Leech flutter

[Broke sailor SV Marcell]

I was out sailing on the Potomac yesterday evening SOLO and the wind really kicked up. The Main Sail Leech really started to flutter. Two days earlier while sailing in light wind I had noticed the leech curved in so I loosened up on the line that runs inside the leech. Is this line used to control both of these? Is there a happy medium or do you need to adjust each time depending on wind conditions? Sailing SOLO it is kind of hard to try to adjust and stay on board at the same time.The boats I learned to sail on did not have this line.

 

[Roger]

flutter stopper

The leech line has two purposes. You correctly idnetify the first, which is to stop flutter by adding a bit of 'hook' to the sail. The second reason you may want to add a bit of hook is on very low wind days when you want to 'bag out' the sail as much a possible, ... loose clew, slack halyard, slack boom vang, perhaps a bit of topping lift, and then hook the leech, all to catch more air on those light zephyrs.

 

[Joe]

I was taught not to hook the leech.

rather, tighten the leech line only enough to stop the flutter. On the main, most of the lift comes from the back half of the sail so keeping the leech as flat as possible allows the air flow to exit the sail cleanly. That's why the tell tales are on the leech of the main, not the luff like the headsail.

 

[SailingSue]

me go up there????

I have the fluttering leech on my mailsail on my Hunter 44 too. I know what I need to do but...how do you get to it while sailing, or in the slip for that matter, without putting your life in danger by either falling off the arch or getting swatted by the boom?!?! And no, the hubby won't do it...he's too busy helmsman--ing!!!!*yks

 

[Joe]

center the main

and sail close-hauled, to steady the boom. The boat should remain fairly upright. You must trust the helmsman to keep the boat and boom steady, but keep your hand on the spar to maintain some control. If the boom is cinched down and centered it's not going too far anyway. The point is to keep the boom under control in a postion of accessibility, i.e over the cockpit seat.

 

[roger]

hooking the leech

Just to clarify, I would only hook the leech when the sail is not providing any lift. This is when you are sailing downwind, perhaps with a spinnaker, or with the white sails configured wing and wing.A previous poster is correct in that a hook in the leech acts like a flap on an airplane wing, effectively slowing down air flow on the, in this case windward side of the sail. Interupting this airflow on a lifting sail, would be counter productive.A downwind configuration however, with the boom well out, and the sail acting as a wind catcher, ie. not providing lift, would benefit from a hooked leech.