Footing Off

[Don Guillette]

Todd; Your right I do have extensive sail trim knowledge and I can trim sails with the best of them but I'm not an engineer or a math guy. I was an insurance company VP who set up start up operations for companies. In other words, a company located in GA would want to set up in So Ca but all they knew was where DisneyLand was located. I'd buy the waste paper baskets, desks, handle the Insurance dept and hire the people and then go to their largest operation to learn how they operated (they all operate the same way Ben Franklin did when he wrote the first insurance policy) and then I'd install it and run it for them.

I can't go into the detail that RichH, Joe from San Diego, Alan and Stu J can put forth but I know exactly what they are talking about even though I sometimes tell Alan I don't. A man has got to know his limitations and I know mine. If I tried to put forth like those guys I'd get caught up in underware very quicklyand I'd sound foolish. When I get into the low expert sail trim area I do it by the seat of my pants. I don't know anything about changing potential energy into kinetic energy. I don't even know what kinetic energy is!! For example, I can't explain the lift/drag curve but I know when I'm at the top of it and I can make it work for me - I feel the boat through my feet and through my hands on the sheets. Sails and veggie plants in my garden talk to me!!

 

[Rolltacker]

The top sailor in our dinghy fleet has been "power pinching " his way to the windward mark for years.The question arises,at what point does this become using kinetics,since it also includes repetitive rudder changes and mast angle changes? Or is it all legal?

 

[Rolltacker]

Aw c'mon...... It's not that difficult......At what point is the Kinetics rule violated when one foots off,causing the boat to heel(and even 'encouraging' it to), and then hiking harder to bring the mast back to upright, all the while pinching up during the resulting acceleration, and then repeating the process all over again. Is this illegal ''pumping" under the guise of "power pinching''? I don't care what the answer turns out to be. If it's legal, I'll do it. If it ain't, I won't.

 

[RichH]

The top sailor in our dinghy fleet has been "power pinching " his way to the windward mark for years.The question arises,at what point does this become using kinetics,since it also includes repetitive rudder changes and mast angle changes? Or is it all legal?

This remains on the exact 'hairy edge' of being legal .... as "sailing by only the normal flow of wind across the sail for the sole means of propulsion" is being met.
You exceed the hairy edge and risk a firm DSQ when you trim-in the mainsail multiple times in quick succession when changing over from footing off to power pinching (as you are mechanically 'flapping' the mainsail like a birdwing) --- thus certainly meriting a 'DSQ'. In most single class racing, you're typically allowed 2 'quick trim-ins' before you get a DSQ.

Purposely and radically footing off and rapidly trimming-in to power-pinch AND get a a boat onto a plane is VERY legal ... but, if you miss getting onto a plane you must go through the 'whole' sequence of footing/trimming in/power pinching .... or instant DSQ.


..... if you know how to 'roll-tack' a boat, its almost the exact same method .... and the same rules apply.

 

[Rolltacker]

I had thought it on the edge of being legal,which was why I asked of course. Your explanation of allowing 2 pumps per pinch let's say,or even just one,implies that it could be considered legal. I am not aiming to challenge another's technique here. I just want to satisfy my own standards of what is right and wrong for my own conduct.
It is not just the quick sheeting which is really in question. More importantly, it is the hard hiking as is performed in a roll tack and roll jibe which is in question. It is this hard hiking during a more customary 'pinch and foot' manouevre that I question. If,as a keel boat sailor, you don't feel on comfortable ground with this, don't feel obliged to address it. Last night's brouhaha brought out quite enough thoughtless speculation(though not on your part I should add).

 

[RichH]

You can hike-out as fast and furious and as much or little as you want to ... as long as the hiking is perpendicular to the boat's centerline. If you 'hike' in any fore/aft manner ... this is called 'ooching' ('jerking' the boat forward) and is strictly illegal.

 

[Rolltacker]

Oh that's great, though it still seems wrong.Thanks for your attention.

 

[Rolltacker]

And of course the gain I accomplish to windward will be lost when I fall out of the boat, but that's to be expected ,I suppose.

 

[malyea]

Incorrect statement from a previous, otherwise excellent post -

"...accelerate to higher boat speed (which causes the apparent wind to go further aft !!!!!!)..."

Correctly stated - accelerating to higher boat speed causes the apparent wind to go FORWARD, not aft.

 

[LuzSD]

"I ain't ever going to that "ask all sailors" site ever again or any other site either. I'm gonna stay right here on the forum where I'm the happiest "


Don, most of us feel the same way when we find ourselves involved in a conversation that has gone south. The difficult part of these kind of sites is that no matter how clear we think we are, we are interpreted based on other's biases and mood. Some people avoid a discussion that even remotely feels like an argument, and others enjoy the banter and expect it is all in the vain of learning something. Generally I gather what I need from these discussions and toss the rest.

I have enjoyed your additions to all of the topics so I think it would be a big mistake for you to contain your writing to just this area; please reconsider that. BTW, you were extremely gracious in the way you dealt with your discomfort for what you thought you said...... that was well done.