Uncomfortable

[Eric14536]

Thanks!

And I was afraid no one would be interested enough to respond to this post... Guess I picked the right topic for my forum debut. Jim - your post really helped, seems like you understand where I'm coming from. One of my slip neighbors told me they have a little club going and to hang around on the weekends to grab a crew slot on one of their boats. Seems like great experience.I’ve decided to install a clinometer (the gimbaled beer holder doesn’t have a gauge on it, j/k Peter ), and use some of the techniques posted to experiment with different degrees of heel. Also, I’m going to take Peter’s advice and work on my beam reach a little before getting crazy with the close haul. I hope progress goes fast, I have a 150 Genoa that came with the boat that I’m dying to try out, but have decided to leave it in the sail bag until I become a little more experienced.I’m starting to get really excited about this upcoming weekend!It seems that having new stuff to try is as much fun as having new toys to install!Thanks guys!-Eric

 

[Wanderer138]

Making your boat behave...for BobKat

It's not the boat, it's the sails. Sails are the single most significant influence on the way a boat handles, so how you trim them (and balance the headsail against the main) can make or break your day. Yes, learning the quirks of each boat is useful, but a good overall understanding of sail trim will be FAR more effective.The single most important thing I've learned about sailing is that there is no one "magic" sail trim setting. You need to be able to:a) sense how the the boat is doing under the prevailing wind, sea conditions and sail planb) know how the boat feels and performs when the sails are trimmed properly for those conditionsc) know to adjust trim, so that if a) doesn't feel right you can get the boat to condition b) aboveThe maddening part is that you'll have good trim for a bit and then have to adjust for changes in course, wind speed anddirection and sea conditions.Here are a few books on sail trim that I've found to be extremely helpful. I hope the links work. If not, copy and paste into the address window of your web browser as needed.A good starter is Don Guilette's Sail Trim Guide (available right here at HOW):http://shop.hunterowners.com/books/detail-books.htm?sku=102.2&fno=0&Some info from Neil Pryde Sails while you're waiting for Don's book:http://www.sailingsource.com/neilpryde/manual/trim.htmI really like the guides published by North Sails:http://www.landfallnavigation.com/bnucw.htmlhttp://www.landfallnavigation.com/bnupt.htmlFinally, here's an excellent little book by Stuart Walker called "A Manual of Sail Trim". It's not so easy to read but it's FULL of information:http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Sail-Trim-Stuart-Walker/dp/0393032965 or google "stuart walker manual sail trim" and click on the first link with the title:http://books.google.com/books?id=rR1qhjmskfIC&dq=stuart+walker+manual+sail+trim&pg=PA5&ots=w1uF5TAbD5&sig=Rw7V60AluN4BcpoKvwZaIBmAbWo&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26q%3Dstuart%2Bwalker%2Bmanual%2Bsail%2Btrim%26btnG%3DSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1Welcome to the next level.PeterH23 "Raven"