Steering with sails

[alsantini]

I was out yesterday in really great conditions.  10-12 mph steady winds, flat water and virtually no one on the water.  So, I decided to steer with the sails.  I had not done much of it with the Eclipse.  I let go of the tiller and with the great balance the boat has, it went pretty much straight.  Let the sail out and it would drift to leeward, pull the sail in and it would drift to winward.  Pretty cool.  I have unsuccessfully tried this on my other boats, Capri 16, Precision 12 and Precision 21.  The Eclipse really does it well.  Oh well.  I sailed for about 4 hours on a top ten day.  Social distancing at its finest.    Sail On,  Al

[Tim Gardner]

Jealous, just jealous.

TG

[Jim in TC]

Way back in the day I used to try that with my trusty old O'Day Flying Saucer, with modest success. It was partly to see whether I could (like it sounds you were doing) and partly to hedge against a rudder problem. The rudder never failed (though once it was a close call) so I never had the opportunity to test that skill (or as the case may be, boat character) in earnest.

[slode]

It takes a fairly well balanced boat, but even with some helm working the headsail and main separately can steer just about any sloop.  To go upwind let out the jib and bring in the main, and visa versa to turn downwind.  Now for some extra credit, try sailing backwards for some distance.  Haven't done much of that on my Eclipse, but do it often on the Nacra to back onto a downwind beach in a heavy blow.