Don - White Rock - Weather helm

[Don Guillette]

Don: So many times a sailor will describe a situation to me and talk about a couple of controls and in the beginning I'd try to answer but found myself to be chasing myself with my answer. Experience has taught me to say wait a minute - what are you trying to accomplish and most importantly to start at the very beginning with a description of exactly what the sail trim controls are adjusting.They are adjusting 4 things on the main and jib:Draft Position: Draft Depth: Twist: Angle Of AttackBoom Vang Mast Bend Boom Vang MainsheetCunningham (halyard) Outhaul Mainsheet TravelerMainsheetMast BendOuthaul Now you have a basis to work with and know which mainsail controls to use to adjsut whatever it is your trying to do. In your case, correct heel. Lets discuss the actions you took to correct the situation.On the jib, you tightened the jib halyard and moved the cars aft. I did not display the jib controls but what you did accomplish with the halyard is you moved the draft Position forward (less power)and reduced the draft depth. Moving the car aft moved the DP forward, decreased the draft depth and increased twist. This is exactly what you wanted to do. Now for the mainsail (refer to my above chart):Here's what you did:Tightened the outhaul - you moved the DP forward (forward is less power)Moved the traveler below center - decreased the angle of attack (less power)Tightened mainsheet - increased the AA, decreased twist, moved DP forwardTightened boom vang - decreased twist and moved DP forwardTightened backstay to flatten main and jib - moved the CE aft and increased heelWhen the wind built up you did the following:Let out the mainsheet - decreased the AA, increased twist, moved DP aft (more power)Brought up traveler - increase AA (more power)Based on my chart do you see where you were working against yourself?Here is the problem. Each of the controls for the jib and main have a setting for each point of sail and wind condition. What is that setting? It varies by boat but my SAIL TRIM CHART will get you in the ball park.There are 2 quick things you can do to correct heel and this assumes you had the correct setting before the boat started to heel - just drop the traveler and do not mess with the backstay adjuster.

 

[Don Guillette]

Chart

I was afraid that chart would not print correctly.Draft Position:Boom VangCunningham (halyard)MainsheetMast BendOuthaulDraft Depth:Mast BendOuthaulTwist: Boom vangMainsheetAngle of Attack:MainsheetTravelerOnce a mate complelty understands draft depth, draft Position, twist and angle of attack plus how the sail trim controls for the main and jib relate to each of those element they will know more about sail trim than 75% of the sailors worldwide. If you don't believe me just ask your dock neighbor to explain the difference between say draft depth and draft position and which controls are used for each. If you want to get fancy then ask them which way to push or pull each control. Then ask which settings you should use for a given point of sail or wind condition. If he pulls out my SAIL TRIM CHART - move on to another dock neighbor!!!!