How do you set your boom when closehauled?

[hitchhiker]

How close to the gallow do you pull your mainsheet to set your boom when you sail closehauled?
I have heard not to pull it too much when you sail cat boats.
I think I am not sailing well to the wind in closehauled.

[Craig Weis]

I don't know Hitch, I'd advise sailing loose, sheet out till luffing, sheet end till luff just starts to go away, can you check with a GPS for SOG, Speed Over Ground??? Play around with it. P.S. I finished my cat boat re-type.' skip.

[Joseph]

Hitchhiker,

The answer to your question may lie in well placed telltales... Since you use a jib, you could probably try the same trimming procedure in a sloop: attach luff telltales to your jib, Then, trim your jib in as hard as possible and use its telltales to find your close hauled course. Then trim the main to the point of "luffing but not quite".  For this, it may help to have luff telltales attached to the mainsail. They are not too common but are certainly correct: http://www.jasperandbailey.com/tech/news.html, http://www.jasperandbailey.com/pdfs/articleboat.pdf. I have not seen luff telltales on any catboat rig and wonder whether this is just because of my limited experience with this design or a concession to the more leisure style of sailing of most cat rigs. Yet, for optimizing sail pull upwind, I can't think of a better trimming device.  I'd be happy to hear from more experienced catboat skippers in regards to the use of telltales in the luff and leach of single-sail cat rigs.

J.

[Craig Weis]

Good call I do have four red/port and four starboard/green tell tails on the leading and trailing edges of both sails from tip to top. . And they really do tell what the sail is doing. Use these all the time.
It's so cool I can have a 'dead' tell tail on the main and by dinking with the head sail can make that 'dead' tell tail fly straight back and never touch the main....some times I get bored and have to play. skip.

[Joseph]

I have been intrigued by the relative lack of information on forward telltales in single sail cat-rigs and their optimal location. After researching the question in the web (see references below) I conclude that, although not customary, forward telltales are not out of place in a single-sail gaff-rig.  Their placement may be best determined by trial and error keeping in mind that they should be away from any turbulent flow that may be caused at the luff by the leading presence of the mast, and not further aft than the draft of the sail. I would probably start by placing three of them at 1, 2 and 3 quarters from the top, and mid-point between the mast/gaff and the draft of the sail.

May your telltales always stream aft...!

J.

===============
The question"...are telltales useful on a gaff rig sail and if so where should they be located?" was already asked to the Catboat Association List in 2005: http://listserv.uri.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0502&L=catboats&T=0&P=559

Shevy Gunter suggests that: "for a boat without a genny, the forward mainsail telltales are to be located more forward as they become the "steering telltales". http://www.arvelgentry.com/A_Truer_Tale.htm

Bill Welch writing on Catboat Sail Trim says the following: "The gaff-rigged catboat sail is very forgiving and generally has a wide groove upwind and down, making it very easy to sail. However, to get the best performance close-hauled, you need to sail on the edge of the groove closest to the wind. This is a very narrow part of the groove where the windward telltales should be lifting 50 to 80 percent of the time. It takes a lot of concentration and practice to stay in this narrow slot of performance through the constant changes in wind direction and strength." http://www.bbyra.org/fleet/O_shorebird_fall_2006.pdf

On page 17 of the "Catboat Guide and Sailing Manual" collected by Edward Steinfeld (http://www.go-embedded.com/Sailing%20manual.pdf) there is a picture of a catboat with six telltales: two on the leech and four at the luff (located about 1-2 ft. from the mast and gaff).

The following are quotations also from the "Catboat Guide and Sailing Manual" collected by Edward Steinfeld:
"Place several tell tales on leach and draft of sail."
"Telltales should be mounted on both sides of the main well back from the mast as well as on the leech. Usually four sets of telltales are sufficient; "
"Have telltales on your leech and near the luff, and know how to read them."

Besides the picture in the Catboat Guide the only other graphic examples of telltales in single-sail rigs were in Sunfish boats:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a170/Night_Sailor/Sunfish/Scud272.jpg
http://www.sunfishclass.org/images/photos/000016.GI

[patch]

  the suncat builders,advise to not over sheet the sail.the edge of the transom should be the max.i have an Ida rudder which helps decrease weather helm.i still use the factory recommendation.my gps shows no increase in speed with over sheeting.when i have a sloop sailer as crew,they always want to pull in the main to the center of the boat.

[tmorgan]

We sail with the edge of the boom over the transom as well.  Sheeting it in further seems to really stall the boat.  I think the Sun Cat sails pretty well to windward but not as well as a sloop!  So the question is what are you comparing windward performance to; a sloop: another cat boat?