We were sailing Sunday in maybe 10 mph of wind on a broad reach with the wind about 35 off the port corner. I had both the main and the jib sheeted out, like all the sailing diagrams I have seen show. I noticed a speedy lil number with a Mylar main, I think it was a small J boat or similar design, on about the same tack as up and he was closing the gap on us. Being fairly new to sailing I try to watch others as much as I can to see if I can pick up on something that will help us and I noticed that he had his main sail sheet down tight down the centerline of the boat. I looked at the GPS and we were making about 3 mph and he was clearly doing better than that. So with nothing to loose I brought in the main sheet and copied his setup. We watched the speed climb to a steady 4.4 mph and we gave chase to the other boat.
While I was glad to see positive results from trying something new, I am bit confused as to why it worked. Like I said, I have read several books and seen several diagrams and they all show in that situation the main and head sail would be sheeted out to the starboard side. I knew the jib was being blanked out by the main but I was able to trim it so it held tight against the sheet. To me an my pea brain sheeting in the main would reduce it's ability to help push the boat along leaving just the jib to do all the work. We only have a 100% jib as of now and it is pretty small in size but it seemed to really come into it once the main stopped blocking the air from hitting it.
Just curious if any one has a explanation for why this set up worked much better in those conditions.
Thanks
Sam in IN
While I was glad to see positive results from trying something new, I am bit confused as to why it worked. Like I said, I have read several books and seen several diagrams and they all show in that situation the main and head sail would be sheeted out to the starboard side. I knew the jib was being blanked out by the main but I was able to trim it so it held tight against the sheet. To me an my pea brain sheeting in the main would reduce it's ability to help push the boat along leaving just the jib to do all the work. We only have a 100% jib as of now and it is pretty small in size but it seemed to really come into it once the main stopped blocking the air from hitting it.
Just curious if any one has a explanation for why this set up worked much better in those conditions.
Thanks
Sam in IN