Tack w/o speed loss

[Don Guillette]

OK, so we have the boat up to full speed for the conditions we are sailing in and we have spent some practice time determining the correct time to cut the sheet loose. You don't have to spend a lot of practice time - 3 or 4 tacks should do it. You want to cut the jib sheet just before the jib loses power. Additionally, the lazy trimmer has set the fairlead for the new conditions. When the power trimmer decides to cut his sheet he has to be quick about it. If he is working with a self tailer he would have removed the sheet from the tailer. If he is working with a non self tailing winch, the release is simple. Just lift the sheet straight up and it comes off. With a self tailer it is a bit trickier - you may have to spin a bit to get it off. Once he decides to let it go he has to do so.At this point the lazy trimmer has taken all the slack out of the sheet. Once the loaded trimmer cuts the sheet what normally happens is the new trimmer madly pulls in the sheet. There is no point to that. He can't take all day but he should take in the sheet smoothly in order to let the jib power up. Rushing only creates mistakes.Generally, what happens on most boats is that the old trimmer now just sits there thinking his job is done. It isn't. As soon as he cuts the sheet he becomes the tailer. After this team gets the jib in as much as possable by hand it is time to insert the winch and go for final adjustment. While the new trimmer is adjusting, the lazy trimmer now takes about 3 wraps on his winch so he is ready to go for the next tack.Adjusting the jib is just part of the tack. After the jib is set the mainsail trimmer has to make his adjustment but that is a whole other story.If you practice this a few times and develop some teamwork you will be able to tack the boat in under 30 seconds and you will not lose more than 1 knot of speed.

 

[mortyd]

tacking

great for those of us with crews on board, but on my boat it's usually just the two of us, one at the helm and one on the sheets. now, how do we tack most effeciently?

 

[Ross]

I have lead my jib

sheets back to the helm. The helmsman calls the tack and picks up the sheet. the crew prepares either to haul or release, depending on the tack. The sheet for the new tack is 3 turns on the winch and the soon to be lazy sheet is held by hand. The helm goes over, the jib back winds the lazy sheet is eased and the active sheet hauled before it is loaded. The active sheet is then cleated within reach of the helm.

 

[mike c]

some help

while practicing tacks, take some electrical tape and mark the sheets on each tack. Then when you make your tack, you can get the sheet in to the tape mark. This is mostly a rough tune, and you'll have to fine tune the sail but it gets you close.

 

[Richard Bryer]

If you have the crew

If you have a strong, quick footed fore deck crew you can really speed up the close hauled tacks by doing the following:the foredeck crewman ( or woman) grabs the lazy sheet just back of the shrouds holding it loosely. When the bow passes through the wind and the sail moves over to the new side, the foredeck crew pulls the sheet staight back until he can grab the clew aft of the shrouds . Then he quickly walks it back to as close to the close hauled position as he can. This leaves the grinder with only a few turns and the sail has not yet filled. The helmsman has to stop his tack very close to the right point for close hauledThat is our racing practice. When we are good it makes for a very quick snap tack with very little speed loss.

 

[Don Guillette]

Singlehanded or couple

Mortyd: 95% of the time it is just my wife and myself on the boat. A lot of times I am singlehanded. The sequence is the same when you are short handed. You just preform it a bit slower. Generally what I do is to have the lazy sheet in my hand while I'm waiting to cut the loaded sheet. If it is brezzy I look like a one handed paper hanger during the cutting and sheeting in process but I get it done. I do not have self tailing winches so the cutting of the sheet is easy - just pull straight up and it is off the winch. Sheeting in is a bit tougher but I have a set of WINCHES which work pretty well. They don't work as well as a self tailer but I have to work with what I have.I have a set way of doing just about every sail trim adjustment on the boat. It is like a dance step, which I can do automatically without much thought. Where mates get into trouble in situations is they try to figure things out on the fly and sometimes what they are trying to do looks like a Chinese fire drill.