How high is your 19 pointing?

[marc]

Set my wind index to 35°. Think that was a bit optimistic. I think I've been pointing in the 45-50° range in 15 mph winds. I expect to improve that since I've been using the loops on the front of the combing to lead my jib sheets into my winches. I do have jib tracks but haven't been using them since I have too much friction going from my low-lead track blocks to the winches. I'm going to add stand up track blocks at the aft end of the tracks to get a better angle from the tracks to the winches.  (I'll go through the low lead blocks, then the stand up blocks) Once I get that done, I expect I'll improve my up wind performance.

Anyway, I'm wondering how high the rest of you have been pointing.

[Tim Gardner]

My mast most assuredly points straight up.  ;>).  If you can get to 40, you must have new sails.  If not, tighten the downhaul at the boom as much as you can. and tighten your Jib halyard as well. These two "macro" adjusters work well.  However I find I make better overall upwind speed by falling off the wind and tacking more often.  I don't slip sideways near as much.

TG

[marc]

Tim,
Do you adjust your downhaul each time you go sailing? I tightened mine up and let it be, but learned the other day I have to readjust it if I reef the sail. I suppose in light winds you keep it loose and tighten it with increasing wind velocity. That right? Also, what if I set the downhaul and just control the luff tension with the halyard? Why wouldn't that work equally well?

[Salty19]

Pointing about 40 degrees with foiled rudder, newer sails and careful trimming.  Also one must gain speed at 50 or 60 degrees off the wind, then slowly trim and pinch as speed develops. I can't do 40 degrees at slow speeds after tacking

[Vipersdad]

I will do some research with my new chartplotter the next time I am out, possibly today.

I can measure with original sails from 1988 and then with new sails sometime next week.  New sails are due to arrive today or Monday.

V.

[marc]

I got my stand-up blocks so I'll be able to check out my pointing using the jib tracks this weekend. I do not have a foil rudder and I realize I'll be hampered by that. Thanks for your responses.

[Tim Gardner]

 Marc to your questions:

Do you adjust your downhaul each time you go sailing?  Yes I re adjust it each time and after reefing.

I suppose in light winds you keep it loose and tighten it with increasing wind velocity. That right?  Yes, exactly!

Also, what if I set the downhaul and just control the luff tension with the halyard?  When in higher winds you'll actually un-tension the luff if you try it that way, I have found.

Hope this helps.  Also you will not likely get to 40 degrees with the standard blade rudder.  You'll stall the rudder, loose speed over ground and slip sideways.  Better to fall of the wind and make better time

TG

[skip1930]

As Rich at the Com-Pac booth at the All Sail Boat Show at Navy Pier, Chicago said, "Most sailors crab into the wind too much. Ease off and tac."

skip.

[marc]

OK. I understand I need to use the downhall. Do you use blocks to increase purchase or use a line directly from the gooseneck down to the cleat? Seems to me there is not quite enough space to use blocks, but if you don't have them, it's probably a struggle to tighten the downhall once you are underway.

I have been easing off as needed. There are 2 passages to my marina with rocks and shoals on both sides of the channels. I like to come and go under sail as much as possible so I tack many times to make my destination. Sometimes with the current moving fast, when I ease off I just end up staying in the same place until either I turn on the motor or the tide changes!

[MacGyver]

On my downhaul, I set it up to adjust with the main halyard. I tie it up at the beginning of the year then when I tighten my main halyard it tightens the downhaul. The gooseneck raises about 2 inches maybe........I can't check actual raise due to I am working on the boat yet.

I don't know if the above is pertinent information..... I think I read everything right.....

Mac

[wes]

On my 19 (halyards led back to cockpit) I find it hard to tension the luff using the halyard, due to friction from the halyard sheave, turnng blocks, etc. Just doesn'l feel right cranking so hard on that winch. I prefer to use the halyard only to raise the sail. Then I lean my weight onto the boom near the mast, using experience to feel when it's tensioned enough, and cleat off the downhaul. This does require stepping up onto the cabin top, but it's quick and accurate. This is the procedure Hutchins recommends in the owner's manual.

Wes

[skip1930]

My CP-19 main halyard that leads back to the cockpit like Wes's does is long enough to be wrapped around the portside winch and given that last little tug up the pole to tension the luff.

Why pull when you can crank?

As for a down haul line and a place to tac it, a cleat and bar in the sail slot just off the deck provides an anchor point. My girlish figure of 207 lb provides the push-down needed to 'do the tighten up' and cleat the down haul line.

skip.

[dbinvermont]

I have to chime in here. Last Friday, the first and only day so far that the weather up here was nice enough for sailing, I took my 19 out for the sole purpose of experimenting with sailing to windward.
Two things I found:
First, If you aren't running your jib sheets between the side stays, you will never point well. This was a mistake that I made last year, I was running them outside the stays. That worked fine on a reach, but you can't point that way.
Second, the tighter you make the jib sheet, the higher you will point (to a point!). My windex is set for 45 degrees, and I was sailing well within that.  I had that puppy cranked right in (the jib sheet), in fact tighter than I ever had before, and the tighter I made it, the higher it pointed. In a 10 knot wind I was going 3 knots at about 30 degrees.
I almost hesitate to mention this, but for probably a quarter of a mile I was sailing at two knots straight into the wind. No, the motor wasn't running. It was one of those times when you can't explain or believe what is happening.  Interesting thing was, I tried to turn back away to pick up a little speed, and the boat stalled right there. It was in a sweet spot, and disturbing it made me lose it. This happened to me once before in a 16ft Point Jude that I had several years ago. That time, I slowly sailed back to a boat ramp, staight into the wind. Has this ever happened to anyone else??

I guess if conditions are perfect, and the sails are trimmed just right, there is enough lift to propel the boat. I would suspect that it could only occur in light wind, as a heavier wind would provide too much resistence to the boat's forward motion.
I know, it sounds crazy. But it happened!

[crazycarl]

doesn't sound crazy to me, but then again, i'm not the one to judge craziness.

don't question it, just accept it as one of those days the sailing gods smiled down upon you.

crazy carl

[Shawn]

As another option for tightening the luff... if you are getting a new mainsail include a cunningham cringle on it. That will give you enough clearance to setup blocks to increase purchase. Right now I use a simple 2:1 but may go higher for more control.

This is also *very* handy if you sail with a bimini up. It lets you keep the boom up higher (for clearance) while still being able to tension the luff properly.

Shawn