Close-hauled -- how close?

[ShawnL]

Took the boat out today (1972 swing keel) in 7 gusting to 20 mph. We have a new main sail this year with a loose foot, which is new to us. Replacing what I think was the original sail. Wow are sail slugs and a mast-gate nice.

Anyway, we were being cautious with the 110 jib and a reef in the main. Didn't want to get overpowered in the sudden gusts. I had the main trimmed pretty flat and had the jib pulled in as much as we could. Because of the gusts, the wind was all over the place (close-hauled, then broad reach, then in irons). But one of the things we noticed is that we couldn't really point as high as we hoped we would be able to with a new crisp sail. I'm sure it's something we're not doing quite right (and our swing keel has never pointed really high). I was just hoping for slightly better. We could point higher in the gusts while playing with the main sheet to keep her relatively flat, but in the slower winds, it was tough.

 

[JoeWhite]

With my C36 after many years running around with reefed main and 110 jib and not being able to match my speed with others in san francisco bay, I decided to try with full main and reefed jib. This works well for me even with wind of 38 knots with full main and 80% reefed man. Well balanced and I can go up as much as 30 degrees into wind.
Try that combination. See the difference.

 

[Davidasailor26]

The best way to tell is to measure your tack angles. If your tack angle is close to 90 degrees it means you’re pointing about 45 degrees off the wind on each side, which is pretty good. If your tack angle is 110 that’s not so good.

Your keel design will affect leeway and with that your course, but not really your heading relative to the wind. Hearing is more a function of trim and sail shape.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Not familiar with C22 rig. Vang and sail track (traveler) available to trim the main?

 

[colemj]

Light, shifty and gusty winds are not the right conditions to make any conclusions about your boat, sails, or pointing ability. You simply can't spend enough reasonable time in static conditions to make adjustments and understand their effect.

The jib is more important than the main for pointing, and what jib sheeting angles you have available are probably baked into the design, so they provide an upper limit.

Take the boat out in a steady 10-12kts with full sails, play around with sail settings changing one at a time and observing for a while, and get a feel for the pointing limits of the boat.

Mark

 

[dlochner]

When going upwind, it is more important to steer to the wind, especially in gusty conditions. Trim the sails and then keep them trimmed and flying correctly by altering the course. In the conditions you cite, trying to steer a compass course will cause the problems you experienced, pointing too high, going in irons, and being over trimmed. If you are just out sailing there is no need to sail a straight line enjoy the sail regardless of where the boat is pointing. On the other hand if you are trying to make a waypoint, watching the shifts and tacking on the knocks and riding the lifts will get you to the way point sooner.

And this:

Light, shifty and gusty winds are not the right conditions to make any conclusions about your boat, sails, or pointing ability.

 

[Gene Neill]

I agree with everything said here so far. And FWIW, I can always point higher in gusts, like you mentioned.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I would consider a reef on the headsail, or a slightly smaller one. You just got a new main, but the 110 is the same. Keep in mind that older sails generally have more belly. That means more of their lift is perpendicular than forward driving. When you replace the main, with a main headsail combination, your forward sail remains pulling as before (forward drive, heeling force), but now the aft sail isn't contributing as much to that perpendicular (heeling) power. That may tend to give you more lee helm and make pointing higher more difficult.

The flatter main also opens the slot more. Try rigging a barber hauler on the jib sheet.

colemj may be right. You might just be at the limit of your design.

-Will

 

[Davidasailor26]

I’m in the camp of not reefing the headsail, at least until the main is reefed and other options to depower have been exhausted. When the headsail is reefed the telltales are useless so you can’t steer as precisely. The middle of the sail also has more cloth so it doesn’t furl like the leech and foot and you end up with too much belly. Foam luff inserts can help but even then it’s a compromise. Maybe some boats respond better than others with a reefed jib and I’ve just always been on ones that don’t, but that’s been my experience.

 

[ShawnL]

Thanks to all that have replied -- unfortunately, we only have the 1 head sail. It's about 4 maybe 5 years old and still crisp. The boat came with a main, but no jib when I bought her. The main went to sail care, who did an amazing job, but it was still an old sail, and there's only so much they could do. It got me another couple seasons at least (seasons are short up here).

I had the traveler (not that there's much of one) centered and a decent amount of boom vang tension. I didn't try pulling the traveler in -- there's only a 12" ish distance there, and we didn't feel overpowered.

My though process was that it was our first real time out with the new sail, winds were gusting to 20. When we left the bay we moor in, there were enough white-caps we didn't think we were going to be able to sail at all. Once we got out a little bit farther and had some land mass breaking up the wind, we decided it was manageable and put up the sails. I'm usually rather conservative on this boat -- my wife is still learning. I sailed dinghys and know what dumping a small boat feels like. On our 22 if the rail was in the water, she would not be happy, which would mean less boat time. So, trying to keep a relatively even keel is the order of the day. Thus, we thought a reef was a good idea. In hind sight, we really didn't need the reef as long as we played to the gusts.