Sailsmanship

[BruceW]

Okay, I'm coming from a boat that had no winches, just cleats for the jibsheets. I have a couple of winches and the deck cars with blocks for my CP 23 sheets to go through. I'm trying to get the cars set so the angle of the jib sheets is right, and also figure out how tight to bring in the jib.

Do you folks have rules of thumb on setting the jib? I've heard of setting the angle so it bisects the jib, but haven't heard of how far from the spreaders, etc to winchin the jib.

I"d be interested in some sailing hints; I generally just fumble along and do okay, but sometimes, you want to make progress down the river!

[deisher6]

Hey Bruce:
I do not recall your jib or main having any tell tails, so: so here is a start. Let your sails luff a little and set your course, then trim your jib in until it just stops luffing, and do the same to the main.  If you have tell tails you can tell when the sails are well trimmed when the  port and starboard sets are blowing flat against the sail. 

Start out with the jib sheet bisecting the clew angle of the jib, when the sail is trimmed look and check if the tell tails at the top of the jib are acting the same as those at the bottom...then move the car until they do.  When beating haul the jib in  as much as possible , trim the main accordingly and sail with an eye on the jib tell tails, again they should be flowing back alongside the jib. 

Another indicator is that the apparent wind, shown by a windex or telltales flying off of side stays should be approximately parallel to the luff of your main.

I would be interested to here other's take on sail trim

regards charlie

[skip1930]

" Do you folks have rules of thumb on setting the jib? "

1~Yep. One, use sail tell tails on both the head sail and main sail.
2~The headsail sheet from the pulley on the adjustable car to the centerline of a deployed head sail is about right.
3~The headsail can be played out for wing on wing or pulled in till it is within a inch of the spreader. Depends on the angle of attack to the wind.
4~Watch those tell tails as they should be plastered against the sails and streaming straight out. Play with the sheets till this is achieved.

skip.

[BruceW]

Charlie and Skip,

Thanks for the return to fundamentals, haha, I needed that (like the smack in the head on the V-8 commercials).

I do have telltales on the jib; I will adjust the cars, and then the jib, see if I can better monitor the telltales. I'm familiar with that luffing technique, Charlie, and will see about that in conjunction with the telltales.

Skip, appreciate the list!

Bruce

[skip1930]

I enjoy pulling in or letting out the main sheet and watch what happens to the tell tails on the head sail.
Sometimes these 'plaster up' and some time go limp like John Boehner, just hanging down.

And the same thing can happen to the tell tails on the main by playing with the head sheet.

The sails work together and influence each other. How cool is that.
The 'drive' of the sails are just an aeroplane wing turned vertical.

skip.