sailing question....

[Guest]

Hello all,While out siling this weekend, I encountered some winds that got the better of me. I think I have figured out a "solution" or plan of attack next time this occurs. However,I wanted to run this by everyone yo see what they have done in the past when they have encountered this.I was sailing in an open baym using jsut a main. (23' oday tempest)THe winds were about 15mph and constantly blowing in one direction, south to north. While heading into the wind, we had no problem tacking and making head way. the chop was only 3ft, with pleasant rollers.the problem I encountered was when I brought her around to head back home and down wind. I threw the main way out and we began to get blown around in a circle. I had no rudder control. When I pulled the main sheet back in tight and headed south/back into the wind, no problem. could steer just fine. boat pointed very nicely.I observed about 12 sailboats that day. all but one were heading south, into the wind. most boats were using a jib and main. 1/4 jsut a main the other 1/4 just a jib. the only boat I saw heading north, was using a main. My question is, why was I getting blown around. I'm thinking that If I put out my jib while sailing downwind, I would have had the job to one side of my boat and the main on the other. I think this would have brought stability.The other thought that I have is that the one boat heading norht w/ the wind and jsut a main, had a heading as if they were "tacking" down wind. Not throwing their main way out and catching a ton of wind.Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. thanks all.

 

[Dave]

mainsail downwind

15 knots of wind is pretty strong and if your boat is going say 4 knots the apparent wind is still 11 knots. When you have the main way out almost perpendicular to the boat the center of effort of the sail is way off to one side. Picture the boat on dry land sitting on a pivot point under your keel. Now take a long 2x4 and clamp it to the mast. Now push on the end of the 2x4 parallel to the center of the boat and i'm sure you can visualize the boat pivoting about the centerline. This is called a moment and is no different then the force you apply to a wrench to tighten of loosen a screw. So sailing the way you were you'd expect a lot of rudder force to counter the rotational moment created by the center of effort of the sail. To balance the boat you could set the jib wing and wing but use a whisker pole to keep the jib stabilized. This works great!!! For a small boat a fairly small easy to handle whisker pole works well. Be careful not to gybe the mainsail, use a preventer as a precaution.Happy sailingdave

 

[Joe Barrett]

Weight Distribution

You can also counteract the force with crew weight, if the main is out to the port side use crew weight on the starboard side to help balance the boat.Crew weight in a small boat like yours is very important to reducing weather helm which is the boats tedency to "round up" to the force of the wind.

 

[Jim Bessinger]

Sailing, rough wather

Some time ago my dad and I would go out intentionaly in rough weather to practice what we hoped wouldn't happen. Ive owned a Catalina and now a Hunter, and while the sail configuration is different, they both sail the best in heavy weather with just the jib. Sure you sacrifice some down wind performance, but the control seems to be allways there.

 

[Ron Johnson]

Balanced approach

Sailing with only a main is appropriate if you have a cat boat with the mast far forward. A sloop requires both fore and main sails for proper balance. The main has reef points to reduce sail area as the wind stiffens. Stronger winds will require a smaller jib to maintain the balance. Avoid points of sail directly downwind and fine tune the balanced approach for a broad reach. Always use a preventer when the wind is strongly abaft the beam.Sailkota

 

[hp]

main

I've owned several boats and none sailed well straight downwind with main alone especially in higher winds. My solution usually is to jibe from broadreach to broadreach. Usually you go faster. Another approach I've used is to reef the main. Running wing and wing is an option but I've always sailed better not going dead downwind. About the only time I will run dead downwind is in a narrow passage where there is no choice.