I have been using Don's sail trim guide and chart for about 1 year...it has really improved my sailing and trim abilities. My question considers the main only. You are sailng closehauled in 15-20 knots of wind. The main halyard, outhaul, and cunningham have been tensioned. My boat is a C30 and the mast can not be bent. Now for the mainsheet and vang....at this point do you want twist? The trim chart says "heavy tension on the mainsheet and vang to eliminate twist"...probably to get the flatest sail possible. The guide on page #17 says in heavy wind, "we want to over twist the sail to spill wind and depower the top portion". Is this contradictory or is heavy wind considered something over 20 knots?
To Twist or Not
- Thread starter Stephen K
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Traveler
Rick, Good point...I do lower the traveller (leeward of center) at this wind speed. This decreases the angle of attack and reduces weather helm and heeling...no effect on twist. I guess this should be done with as flat a sail as possible at first(heavy vang and mainsheet tension)...then if overpowered, ease vang and mainsheet to induce twist and depower the main. Is that correct?...Next step would be to reef.
Rick, Good point...I do lower the traveller (leeward of center) at this wind speed. This decreases the angle of attack and reduces weather helm and heeling...no effect on twist. I guess this should be done with as flat a sail as possible at first(heavy vang and mainsheet tension)...then if overpowered, ease vang and mainsheet to induce twist and depower the main. Is that correct?...Next step would be to reef.
headsail, heeling, weather helm
Hello, Generally (and as far as I know, since I am not an expert), as the wind picks up you need to start depowering the sailplan. The first step is to flatten the mainsail with halyard, outhaul, cunningham, vang, etc. If you do that and are still overpowered, it's time to lower the traveler. Still overpowered? Then I ease the main sheet (and vang) and raise the traveler. This allows twist which depowers the top part of the main. If the wind picks up further it's time to reef the main. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Barry
Hello, Generally (and as far as I know, since I am not an expert), as the wind picks up you need to start depowering the sailplan. The first step is to flatten the mainsail with halyard, outhaul, cunningham, vang, etc. If you do that and are still overpowered, it's time to lower the traveler. Still overpowered? Then I ease the main sheet (and vang) and raise the traveler. This allows twist which depowers the top part of the main. If the wind picks up further it's time to reef the main. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Barry
Twist
Stephen: On my chart I had to keep it very simple due to space limitations and I did want to squeeze everything in that I could. In my book I could go into more detail so that is the reason for some info that may seem contridictory. Here's the Readers Digest version of how the sails should work through the whole range of wind. In very light wind you want the sails as flat as possible. As the wind starts to pipe up you want to gradually induce draft depth (belly), while also watching the draft position, until you get up to say about 10 to 12 knots. That point of wind speed may vary depending on what you are comfortable with your boat. At that point you want to start reducing the draft depth and making the sail flat just like they were for light air. At some point of wind speed your comfortable with and the sails flat as you can get them you would induce twist to control the boat. If the wind continues to increase you would want to reef. What I do next is not for everyone and I do not recommend it unless you are very confident in controlling your boat. I think it is very exciting to sail the boat at the high edge of what it is capable of. I know I'm going to reef if things keep going the way they are but just before that point arrives I will OVER TWIST the sails thus spilling every bit of power I can from them. Again, that plan is not for everyone. Normally I tell sailors to reef the minute they think they should - a good reef indicator I use is when your rear end starts to pucker!! There is no rule on what medium to heavy wind is. It is what your comfortable with. At the C30 Nationals in Santa Cruz we raced in winds over 40 knots and with out a reef. We were fighting for 1st and the guys behind us did not reef so we did not either. The reason we could pull that off was because every crew member was excellent at their job.
Stephen: On my chart I had to keep it very simple due to space limitations and I did want to squeeze everything in that I could. In my book I could go into more detail so that is the reason for some info that may seem contridictory. Here's the Readers Digest version of how the sails should work through the whole range of wind. In very light wind you want the sails as flat as possible. As the wind starts to pipe up you want to gradually induce draft depth (belly), while also watching the draft position, until you get up to say about 10 to 12 knots. That point of wind speed may vary depending on what you are comfortable with your boat. At that point you want to start reducing the draft depth and making the sail flat just like they were for light air. At some point of wind speed your comfortable with and the sails flat as you can get them you would induce twist to control the boat. If the wind continues to increase you would want to reef. What I do next is not for everyone and I do not recommend it unless you are very confident in controlling your boat. I think it is very exciting to sail the boat at the high edge of what it is capable of. I know I'm going to reef if things keep going the way they are but just before that point arrives I will OVER TWIST the sails thus spilling every bit of power I can from them. Again, that plan is not for everyone. Normally I tell sailors to reef the minute they think they should - a good reef indicator I use is when your rear end starts to pucker!! There is no rule on what medium to heavy wind is. It is what your comfortable with. At the C30 Nationals in Santa Cruz we raced in winds over 40 knots and with out a reef. We were fighting for 1st and the guys behind us did not reef so we did not either. The reason we could pull that off was because every crew member was excellent at their job.
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