Sailing the chute by the lee

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May 5, 2006
1,140
Knutson K-35 Yawl Bellingham
Have ya done it? We did it Sunday for the first time because the Asymm kept collapsing on the correct side. We found the groove quite by accident and were able to hold course with the full chute in light air for over two hours. We even hoisted the Staysail for extra umph once the chute was stable. Had dolphins all over, chasing us for miles. Must've been 30-40 of them out there, unusual. On the reach back, we just cranked the chute in tight and were able to blast to windward at about 50-60* of apparent like it was a giant Genny
 

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May 6, 2004
916
Hunter 37C Seattle
No way that could happen

because there are no dolphins in Puget Sound - a porpoise told me that, I think his name was Dahl.
 
May 5, 2006
1,140
Knutson K-35 Yawl Bellingham
These weren't Dahls.

They were dark gray and looked like small bottlenoses. Dahl's look like miniature Orcas IIRC.
 
May 6, 2004
916
Hunter 37C Seattle
OK that could happen

Well learned something today http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/animals/pacdol.htm
 
May 5, 2006
1,140
Knutson K-35 Yawl Bellingham
Yep, that's them.

Cool little buggers. They like to sneak under the counter stern and blow while you're drifting and dousing sails.
 

RichH

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Feb 14, 2005
4,773
Tayana 37 cutter; I20/M20 SCOWS Worton Creek, MD
What??!! .... no blooper, no tall-boy and no spinnaker staysail ???????

You dont have enough sails up !!!!! You need to add a Blooper, Mizzen kite, and a spinnaker staysl or tall boy (of course all in garishly contrasting colors). Manhandling 7 sails ought to keep you busy. Actually be glad the "IOR days" with all those fussy specialty downwind sails are ....... 'over'. I sometimes do just the opposite: I leave the A-spinn alone and sail the main on the lee side (with preventer); and the staysl is dropped entirely (sometimes 'under' the main on the lee). Good when you have to make a lot of short tacks and dont want to 'mess' with the spinn - works with A-spinns and Symmetrics. When was the 'last' time you saw a jockey pole??? Your answer to the closest 'decade' is acceptable. When the A-spinn gets too squirrely because Im too much toward DDW, I find its better to drop the staysail, then reset the A-spinnaker tack to a pole and fly it like a symmetrical. Of course this is for when Im somehow forced to near DDW; otherwise, I prefer tacking downwind at ~145 deg for better VMG. My boat carries intermediate stays so no matter what I do, I cant get the mainsail boom out over 65-70 deg. from the Centerline, so that kind of 'forces' me to reach downwind. Reaching down is faster VMG than DDW anyway. Nice boat, well rigged.
 
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