overheeling

[philippe lesage]

Who can me give advice how to controll the boat in heavier weather ?I tried a lot of things out (reef, centerboard, crew,..). but it's not funny to sail at wind-force 4-5.Thank you for your reaction.

 

[Mark Cooper]

Let it out

The 170 is a great boat; but it carries a lot more mainsail than other boats its size. When I had mine, I found that it worked to do the following:Start furling in the jib (even if you have to furl it all the way)Start letting out the mainsail. Be cautious not to let it rub against the spreaders and shrouds (I always let it out until it touched them and then cranked it in a pinch) I found that I had a tendency at first to keep the main sheeted in too tight. If I kept the boat, I was going to add a reefing point to the main.

 

[Edward Smith]

The 170 Doesn't respond well to Force 5

I have one reefing point at reef point two and it is in case I get caught by Force 5 or up. Now Force 4 is another situation and the 170 lives to get an 11 to 16 knot breeze. I look forward to being in a position to take advantage of this breeze cause if you can get into a broad reach with a Force 4, this boat will come up on a plane and the delight is simply exhilerating. I have in the past two years only hit this twice but I look forward to another. Yes, shorten the jib and the main. If you can't do that then go to weather and dump air when you heel too much. Make sure you are wearing your sailing gloves. Good sailing.If you still want to sail in Force 5, try crewing a J-21 or up. They thrive at that level. Actually any good keel boat can do it.

 

[Paul Dong]

Jibsheet

Here's one lesson I learned the hard way: when single-handing, lead the active jibsheet to you, *forward* of the mainsheet. Here's what happened: I was close hauled with mainsail reefed, outhaul maxed, vang maxed, and main halyard maxed. The jib was fully unfurled. Mainsheet and jibsheet were cleated, but I had the mainsheet in hand, ready to dump it as needed. As gusts hit, I had been feathering up into them, and that had been fine up to a point. Looking upwind, I saw a *big* gust coming. This time, I luffed the main just as the gust hit. The jib was still fully trimmed in and cleated, and the gust on the jib alone was enough to heel me way over. I tried to head up, but the helm would not respond. Sailing on the jib alone was producing too strong of a lee helm. At this point, I'm up on the rail as high as I dared. Looking down, I see the jibsheet is way down on leeward side of the cockpit floor. After summoning up the nerve to get off the rail and grab the jibsheet, I'm back up on the rail, jibsheet in hand. Snapping the jibsheet up to uncleat it, I realize that I grabbed the jibsheet aft of the mainsheet, and the angle of things will not allow me to lift the jibsheet out of the cleat. With the mainsheet luffed as it was, grabbing jibsheet forward of the mainsheet was now even more difficult. Fortunately, before things got any worse, the gust abated.Lessons learned: When single-handing, lead the jibsheet forward of the mainsheet, and reduce jib before things get things get out of hand.By the way, I am now rigging up some footstraps for helmsman and crew, which will allow for going up on the rail without fear of going over backwards. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until the Spring to try them out.Cheers,Paul