Report on first two sails

[Cevin c Taylor]

Hello all. 
I've been posting on the 16 specific forum, but I thought maybe this is a better place for my first trip report.  Background - bought the 1983 C-16 a couple of weeks ago, and I 've spend the intervening time prepping for our annual Labor Day camping trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore in NW Michigan - getting an outboard, fabbing a bracket for it on the trailer, etc. 
Well, we took the boat out on Friday for the maiden voyage.  We chose Platte Lake, a lake a few miles inland from Lake Michigan.  There were three of us – my wife and I and our 11 year old daughter.  We rigged the mast and boom in the launch parking lot, and then backed down the ramp.  The plan was to motor out into the lake and then raise the main sail.  I decided not to raise the jib in order to keep the variables to a minimum.  We got out into the lake a quarter mile or so, and the wind was stronger there than at the shore, and getting stronger.  I didn't feel confident raising the sail with that much wind, and so we decided to motor back closer to shore and decide what to do.  However, the motor didn't cooperate, and we were getting blown towards the west end of the lake.  Like most lakes up in that part of Michigan, it had a hard sandy bottom, so I wasn't too worried about damaging anything.  Once we got into water that was shallow enough, I jumped out and held a line on the boat, which was drifting toward an aluminum dock.  I let it go up against the fenders of the dock, and tied it off fore and aft.  By this time my daughter was pretty scared, and was in the cabin.  Not long after we tied up, two guys came out onto the dock.  They were from the neighboring house, and asked if we needed help.  They ended up towing us back to the launch with their aluminum skiff.  There we got the boat out without much problem, just as lightening started.  Not a good trip.  The next day, we rigged it up in the lot of the same launch.  However, showing some rare good judgment, and not wanting a repeat of the Friday's experience, I decided that the conditions to the west didn't look good, and we took the rigging down.  At least we got some more practice rigging her.  Sunday, early in the afternoon, things looked good for our second attempt.  I decided to rely as little as possible on the outboard.  My goal was to launch unaided by it from the dock, and, if possible, return to the dock under sail power.  BTW – my daughter was having no part of this second trip.  We rigged again in the lot, and launched with no problem.  We got the boat turned around and pointed out into the lake.  With my wife already in, I shoved off hard and jumped in, then poled out a ways with the boat hook.  We raised the main (still no jib) in a light breeze – and actually got under way!  It was great – sunny, warm, and moving under our own power!  We spent about an hour or so cruising in the lake.  The lake is about four miles long or so by about two wide.  I don't think we ever got more than about a mile and a half from the launch, but we had a blast.  About an hour or so into the sail, we saw dark clouds off to the west.  There was no forecast of lightening, so I wasn't too worried, but we decided to head back in.  Unfortunately, with the dark clouds, there were three boats ahead of us in line to take out.  The wind was strong, and we were going pretty fast – a bit faster than I felt comfortable with – but it was great!  The boat started heeling over.  I don't know how far, but it probably wasn't anything near what it's capable of.  Any heeling at this point makes me nervous.  That will take some getting used to.  We were sailing pretty fast and getting closer to the take out area.  I fed out the sheet on the main sail, and we slowed down a lot.  Then when we were thirty or so yards away, I turned into the wind, dropped the sail, and jumped into the waist deep water with a line on the bow.  That was the only way I was going to be able to stay in one place as we waited our turn to take out.  It started raining, and with the rain and lake water, I got pretty cold.  Fortunately everyone was pretty quick taking out, and our turn came up before too long.  Got it out without much problem, and took the rigging down in the lot.
   Things I learned:  Get some rain gear; get some binoculars (it was a bit difficult finding the launch site from out on the lake); you don't need to be on the Great Lakes to have a blast in a sailboat; it's good practice to try to not count on the outboard; come in earlier; I need to get a better sense for wind direction; use of the phrase "Hang on, I'm gonna try something" doesn't work any better in sailing than in Jeeping; a few more sails like the hour or so we had before the rain hit, and my wife will be hooked. 

[Salty19]

Another new sailing adventure  

Sounds like you learned a lot and exercised good judgement. Definitely leave the kid at home until you're confident in handling the boat.

What kind of outboard to you have?  An electric?  There should be enough power to control direction in nearly any wind short of a gale. Was your rudder down?  That is a newbie mistake to steer with only the motor and no rudder.  It will slip considerably and be tough to control.  Use both rudder and motor to turn tightly or fight the wind.  The boat can turn in it's own length with a good motor.

Heeling is a natural stance for any single hull sailboat. Do know that the CP16 will heel but WILL NOT GO OVER unless you get hit with a huge wave. That won't happen in a small lake.  In the sailboat world, the Compacs are known as a heavily ballasted type.  They are much more stable than designs involving centerboards or hull shape for stability. Yes, they heel but only so far.  Trust the boat, it's designed to be seaworthy and safe.  yes, easier said than done.

What happens is this...the boat will heel more and more  as winds increase until a point where the rudder looses bite. That's about 35 degrees give or take.  When the rudder looses bite, the boat will steer itself--without your input and without choice, into the wind.  This is called weather helm and is desireable to a certain extent.  Until you feel that happening, you're in full control. Relax and let her heel. Take a deep breath and focus on maintaining a straight path. Strap yourself to the boat if you're nervous about falling off.  BTW a mounted swim ladder is good piece of mind here.

Learning how and when to reef should be on your list for next time out.  Reefing turns a day of 25 mph winds into a safe sailing day. If you reefed, it would have flattened out the heeling a bit.

When the rudder does loose bite, if the winds are strong, the boat will heel even further while turning into the wind.  This event makes it feel like it's going to tip over and will put the fear of god in you as usually happens quickly.  Trust that it will not go over.  A foiled rudder will reduce this effect in terms of when the rudder looses bite.  Meaning it will let you heel even further.

Best thing to do is to keep at it.  Soon the heeling will feel natural and safe.  You'll find that at a certain point, she won't heel much further.  And if a gust comes along, it will self-correct itself. You'll also find that you'll learn how to minimize it (for example releasing the mainsheet a little or anticipating the gust).

Another thing is how you set the sail trim, weight distribution, condition of sails and gusts and shifting winds will play a part in heeling.  Well trimmed newer sails will heel less than older sails.  If your sails feel like a bad hotel room sheet (soft but not downy soft), the sails are probably long since due for replacement.  This is very common on older CP16's. This has to do with the direction of force created from the sails (sideways vs. forwards). Also just having the mainsail up with make it heel more than with both main and jib.  So put the jib up next time.  Make a downhaul to douse it should you get nervous. 

Get a Windex 15 for the mast head, or tape some yarn or cassette tape to the shrouds to judge wind direction.  Pretty tough to trim sails when you don't know what direction you're in. 

[ehall686]

Great story, it's to bad the the weather did not cooperate a little more up here in Northern MI for you to go sailing. I forgot that you came up, I was at work watching the rain come down thinking that I will take the boat out Tuesday or Wednesday the weather is to crappy this weekend for sailing. 

Salty 19: Great info I read it twice to take it all in.

Eric

[Cevin c Taylor]

Salty:  Thanks for the info; very helpful.  I believe I was trying to steer w/ the outboard with the rudder up.  I'll make a mental note to avoid at least that mistake in the future.

[Billy]

sometimes when coming in under sail it is better to have the jib up instead of the main. When the wind is coming from any direction you can let go of the sheets and luff your jib to slow down. A main cannot be luffed if the wind is from behind you. And the more you let it out the faster you will go. Then, the boom will hit the shrouds and you will not be able to stop.

When the wind is behind you and you are under main to slow down you actually pull the sheet in (not out). But when the wind is from any other direction letting it out is the correct way to slow down.

[wes]

Salty - you richly deserve much good karma for that very helpful explanation. I too am pretty new to this sailing business (CP 19 instead of 16, but I'm sure the same principles apply) and your comments will help me stay calm the next time the wind kicks up. Not sure however that even your vast authority will keep my wife from assuming the fetal position as she did the last time this happened .

- Wes

[Tim Gardner]

Wes,  while Salty is correct for the 16,  Your 19 shouldn't heel more than 12^ or so if you want to go upwind.  She likes to sail very flat with Champagne Glass shaped bottom.  She'll sail faster upwind if you reef early on.

That being said, she won't blow over - My wife and I were once knocked nearly flat ( a micro-burst during a T-storm) and our 19 just shuddered and stood back up.

TG

[Billy]

here is a diagram that shows the more a boat heels over the more it wants to right itself.

as the boat heels you can see the sails essentially get shorter so basically there is less sail area to be blown over



and as the boat heels the leeward side of the hull digs into the water increasing the bouency of the hull on that side which makes that side of the boat lift . also the windward side of the boat lifts out of the water (the high side) increasing the weight of the hull on that side pushing the boat back down into the water. All of this creates an overturning moment.

So basically the more the boat heels the greater the righting force of the boat. and all of this is with out the concrete ballast in the keel.

think of a pendulum. you can hold a sledge hammer down by your side and swing it back and forth but only about 45" from being straight down. but as the head of the hammer gets higher the harder it is to keep lifting.

I hope that made since.

[Cevin c Taylor]

Thanks - very helpful. 

[Salty19]

Wes, yes same principles apply.  Difference on the 19 is as Tim described...she won't heel nearly as far (or fast) as the 16 does.
And she won't round up quite as quickly, but she does behave the same just at lesser angles of heel. 

I'm surprised she thinks the 19 heels too much. Maybe you need to loosen the mainsheet and depower a little bit.  If that doesn't work, administration of grog might do the trick.