WS Traveler in Heavy Air

[Coldwater]

Hi all,

This is my first post here although I have been reading a lot for the last few weeks. Great forum, thanks for all the helpful information.

I am currently upgrading the traveler on an old International Tempest (mid boom and traveler runs all the way across the boat). I found a very good deal on a Harken windward sheeting car, so I bought it. I live in Colorado at 8000', and spend a lot of time in strong and gusty conditions. I think I understand how the WS mechanism works, and why it would help in low to moderate conditions.

But, does anyone have experience with them in heavy air? There are many days when I need the traveler to go all the way from one side of the boat to the other on a tack. I may be able to pull it up wind a little ways in a 25 kt. wind, but certainly no where near center without rounding up. It seems to me that in those conditions, as soon as the boat tacks, the old leeward, now windward, cleat will have to be released manually just like any other traveler. Am I missing something here?

My current setup is a continuous line, so I can release both sides easily prior to my tack, then just ease the traveler across the boat through the tack. I can't see how you could run a continuous line on this new set up, so it would seem that in strong conditions it might be harder to handle than my old one, requiring me to cross the boat to release the new windward line. I'm headed that way anyway, so maybe I'm worrying about nothing. But, what else do I have to do but think this through while waiting for my new equipment to arrive

Any thoughts?

 

[Mike1956]

Why not just set the traveler in the middle and use the mainsheet to adjust your mainsail? If the lake you sail on requires a lot of frequent tacking, why make life more difficult than necessary? If the winds are 25 knots. you'd probably do better reefing the main than fiddling with a traveler.

 

[Coldwater]

Mike, no way to reef the main on a Tempest, besides that would be cheating. The boat seems to respond very well to traveler adjustments, although I do use it in conjunction with the main sheet. I find that if I lower the traveler and sheet the main to keep things a bit flat it does very well up to 25+. At that point I need to start dumping some air and using the jib to pull the most.

The way the traveler is set up now it is pretty easy to adjust in small increments, but it is very old and showing its age on both the track and the car. I have read nothing but good things about the WS set ups, I just wondered how they are in heavy air.

 

[alexco38]

Put the cam cleat on the car

On my previous boat, a MacGregor 26S, I put a SS plate on top of the traveller car and install the cam cleats there. The control line is a continous loop. You only need to reach the car to adjust the traveller. The loop is long enough for me to release and set from the tiller position.

 

[Alan]

The Harken WS traveler is wonderful. I've used them many times. The leeward control line is always released so you can trim to windward at a moments notice without having to deal with another line. BTW on our boat the leeward control line is always left free. I've sailed on many boats where the skipper wants the leeward line cleated, a real PINA for the mainsail trimmer with no good reason to do so.

 

[COOL]

The WS car should work well in big breeze,
the only time I found them frustrating was
in light, rolling conditions where it was impossible
to keep the car stationary, due to a lack of
steady tension from either side.

 

[Coldwater]

Thanks for all the input. I think I will leave the cam cleats that are currently used for my traveler right where they are. That will give me a handy way to cleat both sides when the air is very light. We get that from time to time, but since this is a lake, when there is not wind there are also no waves. I have heard that people get really frustrated with these things in no wind with waves conditions. It was simply too good a deal to pass up, so once I figure out what kind of track is best for my situation, I will see whether I like it or not. Either way, I needed a new traveler and track.