I am finding it impossible to tack.Even with the rudder all the way over neither the jib nor main are close to luffing,and I just skid along.A racing friend says I need to add rake to get the boat to point higher.But how much rake,and will anything bad happen if I over compensate and add too much?Is there a specific angle that is best?Are there measurements I can take to achieve this?I know how to measure for a 90 degree angle. Is there a way to do this for the rake angle. Any help would be appreciated.Lloyd
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Need more info
Hi Lloyd, We could probably help better if we had more info. like what kind of boat, what were the wind and water conditions, full sails or less, was the boat healing considerably at the time, if a swing keel, were both it and the rudder down all the way and anything else you can think of. Sometimes in strong wind and wave conditions in a boat with a marginal rudder size the boat can get locked in the groove between the pressure on the sails and the keels resistance. With the boat heeled a good bit the rudder is less effective and may not be effective to steer the boat to or away from windward. In this case you need to adjust the sails to push the boat to or away from windward. Hope this helps, Joe C. in NC
Hi Lloyd, We could probably help better if we had more info. like what kind of boat, what were the wind and water conditions, full sails or less, was the boat healing considerably at the time, if a swing keel, were both it and the rudder down all the way and anything else you can think of. Sometimes in strong wind and wave conditions in a boat with a marginal rudder size the boat can get locked in the groove between the pressure on the sails and the keels resistance. With the boat heeled a good bit the rudder is less effective and may not be effective to steer the boat to or away from windward. In this case you need to adjust the sails to push the boat to or away from windward. Hope this helps, Joe C. in NC
Need more info II
There are all kinds of reasons why a boat won't come about. How fast is the boat going when you first put the helm over? How hard do you put the helm over? How close to the wind are you when you initiate the tack? How fast is the wind blowing? How big a jib are you carrying? At what point in the tack do you uncleat the jib sheet and start sheeting in the lazy sheet? Assuming there is a centerboard, how far down is it? How clean is the hull? Unless your rig is really out of tune, mast rake alone is probably not the answer. As an example, most beach cats have lots of rake and speed but they are not as easy to tack as a typical monohull. When tacking a beach cat, I need to keep the speed up. I also keep the jib sheeted hard until the bow comes through the eye of the wind. As the jib becomes backwinded, the wind will push the bow around onto the opposite tack. It may work for you. Good luck. Peter H23 "Raven"
There are all kinds of reasons why a boat won't come about. How fast is the boat going when you first put the helm over? How hard do you put the helm over? How close to the wind are you when you initiate the tack? How fast is the wind blowing? How big a jib are you carrying? At what point in the tack do you uncleat the jib sheet and start sheeting in the lazy sheet? Assuming there is a centerboard, how far down is it? How clean is the hull? Unless your rig is really out of tune, mast rake alone is probably not the answer. As an example, most beach cats have lots of rake and speed but they are not as easy to tack as a typical monohull. When tacking a beach cat, I need to keep the speed up. I also keep the jib sheeted hard until the bow comes through the eye of the wind. As the jib becomes backwinded, the wind will push the bow around onto the opposite tack. It may work for you. Good luck. Peter H23 "Raven"
Should be a breeze...
Tacking an O'Day 22 should be relatively easy. While no speedster, it is a boat that handles and sails reasonably well. Is the centerboard fully extended (have you checked it; perhaps it is stuck in the retracted position)? Do you have ample forward motion prior to the tack? Do you push the tiller to lee smoothly, with moderate speed (not too fast, not to slow, and definitely not jerks and starts and stops)? Do you release the jib sheet just as the boat comes head to wind? Do you shift crew weight to the opposite side of the boat as the bow passes through the wind direction? Rake should not be a serious consideration? There must be 4 or 5 O'Day 22's in our marina. I have sailed on a couple of them. Tacking never seemed to be an issue. Hope some of these responses will help. Dale Wile Sandpoint, Idaho
Tacking an O'Day 22 should be relatively easy. While no speedster, it is a boat that handles and sails reasonably well. Is the centerboard fully extended (have you checked it; perhaps it is stuck in the retracted position)? Do you have ample forward motion prior to the tack? Do you push the tiller to lee smoothly, with moderate speed (not too fast, not to slow, and definitely not jerks and starts and stops)? Do you release the jib sheet just as the boat comes head to wind? Do you shift crew weight to the opposite side of the boat as the bow passes through the wind direction? Rake should not be a serious consideration? There must be 4 or 5 O'Day 22's in our marina. I have sailed on a couple of them. Tacking never seemed to be an issue. Hope some of these responses will help. Dale Wile Sandpoint, Idaho
Try holding the jib sheeted longer
Lloyd - I would do as Peter suggests and leave the jib sheeted until it backwinds. This will help the bow fall out of irons and get you going on the new tack. It will not, however, solve your problem entirely because you are not getting far enough up to backwind. As others have suggested, make sure you have lots of speed and fully extend blades. If you still can't tack, try pulling the boom to windward as you initiate the tack. This will push the bow into the wind and may give you enough to get around. Justin - O'day Owners' Web
Lloyd - I would do as Peter suggests and leave the jib sheeted until it backwinds. This will help the bow fall out of irons and get you going on the new tack. It will not, however, solve your problem entirely because you are not getting far enough up to backwind. As others have suggested, make sure you have lots of speed and fully extend blades. If you still can't tack, try pulling the boom to windward as you initiate the tack. This will push the bow into the wind and may give you enough to get around. Justin - O'day Owners' Web
No keel
Assuming you are an experienced sailor who knows how to tack a normal boat, and paying special attention to your comment that you throw the rudder over and yet the boat keeps skidding along, it sure sounds to me like the swing keel is not down. Let us know if that turns out to be the problem.
Assuming you are an experienced sailor who knows how to tack a normal boat, and paying special attention to your comment that you throw the rudder over and yet the boat keeps skidding along, it sure sounds to me like the swing keel is not down. Let us know if that turns out to be the problem.
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