Tacking problems

[DavidZ]

I purchased a 74 22 O'Day last fall. The boat seemed to handle well, but I have had a great deal of trouble tacking when the wind freshens over 10Kts. The boat has a furler system with 150 Genoa, when we tack the bow haeds up into the wind but the sail seems to stall at the mast and the boat gets pushed back in the direction we started from. I'm at a loss anyone have any advice??? Thanx

 

[Ned Young]

Tacking

Be sure you have good hull speed before starting your tack. If need be try sailing a little off the wind to increase speed before your tack. Have your tack planed before starting, i.e, where the boat will be pointing on the opposite tack.Good Luck

 

[DavidZ]

Thanx Ned!

Ned, Thanx for the advice, I'll give it a try! David

 

[Don Evans]

Too Much Headsail or Not Enough?

David, what is your response to "fresher winds"? Our O'Days, rely very heavily on our headsails for drive, and direction. If you roll in too much jib you may not have enough speed to assist momentum before the tack. On the other hand too much jib at times can be a handfull, and if your sail is not through the eye and catching wind on the next tack it can backwind and cause the boat to stall. Try playing with the amount of headsail for any given wind speed. Keep trying and you will get it.Don

 

[DavidZ]

Thanx Don

I'm really troubled by this problem. It does not seem to make much difference in regard to wind. When I wrote the original post, we had been out in 15-20 Kt winds, tacking from port to starboard seemed to be fine it was stbd to port that we were into the wind and the boat just stalled, the jib was about 135% and it luffed around the mast and the boat was pushed back to stbd., Eventually I had to jibe. Yesterday we were out in light winds and had the jib out 150%. Again we were able to jibe and tack from port to strbd but not strbd to port??!! Any ideas???

 

[Sam]

Sheeting in Jib

I had a similar problem when tacking. It was solved by not sheeting in on the jib tightly until the jibe had been made. Not over steering also helped to alleviate the problem. Once the jibe has been made sheet in the jib. Hope this helps.