Bob lang asked an interesting question. He wanted to know the order of adjusting and settings sails, which sail is set first and what is the normal procedure.
Sounds like a simple question to answer but it's NOT. When I was trying to figure out how to sail a silly sailboat, it's a question I asked of other sailors a million times and the answers I received confused the blazes out of me. I could write a book and make up a chart on the subject, which is exactly what I did!!
Let's assume you have a masthead rig - if you have a fractional rig you reverse some of this stuff. The first thing you do is raise the jib to full hoist and back off a tad. Then you set your fairleads and then you trim the jib sheet until the luffing just stops. Then check your telltales for proper flow.
Next you raise the main to full hoist and back off a tad.Trim your mainsheet so that the top batten is parallel to the boom. Next you set your outhaul and then you set your traveler to get the boat moving. Set the outhaul in the middle of it's range of movement and almost center the traveler.
Why do I back off a tad on both halyards? It's because I have a jib cunningham and mainsail cunningham and I use them for final adjustment instead of the halyard. Why do I adjust the jib first on a masthead rig? It's because the jib is the engine and you always adjust the engine first.
At this point in the adjustment process the boat is now moving forward and now it's time for you to fine tune for the conditions you're sailing in. There are 8 primary sail trim controls for the mainsail and 6 for the jib. Each of these 14 sail trim controls has a particular setting for each point of sail and wind condition. To obtain 100% efficiency all the sail trim controls have to be in sinq with each other or the will work against each other.
Space does not permit an outline of all the settings but I've made it easy for new sailors. Buy the SAIL TRIM CHART and your sail trim problems will be over. After you use it a few times you won't need it anymore because you'll know the correct settings to use. The CHART tells you WHAT settings to use. The BOOK tells you WHY you're making a particular sail trim adjustment. The WHY of sail trim is EVERYTHING. If you don't know WHY you're making a particular sail trim adjustment you're just guessing.
Sounds like a simple question to answer but it's NOT. When I was trying to figure out how to sail a silly sailboat, it's a question I asked of other sailors a million times and the answers I received confused the blazes out of me. I could write a book and make up a chart on the subject, which is exactly what I did!!
Let's assume you have a masthead rig - if you have a fractional rig you reverse some of this stuff. The first thing you do is raise the jib to full hoist and back off a tad. Then you set your fairleads and then you trim the jib sheet until the luffing just stops. Then check your telltales for proper flow.
Next you raise the main to full hoist and back off a tad.Trim your mainsheet so that the top batten is parallel to the boom. Next you set your outhaul and then you set your traveler to get the boat moving. Set the outhaul in the middle of it's range of movement and almost center the traveler.
Why do I back off a tad on both halyards? It's because I have a jib cunningham and mainsail cunningham and I use them for final adjustment instead of the halyard. Why do I adjust the jib first on a masthead rig? It's because the jib is the engine and you always adjust the engine first.
At this point in the adjustment process the boat is now moving forward and now it's time for you to fine tune for the conditions you're sailing in. There are 8 primary sail trim controls for the mainsail and 6 for the jib. Each of these 14 sail trim controls has a particular setting for each point of sail and wind condition. To obtain 100% efficiency all the sail trim controls have to be in sinq with each other or the will work against each other.
Space does not permit an outline of all the settings but I've made it easy for new sailors. Buy the SAIL TRIM CHART and your sail trim problems will be over. After you use it a few times you won't need it anymore because you'll know the correct settings to use. The CHART tells you WHAT settings to use. The BOOK tells you WHY you're making a particular sail trim adjustment. The WHY of sail trim is EVERYTHING. If you don't know WHY you're making a particular sail trim adjustment you're just guessing.