Npettett: I know where you’re at because I had the same problem when I completed my sailing classes. I hate to see folks go through what I went through to learn how to sail a silly sailboat.
I don’t know how extensive your classes were but in my case I took every sailing class the school (Newport Sailing, Newport Beach, Ca) offered and ended up being certified to charter up to 35’. Unfortunately, I had no idea what the wind was doing to my sails but I was very good at backing the boat, working the head and flaking sail. I really thought I was the only sailing idiot in the class. Come to find out I was not alone even though every one in the class seemed to know what the instructor was saying.
How confident are you with your sailing skills now? Do you know what all the sail trim controls for the main and jib are adjusting? To simplify – all they are adjusting are 4 things and they are they are draft depth, draft position, twist and angle of attack. You have to have a complete understanding of those 4 elements or sail trim will never make any sense to you.
Next, you have to know what element each sail trim control for the main and jib is adjusting. Additionally, there is a particular setting for each mainsail and jib sail trim control for each point of sail and wind condition.
This sounds like a lot to digest but it really isn’t. It is no different than learning to hit a baseball, kick a soccer ball or hit a golf ball. If I fed a monkey enough bananas I could probably teach him to hit a golf ball but he has no idea what he is doing. The WHY of anything is everything.
Give me a little bit of info about your sail trim skill level and I’ll try to help you. Part of the problem is that trying to explain sail trim or teaching a mate to drive to drive an 18 wheeler from chicago to La by Email or by phone is not an easy task.
Practice does make perfect but that means you have to start from perfect and have a solid basis of what you are practicing.