Friday a week ago I was crossing the Chesapeake west to east from the Great Wicomico to Onancock with 20-25 kt wind from the SSE-about 35-40 apparent off the bow all the way. Though I shortened sail and experimented with sail trim as best I could single handed the boat at times would want to round up in gusts to the point I was needing to put the helm way over to keep the track-hard on the arms for the 4 hour trip. I've owned the boat for 2 months and this was my first time in these conditions. My previous boat seemed to handle these conditions better or at least I knew better how to handle her. I'd appreciate any thoughts out there on sail trim to make me a better 310 sailor. I have the in-mast furling if that makes a difference. Thanks all.
Weather Helm help
- Thread starter CCHer
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I have a 309, which shares the same hull form and has a similar, though not identical, rig (15/16 rather than masthead). The 309 has excessive weather helm when the rig is set up to factory specs. I found that reducing the aft mast rake by 2-3 degrees made a substantial improvement, though the boat seems happiest if you reef in greater than 15-20 knots to maintain a maximum heel angle of 20 degrees.
I have a wing keel which seems to compound the problem. I have also found that the boat behaves better after I raked the mast forward. This is easy to do with the stock Schafer roller furler. I have slab reefing and would almost certainly put in two reefs in 25 kts if single handing.
Thanks all. I'm taking the genoa in to get the stitching on the UV cover fixed and will look forward to putting these suggestions to practice at the next opportunity when I get it back-hopefully in a week or so.
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