Good sailing weather will be here for a lot of you sooner than you think. With that in mind, I though I'd publish a sail trim self evaluation so you can see where you stand from a sail trim knowledge stand point. I've published this material a number of times so for those who have taken it before, you should be able to fly through it. Here's the situation - you have just motored out of the marina and are now in open water. You are setting a closehauled course and the wind is steady at 10 knots. You have just raised the main and rolled out the jib and your crew is waiting for sail trim instructions. So what commands do you give? 1) Traveler - where is it place on the track? 2) Mainsheet - how much tension (light,medium,heavy)and why? 3) Halyard - how much tension and why? 4) Outhaul - how much tension and why? 5) Cunningham - how much tension? 6) Vang - how much tension? 7) Draft depth- what %? 8) Draft position - what % (range is 30% to 60%) 9) Telltales - what should the leech and center telltales be doing? 10)Mast bend or rake - how much? 11)Top batten - where should it be pointing? 12)Leechline - how much tension? 13)Crew position - which side and where on the boat? 14)Twist - how much? Remember, the whole idea of this exercise is for you to see where you stand from a sail trim stand point. If you can't answer all the question it is no big deal as you now know what you have to work on. For those of you that know all the settings, substitute reaching for closehauled!! After that, substitute running for reaching and then go to work on the jib controls. If you get that far, brother you have arrived from a sail trim standpoint!!