Pointing
DC; Mast tuning is an art that takes trials to perfect. My previous boat was a C25 tall rig with a fin keel. I was always reading articles, and manuals on mast tuning. I will attempt to pass to you a place to start. The sails are the major contributer to pointing ability. Older sails in fair shape will not point! (as well as new sails with a racing cut). Mast rake is hard to determine, first the boat must be sitting on her lines, that is the water line should be even fore, aft, and side to side. Even the weight inside to balance the boat. Then stand back and look at the mast from the side, and front (or rear). I found my boat would point higher with a slight forward rake, but boat speed suffered, and the boat was faster with the rake aft (compared to the other C25's). The pointing did not suffer as much as the boat speed, so I tuned the mast aft so that the main halyard hung about 4 inches from the mast at the boom. I adjusted the forward lowers tighter than the aft approx 4 ft.lbs. You rake the mast by adjusting the length of the forestay, and the backstay. Take the boom off, and sight up the sail slot to make sure the mast is straight. When sailing in winds 10-15 kts. there should be a gentle curve to the forestay, trim the sails to point high with good speed, and go forward to sight up the forestay, too much sag will hurt pointing, too little will slow the boat. As the wind builds you will need a cuningham, and some way off adjusting the back stay to remove some sag from the forestay, and flatten the main. This will bring the tension on the aft lowers up, and is the reason for tuning them slightly looser at the dock. When sailing to windward the leward shrouds should be slightly slack, with only a slight falloff of the mast top. If the mast bends to leward, the uppers are not tight enough. There is no cut and dried method, it will take constant fiddling, and some new sails. Good luck, and just ignore the comments from the other sailors as you are tuning, and retuning, and retu, well you get the picture. Mike
