I get most of my topic from beginners to intermedaite saiors. I feel if they have a questions other might also.
I was talking to a Fl sailor today -- his weather is pretty good compared to the rest of the USA (it's not too bad in Tucson today). He was telling me his boat is unresponsive to sail trim!! Obviously, I didn't know what he was talking about but after a few questions I understood his problem.
When he used the sail trim control to adjust draft depth for example, he was looking for an immediate response. When he didn't get it he applied more adjustment. Same with Twist -- when the boat didn't power up or power down he applied more. Same would apply to angle of attack.
Here's part of his problem. When I asked him what sail trim control he was using to adjust twist in his main and jib, he gave the wrong answer. He had the right answer for draft depth in the mainsail only.
How I explained his major problem was as follows. I was going to use the example of the jets in the engine carburetor but he sounded like a young guy who might not be familiar with a carb so I switched to another example. I asked him if when he changes the hot and cold setting in his shower if he gets an immediate response? Obviously, he didn't and therein lies the answer to his problem. When you make a sail trim adjustment and even if you do it slowly, you have to "wait a minute" for the adjustment to catch up or take effect. He didn't know he had to wait and smell the roses and his end result was a sail trim mess. Another problem was I don't think he was familiar enough to know which sail trim control for the main and jib did what and what setting he should be using for each point of sail and wind condition.
Some times sailors use the wrong controls and their adjustment is like slamming a sports car into 2nd, flooring the accelerator and then pulling up the emergancy brake.
I was talking to a Fl sailor today -- his weather is pretty good compared to the rest of the USA (it's not too bad in Tucson today). He was telling me his boat is unresponsive to sail trim!! Obviously, I didn't know what he was talking about but after a few questions I understood his problem.
When he used the sail trim control to adjust draft depth for example, he was looking for an immediate response. When he didn't get it he applied more adjustment. Same with Twist -- when the boat didn't power up or power down he applied more. Same would apply to angle of attack.
Here's part of his problem. When I asked him what sail trim control he was using to adjust twist in his main and jib, he gave the wrong answer. He had the right answer for draft depth in the mainsail only.
How I explained his major problem was as follows. I was going to use the example of the jets in the engine carburetor but he sounded like a young guy who might not be familiar with a carb so I switched to another example. I asked him if when he changes the hot and cold setting in his shower if he gets an immediate response? Obviously, he didn't and therein lies the answer to his problem. When you make a sail trim adjustment and even if you do it slowly, you have to "wait a minute" for the adjustment to catch up or take effect. He didn't know he had to wait and smell the roses and his end result was a sail trim mess. Another problem was I don't think he was familiar enough to know which sail trim control for the main and jib did what and what setting he should be using for each point of sail and wind condition.
Some times sailors use the wrong controls and their adjustment is like slamming a sports car into 2nd, flooring the accelerator and then pulling up the emergancy brake.