Losing Too Much Speed When Tacking

[DaveJ]

I have been doing some recreational racing with my C310 and the results have not been very good. I would like to attribute this to the 15 year old 'bagged out' sails, but actually they are in pretty good shape. What I am finding is that I lose too much speed when tacking. Winds have been low this year and most of the races have had course changes during the race, to shorten it. Most other boats seem to tack quicker than I do, probably because they have been racing with the same crew or with more experienced crew and skipper. There are only 2 of us on board, when tacking my mate moves the traveler to put the main more or less in the middle, then I release the sheet as I turn the wheel, by then he starts hauling in the other sheet. When the boat is on course and the headsail is set, he dials in the main. By then I seem to have almost stopped. I'm wondering if I am tacking too quickly or too 'sharply', would this stop my forward motion? Or should I turn the boat as quickly as possible to get the headsail across quicker? With the low winds it takes a while for the headsail to come across, sometimes it gets hung up on one of the stays, but eventually makes it. All this probably seems worse than it is, because I am the only cruising boat on the course. There is everything from J24s, J88s, J105s, Bene 36.7s C&C 33/36s and one C22 that does very well. A couple of weeks ago the winds were about 10knots and with corrected times I beat the two 36.7s and lost by 4 seconds to a Redwing 30. All this was because of a wind change, I was behind everyone, they were looking for wind near shore, the wind changed and I went straight for the mark, 4th around the mark out of 16 boats....but then they all caught me.......

Cheers

 

[CraigS]

We too "race" in our beer can series with just 2 of us at most times. Have found that the key is to get the boom to center line (traveler from previous tack) and then worry about jib. If we don't, the boat tends to fall off too much and takes a long time to recover - not to mention the lack of control if in traffic. We have also found we do better in mid teen winds. Others need to reef but we can use full main & 135 to keep going.

Craig

 

[JohnVTX]

Sounds like you are releasing the genoa too early. Wait till it loses the wind.

 

[Witzend]

First of all the 310 is a butter tub in anything less than 6knts, so don't expect to compete against the Jboats. The best you can do in light air when pointing is to fall off a bit to gain some speed and then over tack a bit to get the boat back up to speed faster before pointing again. This will sacrifice your position a bit but should help keep the boat from stalling and get back up to speed quicker.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Sounds like you are releasing the genoa too early. Wait till it loses the wind.

That was my thought as well. releasing too early loses the driving force of the headsail. Wait until it starts to collapse before you unsheet it.

 

[DaveJ]

Haha, a butter tub, I like that.... Possibly the BBQ, full water tank, bar stock, dodger/bimini etc. doesn't help my cause either. I realize that I do try to point too high and I know I cannot compete with the Js. Thanks for the above comments, I will make a few changes next week.

Cheers

 

[Jackdaw]

Going upwind, ideally your traveler will be slightly above centerline to get the boom close to centerline. When tacking, lock both side of the traveler and LEAVE IT AND THE SHEET ALONE.

Use your compass or a sight line to find your upcoming heading. Smoothly turn the boat. If it's breezy, release the genoa when it starts to luff. If it is light, hold it on and let it backwind. That will pull the nose of the boat around.

As you come to your new angle, trim the Genoa and steer a few degrees past your angle. This will foot the boat off slightly and help it build speed. Trim but keep the genoa slightly eased to match this.

The traveler will be slightly low at this point; pull it to windward to match the point of sail. As the boat accelerates; trim both sails (meaning traveler up slightly on the main) and turn slightly up to your new heading. Normally we never touch the mainsheet during tacks; just traveler.

That's a decent racing tack.

 

[FastOlson]

Darned hard to top Jackdaw's advice, but I might address how the helm is handled. We learned, way back in our OD racing days, to bring the boat across the wind gently. For beginners on the helm, I ask them to think of it as degrees. Never just "slam" it over. Idea is to accomplish two good outcomes: 1) you want to let the crew get the head sail pulled in by hand as much as possible before having to put the handle in and grind, and 2) you want to gently let the boat fall onto its new heading without either stalling or falling off onto a reach.

I tell folks to think of it as bits of the whole arc of about 80 degrees (on our particular design) and move the front of the boat across the wind in 20 degree increments.
This helps a bit, and all in all, for cruising, one of the safest places for a newbie is the helm. Well, usually...

When the boat is head to wind for an instant, that's no time to hesitate, either. Get that next 10 or 20 degrees moved!
"Just one more thing," as some guy used to say: do not assume that your old sails are actually in "good" shape. Have that main checked out by a sailmaker.

Fair winds,
Loren