Tiller Tension

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Banana Wind

Is it normal to "fight" your tiller?? When I sail in winds between 12-15mph there seems to be a lot of tenion on the tiller. Just curious if there is a trick to having less tension on the tiller... Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Barrett
 
W

William

it's all about Balance

Barrett You shold not really have to fight the tiller when going staight. There will always be pressure on it because of the dynamics of sailing but the biggest cusae of excesive tiller pressure is normally that the sails are not balanced. A easy way to learn or test this is to secure the tiller once you get the boat going in a straight line then play with the trim of your sails. when they are balanced the boat will keeping going straight forever. If your tiller is secured you can steer your boat with the sails Good Luck William
 
Jul 13, 2004
46
- - Minneapolis
You've got weather helm

Sounds like your boat is out of balance, which is pretty normal for Macs in moderate/high winds. Easiest thing to do is ease the mainsheet. Increase the jib area if you can (ideally with a furler). If you're still horsing the tiller, you need to reef the mainsail. The science is as follows (skip this paragragh if you don't care). A sailboat basically pivots around the keel/centerboard. The mainsail is behind the pivot point, so it is always working to turn your boat into the wind. The jib is forward of the pivot, so it tries to turn the bow away from the wind. When these two rotational forces are unbalanced, the rudder must compensate to steer a straight course. In your case, the mainsail is significantly overpowering the jib, and you have to pull the tiller hard to windward (helm to weather) to stay on course. Designers build in a certain amount of weather helm so the boat will automatically round up in a gust. The other option (lee helm) can be dangerous and spin you broadside to oncoming seas or even around to an accidental jibe. An interesing exercise is to practice steering the boat with just the sails by filling one and luffing the other. Use the mainsail to turn to windward and the jib to turn to leeward. Good luck!
 
Dec 29, 2004
99
- - Birmingham, Alabama
Also, is your rudder fully down

The other simple fix to this is if your rudder is completely down, then you will have to fight the tiller a lot more. And I mean completely down (perfectly vertical), not just most of the way. If you have a Mac, then the Idasailor rudder fixes your problem instantly (as long as the rudder is in the fully down position.
 
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