using just the main at about 120 sq ft. might do a little better.
Your lee helm..
..is a large part of the problem. The H26 is never going to go to weather like e J Boat but it can sure be improved. First off check your mast rake settings. It should be set at at least 1% of your mast height. Your P is 30'6" so mast height is about 34' off the deck. 1% would be 4". If you increase it to 6" that would be even better. Then go for a sail and see how much things have improved. Don't forget that as wind speed increases you need to make your sails flatter.
..is a large part of the problem. The H26 is never going to go to weather like e J Boat but it can sure be improved. First off check your mast rake settings. It should be set at at least 1% of your mast height. Your P is 30'6" so mast height is about 34' off the deck. 1% would be 4". If you increase it to 6" that would be even better. Then go for a sail and see how much things have improved. Don't forget that as wind speed increases you need to make your sails flatter.
Lee helm
You should always strive to trim the sails for weather helm. Then the keel and rudder are both working for you and not just the keel working for you. The underwater lateral resistance by the keel is directed to windward in all cases. With weather helm the rudder also resists to windward. With lee helm the rudder resists to leeward and actually causes more leeway and to an extent cancels out the resistance of the keel. It also adds drag and turbulence which kills your speed. Lee helm can be thought of in two ways. Too much head sail power or too little mainsail power. So either power down the head sail and re-trim the angle of entry or power up the main and re-trim Pointing is where you get to understand that 2" of rope can in fact make a whole knot of speed and 10 degrees of pointing difference. Being Annal-Retentive, I took the boat out and set her up on the best windward course I could while still making 80% of hull speed. Using the tiller as a guide I strived to trim for the 3 degrees of weather helm (rudder angle not pointing angle) recommended. This involved the outhaul, halyards, cunningham, jib sheet leads, and both sheet. When I had trimmed for max speed I turned into the wind till I was back down to 80% again and began all over again. Repeat till you run out of bay or get tired. Then be sure to write the setting down or mark them on the lines or something so you can immediately go to "best beat". I find I still have to futz with the trim due to wave and gust effects but at least I'm not beating at 50 degrees apparent and 2 knots.
You should always strive to trim the sails for weather helm. Then the keel and rudder are both working for you and not just the keel working for you. The underwater lateral resistance by the keel is directed to windward in all cases. With weather helm the rudder also resists to windward. With lee helm the rudder resists to leeward and actually causes more leeway and to an extent cancels out the resistance of the keel. It also adds drag and turbulence which kills your speed. Lee helm can be thought of in two ways. Too much head sail power or too little mainsail power. So either power down the head sail and re-trim the angle of entry or power up the main and re-trim Pointing is where you get to understand that 2" of rope can in fact make a whole knot of speed and 10 degrees of pointing difference. Being Annal-Retentive, I took the boat out and set her up on the best windward course I could while still making 80% of hull speed. Using the tiller as a guide I strived to trim for the 3 degrees of weather helm (rudder angle not pointing angle) recommended. This involved the outhaul, halyards, cunningham, jib sheet leads, and both sheet. When I had trimmed for max speed I turned into the wind till I was back down to 80% again and began all over again. Repeat till you run out of bay or get tired. Then be sure to write the setting down or mark them on the lines or something so you can immediately go to "best beat". I find I still have to futz with the trim due to wave and gust effects but at least I'm not beating at 50 degrees apparent and 2 knots.
60 degrees thanks
Thanks everyone for the input. If Clark thinks my problem sounds familiar, then my adding internal ballast isn’t going to help much, because the 280 carries its 2050 lbs 3 feet + below the surface. To equal the righting force of that, I would have to add allot inside. The ballast ratio is already similar to the Garcia Passoa 50-foot blue water cruiser, which is a no keel ,internal ballast ,centerboard boat. Lee helm and sail trim are things I will be working on. More power in the main, CE back with more rake and fine tuning controls. The rudder is fairly large compared to the centerboard, so always having a slight weather helm could have a big effect. I suspected there were things I could do, but I hadn't worked with them yet. Now I have a better idea of what to expect out of the boat. I don’t expect it to do something it can't, but I want to let it do everything it can.
Thanks everyone for the input. If Clark thinks my problem sounds familiar, then my adding internal ballast isn’t going to help much, because the 280 carries its 2050 lbs 3 feet + below the surface. To equal the righting force of that, I would have to add allot inside. The ballast ratio is already similar to the Garcia Passoa 50-foot blue water cruiser, which is a no keel ,internal ballast ,centerboard boat. Lee helm and sail trim are things I will be working on. More power in the main, CE back with more rake and fine tuning controls. The rudder is fairly large compared to the centerboard, so always having a slight weather helm could have a big effect. I suspected there were things I could do, but I hadn't worked with them yet. Now I have a better idea of what to expect out of the boat. I don’t expect it to do something it can't, but I want to let it do everything it can.
Rigging Tension -Loos Guage
I sail a Hunter 240 -your boats little sister. I've found vast improvements in pointing ability after I bought and utilized a shroud tensioning guage. It's amazing how far off I was going by "feel"
I sail a Hunter 240 -your boats little sister. I've found vast improvements in pointing ability after I bought and utilized a shroud tensioning guage. It's amazing how far off I was going by "feel"
60 degrees tension
Good idea. I’ll use a Loos gauge when I’m fooling with the rake. The diagonal tension puts prebend in the mast. There is a question about how much prebend is best and what percentage of breaking strength should be used in general.
Good idea. I’ll use a Loos gauge when I’m fooling with the rake. The diagonal tension puts prebend in the mast. There is a question about how much prebend is best and what percentage of breaking strength should be used in general.
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