Tacking??

[21usmc47]

It seems that I can't tack any less than 90 degrees. Is this normal for these boats, or sailboats in general, I know I'm a newb and need a lot more stick time? It seems the boat is pushed around by the Jib during racking. I have tried not setting it right away and I try to be cautious of how far I allow the boat to swing before straightening the tiller.

[CaptRon28]

90 degrees, based on true wind speed, would be pretty good for the average cruising boat, and all ComPacs are exactly that. Some racing sleds can get into the 70 degree range. These boats are set up for anything but cruising. We're talking deep fin keels, kevlar or dyneema or ?? sails, good crew, etc.

[jkat]

Yeah, what these excellent boats provide as far as simplicity and security(a rock solid no maintenance shallow keel), they unfortunately give up some some pointing ability.  I bought an Idasailor foiled rudder after my first year with my CP16.   This made a bit of a difference in the pointing.   The foiled rudder provides some extra lift and reduces sideslip over the aluminum slab rudder.  The act of tacking is much "crisper" as you come about with a foiled rudder.  I expect I may not be the first person that would respond with this finding.  I think you could find old threads on the forum that address this conversation. 

As far as my GPS has shown me, in the best conditions, I'll get close to 90 degrees.  Typically though I'll tack through around 100 degrees or just a bit more.  Trying to work upwind sacrifices speed that I often don't have the patience for.  I usually enjoy getting an extra half knot or more and accept that I'm going to cover a bit more distance as I do it in a similar amount of time.  At least that's what my first mate (wife) and I typically settle on anyway. 

Again for the act of tacking, I've found that I prefer to let the boat round well beyond 90 degrees until she gets a bit of momentum going and then trim the sheets and point the bow upwind until I've found that "sweet spot" that is my compromise between speed and upwind sailing. 

Hope I could have been helpful.  I've learned a lot from the folks that have contributed on this site.  Pretty cool stuff.  Have fun out there.

Jeff

[21usmc47]

Thank you guys. I'm just guessing at the 90 degrees here, probably a good bit more. I just didn't know if it was me or if it was pretty common.

[Bob23]

Jeff's got it right on. On my 23, my foiled rudder made a great improvement. So did the new sails, even more so. If the sails are blown out (mine were) they're not giving you enough forward thrust. On a regular course of mine which involves tacking many times to get to home port, the new sails cut the number of tacks in half! Thus I conclude that not only do I point much higher but have much less side slip. My original (1985) sails looked ok but when I took them to my sailmakers, she, chuckling said: "These sails haven't looked good for a long time". That was winter of 2011. The sails were 26 years old. It was the best investment I've made in the boat.
bob23

[Pacman]

I've found that I prefer to let the boat round well beyond 90 degrees until she gets a bit of momentum going

My C 16 tacks best if I fall off the wind a bit to pick up some more speed before tacking. 

The extra speed enables my boat to use momentum to make a smooth clean tack. 

After the tack, I allow the boat to fall off a bit again to pick up some speed before heading upwind on the new point of sail. 

This technique is especially helpful in light air.

[skip1930]

Everybody crabs into the wind too much. Fall off a bit. Maybe 60 deg on a good sail set and day.
Carb less tack more. Tack before you loose speed and wind due to a shore obstacle, like a hill or stand of trees.
Sail her loose. Observe that wind thingy atop-O-mast. Those arms are maybe 60 deg?

skip.

[Salty19]

Jeff, Bob and Skip are right.  Fall off a bit at first, gain some speed then trim tighter once you're moving along.  But don't go to close else you'll crab.

Another thing..tack when speed is high and do it slowly (unless you're moving slow, then do what you need to tack). By going slowly, it will help from "over tacking".

With the foiled rudder it's easy to over tack--I'm guilty of that for sure.  No biggie, a little patience, boat speed and trimming brings it back on a close reach.

[Shawn]

"This technique is especially helpful in light air."

In light air backwinding the jib can help too.

Shawn

[Pacman]

"This technique is especially helpful in light air."

In light air backwinding the jib can help too.

Shawn

Backwinding the jib is very helpful.

I learned to sail on a catamaran that was fast but difficult to tack so it was standard practice to:
1. head off to pick up boat speed before the tack
2. then move the tillers slowly to avoid stalling the boat
3. then wait to release the jib until the boat crossed the wind so the backwinded jib would help us complete the tack

Now I use that same method to tack my C-16.