This past weekend I experienced the lightest air of the season. Not real exciting. What sail trim tips do you have to optimize performance when the wind goes under 5 knots?
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Larry W.
light air
A big drifter helps downwind. Other things; slack halyards and outhauls slightly, keep crew on the leeward side and slightly forward to make the sail fall into shape and raise the stern slightly, minimize rudder and crew movement, make adjustments slowly. A clean bottom is important and I'm sure there's others, but these'll get you started.
A big drifter helps downwind. Other things; slack halyards and outhauls slightly, keep crew on the leeward side and slightly forward to make the sail fall into shape and raise the stern slightly, minimize rudder and crew movement, make adjustments slowly. A clean bottom is important and I'm sure there's others, but these'll get you started.
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Len Fagan
Light Air
Try light sheets for jib to help with jib shape. Play with main. I to was out last Sunday in light air. I backed off on main outhaul to cause baggy main and enjoyed cold wine while in a controlled drift. Len
Try light sheets for jib to help with jib shape. Play with main. I to was out last Sunday in light air. I backed off on main outhaul to cause baggy main and enjoyed cold wine while in a controlled drift. Len
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Tony Crimi
light air trim
Lightair is not only the most frustrating, but the most rewarding. Upwind, keep the traveler centered with the leech tensioned, such that the top batten is aligned with the boom or even hooked in a little. Don't try to point to high- generally a true wind angle of sixty degrees is about the best you can do. The main and jib should both be trimmed flat to keep air flow attached. watch your teltales constantly, and expect frequent wind shifts, and magnified land effects. Off the wind, don't even think about sailing lower than 145 degrees without a spinnaker- with a spinnaker not deeper than 165 degrees. Above all else, keep the boat moving, which means small changes in rudder angle, smooth tacks timed during periods of sufficient speed, and lots of patience.
Lightair is not only the most frustrating, but the most rewarding. Upwind, keep the traveler centered with the leech tensioned, such that the top batten is aligned with the boom or even hooked in a little. Don't try to point to high- generally a true wind angle of sixty degrees is about the best you can do. The main and jib should both be trimmed flat to keep air flow attached. watch your teltales constantly, and expect frequent wind shifts, and magnified land effects. Off the wind, don't even think about sailing lower than 145 degrees without a spinnaker- with a spinnaker not deeper than 165 degrees. Above all else, keep the boat moving, which means small changes in rudder angle, smooth tacks timed during periods of sufficient speed, and lots of patience.
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Don
More light air
I had the same experience last weekend. I did pretty much what has already been suggested, plus moved my jib car forward to give the sail more shape. I took in on the topping lift, moved the traveler to windward, and eased the mainsheet. This gave the main more shape. Must admit, it was fun walking from much larger boats that had a hard time moving at all.
I had the same experience last weekend. I did pretty much what has already been suggested, plus moved my jib car forward to give the sail more shape. I took in on the topping lift, moved the traveler to windward, and eased the mainsheet. This gave the main more shape. Must admit, it was fun walking from much larger boats that had a hard time moving at all.
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Don Guillette
Most sailors can get their boats moving in moderate air but light air sailing is a bit tricky but really not complicated. This may sound silly, but the first problem you have to solve is finding the wind or what little there is of it. Normally, you'd look to your masthead fly or shroud telltales but what if they are hanging limp and the masthead fly is going around in circles. Use your skin!! Wet your finger and stick it in the air. Also, you can feel wind on the back of your neck. Look for cat's paws or dark water and sail towards it. Now that you've found the wind or what little there is of it, what kind of sail trim is needed to get the most speed out of the light wind situation. Before you make a sail trim adjustment, you should have a mental picture of what is presently happening with your sails and what will probably happen as you start your adjustment. In other words, you have to have a goal in mind when you ease or trim the appropriate controls. Remember that you will be making fine adjustments because we don't have a lot of wind force to play with. Here is what is happening to your sails in any wind condition. You are trying to facilitate the flow of air over your sails and to obviously keep the wind attached to the sail, especially on the backside (leeward). Why is that? The answer is that lift is generated on the backside (leeward) and not on the front side (windward) and lift is what powers the boat. In light air, the wind does lacks the power to stay attached to the sail so the shape of the sail is extremely important. Think about this and try to imagine yourself as the wind. If you were light wind, which shape would it be easier for you to get around - a big belly or a relatively flat sail? The answer is obviously a flat sail. That is why I maintain that sail shape is so important in light air. Now that we have determined we need a relatively flat sail, what controls do we adjust to obtain that condition and what effect can we expect when we ease or trim the appropriate control. Incidently, the adjustments you are going to make are used in winds under 5 knots and over 20 knots. Because of space, I'm only going to discuss the mainsail. The primary controls that are used to adjust mainsail draft depth are the outhaul and mast bend. INCREASING tension on these controls REDUCES draft depth. DECREASING tension INCREASES draft depth. Why does increasing tension on these controls flatten the sail? When you bend the mast you are pulling the fullness out of the belly of the sail. When you tighten the outhaul, you are reducing the belly in the bottom of the sail. I know it sounds weird, but try it on your boat and watch what happens to the sail. Now that we know the mainsail adjustment controls to use, what shape are we looking for? You want a draft depth (belly) of around 1'. To arrive in that ballpark, try to line up the top batten parallel to the boom and the bottom batten parallel to the center of the boat. One last thing, minimize crew movement and keep the boat as quiet as possible. There are a number of other things to do but forum space is limited. Try my suggestions and see if they work for you.
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