Good evening all, I know use all your sail trim controls. But sometimes I'm lazy!! I have been complaining about my boat feel too much helm etc. well last time out I had some time and I rigged the Cunningham... What a difference totally different boat much improved boat speed easier helm an absolute pleasure. So in closing use all your controls!!!!
Cunningham
- Thread starter Cmp1110
- Start date
There are a number of sailing terms that have no connection to what they're actually adjusting because they're named after the people that invented them. Barberhauler is one term and Cunnigham is another. The Cunningham was invented by Briggs Cunningham, who was the skipper of the America Cup boat Columbia, which won the cup in 1958. I don't know why he invented the Cunningham but he was always looking for ways to make boats and race cars go faster. He was probably looking for a way to quickly and easily adjust luff tension instead of using the halyard.
If a mainsails' head is pulled all the way up to its top rating band (often is and watched closely in high level racing), a cunningham can be used to add extra tension to the luff without pulling the sail into an illegal shape.
Nowadays most racers simply find it easier to adjust than the halyard.
The Cunningham is a rule beater.
It allows a sail with a longer luff than max hoist (between bands). When sailing down wind, the sail is baggy with greater surface area than a standard sail. For upwind performance, the Cunningham is applied to harden the luff, rather than raise above the upper band with the halyard, or below the lower band with goose neck downhaul. (It just bunches some sail at the gooseneck.)
It allows a sail with a longer luff than max hoist (between bands). When sailing down wind, the sail is baggy with greater surface area than a standard sail. For upwind performance, the Cunningham is applied to harden the luff, rather than raise above the upper band with the halyard, or below the lower band with goose neck downhaul. (It just bunches some sail at the gooseneck.)
My sail has a loop for a Cunningham, however my sail does not go to the top of the mast, so I can put any amount of tension on the luff with the halyard. I always assumed since I have full adjustment over luff tension with the halyard that there is no use in rigging up a Cunningham. Is this true, or is there something to be gained by using the Cunningham instead?
Generally true, though it is often easier to get that last bit of luff tension if the wind freshens with a Cunningham.
There is a slight difference in the Cunningham's effort on the luff than the halyard's.... On a beach cat, for instance, you use a powerful Cunningham to not only tension the luff but to help bend the mast for even greater depowering. On my Cat 27's telephone pole mast... not at all. But.... the way I look at it... the 4:1 purchase Cunningham on my masthead rig allows me to quickly apply luff tension by hand, without messing with the halyard. It's even easier to remove tension... simply snap it out of the cleat.... you can't do that with a halyard, whether it's cleated on the self tailing winch or at a clutch.
The reason Joe from San Diego points out for using the Cunningham over the halyard is exactly why I installed one on my C30. I probably could have run the halyard back to the helm but never got around to it and adjusting the halyard at the mast was a pain. I'd end up with line all over the place and couldn't see what was happening to the sail plus the sail is heavy and I'd have to use the winch. "Sailors (humans) will do what's easy and not what's hard" so I rarely adjusted the halyard.
When I installed the Cunningham I couldn't believe how easy it made the job plus I could see what was happening to the sail (I ran the line to the helm). I liked it so much I installed a Cunningham on the jib!!
When I installed the Cunningham I couldn't believe how easy it made the job plus I could see what was happening to the sail (I ran the line to the helm). I liked it so much I installed a Cunningham on the jib!!
Don
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
I learned to sail with the "what happens when I do this" method when I was a kid.
I'm a much better sailor now thanks to you and people like you willing to teach and share.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
I learned to sail with the "what happens when I do this" method when I was a kid.
I'm a much better sailor now thanks to you and people like you willing to teach and share.
Hi Don:
Always follow your threads with interest.
Reading your above, my halyards are lead to the cockpit. So re-tensioning the luff from the top isn't an issue. But an observation in my case is that:
- After my mainsail is hoisted (all the way to the top by hand) and tensioned (with the cabin top winch);
- And then my topping lift is slackened so that the boom then drops down a few inches and becomes supported by the mainsail;
- And then I sail for a while (usually in stiff SF Bay winds) ....
My lower mainsail luff will start to get those unsightly scallops. And I find that unless I head into the wind, slacken the main sheet and boom vang, raise the boom with the topping lift to relieve the friction of the slugs against the backside of the mast sail track, that re-tensioning the halyard will not remove the scallops in the lower third or so of the luff.
However, just a moderately hard tug on my 3:1 purchase cunningham (led to the cockpit) removes them easily.
This as peter-ms also observed (in much fewer words).
My mainsail has a reinforced cunningham grommet fitted only above the primary tack. Because winds on central SF Bay are almost always small craft warning velocity, it is a rare day that I have the mainsail all the way to the top.
Maybe I should add cunningham fittings on the sail also above my 1st and 2nd reef tack points. Naw, that's overkill! Just wish I could use my cunningham more often.
rardi
I love threads like this! Thanks to the contributors! I no longer have to scratch my head while contemplating the reason for a Cunningham.
Also the Cunningham tensions the Lower section of the luff which halyard alone is not as effectively
Barber Hauler
Lets not forget the Barber Hauler. I sail the SC, and Ga. coast, so many times I'm severely hemmed in by either marsh or hard sand bars. Quite a few times I've improvised a Barber Hauler with a simple Spanish windlass to sift my jib sheeting further amidships, in order to point a little higher.
When to use Barber Hauler
Thought Barber Haulers were used off the wind - close reach, broad reach . . .
Barber hauler
As far as I know, they can be utilized on many different points of sail.
A barber hauler allows you to quickly change the sheeting angle. It can be rigged to adjust the sail's sheeting angle inboard..or.. out board. On my beach cat the barber hauler pulls the sheet out, to open the slot.... on my catalina 27 I have rigged an inboard barber hauler to quickly close the slot without shifting the sheet to the inside jib track.
So... on the catamaran I can open the slot for reaching in light air, while on the other boat, closing the slot helps in certain upwind conditions.
So... on the catamaran I can open the slot for reaching in light air, while on the other boat, closing the slot helps in certain upwind conditions.
I only used the Barberhauler while closehauled. My boat had outside tracks, which were fine for other points of sail, but I could never figure out a way to use the cabin top tracks due to the safety lines. I eventually just crossed the line over to the lazy winch and it worked OK.
Here's a short story to demonstrate how effective that devise is. It was a beer can race and the boat I was on was in next to last place. I asked the skipper if I could try a barberhauler. At first he said "no". I told him "dear lord, what harm can it do" so he relented. We were able to pick off 3 boats!! When we made the turn, we fell back but it made a believer out of the skipper. Actually, it made his day. A race is a series of events. If you do great in one of the legs it's a win.
Here's a short story to demonstrate how effective that devise is. It was a beer can race and the boat I was on was in next to last place. I asked the skipper if I could try a barberhauler. At first he said "no". I told him "dear lord, what harm can it do" so he relented. We were able to pick off 3 boats!! When we made the turn, we fell back but it made a believer out of the skipper. Actually, it made his day. A race is a series of events. If you do great in one of the legs it's a win.
So if your boat only has inside tracks, what do you call it when you pull the jib outward?
That would probably be useful on my current boat, as there are many times when the sail is very scooped. On my previous boat, I moved the tracks wider, which made a considerable difference in boat speed.
That would probably be useful on my current boat, as there are many times when the sail is very scooped. On my previous boat, I moved the tracks wider, which made a considerable difference in boat speed.
On modern boats we call them in-haulers or out-haulers, depending on function.
In-haulers help windward performance in ideal flat water conditions, or if a boat's tracks are placed in sub-optimal (too wide) locations by the builder.
Out-haulers help when close reaching when the sail is cracked off.
Jackdaw is right, and though they move the clew in, it is really pointing ability in light air that helps. On the J109, we drop the barber hauler (in our case, the lazy sheet by class rules) off at 9.5 knots.
The trick is to set the sheet first, then set the lazy sheet, except at the start, when we are setting both constantly for speed or pointing.
Jeff