Well, I went sailing today on my 83' Mac 25. I was on a manmade lake in south Alabam, Lake Eufaula. The winds were prtty much 16mph all day long. It was really my first day sailing in winds like that, but I have sailed in maybe 5 mph winds before but it wasnt anyhting like this.
So, I ran into a few problems that I would like to ask about.
1) On my
jib, there are two
lines [B
](Jib Sheets)[/B]coming from the bottom corner of it(forgot the name of the corner,
clew) which lead into my cockpit.
When I am on a starbord tack then my starbord
line is cleated on the side of the cockpit and the port
line is cleated but with plenty of slack to allow for the
jib to do its job[B
].(sounds like you were on a port tack, if wind was coming over the starboard side and sheet cleated on port side heading into the wind, thats a starboard tack)[/b] When I jibe, how should I go about untieing the starbord
line quickly and having the port
line ready to be set?
(first of all a jibe is off the wind sailing with wind on your stern, this is the most dangerous point of sail be careful that boom can knock you out of the boat,... a tack is when the wind is coming forward of the beam, master this first)
When I did this, it just wasnt fluid at all and took me a while to get my
jib working after I tacked. How should I be preparing for the jibe?
Jib line wise.
(lots of ways to do this, here is how i do it... have the sheet not under load, its called lazy sheet, wrapped around the winch but not cleated, center the mainsail traveler, turn boat into wind slowly.... when almost "head to wind" quickly uncleat sheet.... keep turning boat slowly into the wind, jib & main should be flapping, when your directly into the wind quickly trim in sheet and steer down slowly, main and jib should start pulling right away, just do everything slow at first, have fun and please wear a PFD, i really kind of envy you, teaching myself to sail was the most fun i have ever had, you have alot to learn and tons of fun to look forward too.
2) If anyone is familiar with the Mac 25 I was heeling what seemed to be a WHOLE LOT today and I wasnt sure if the boat was made to do that. I had my
jib and main up and neither of them were reefed and I would sail at a direct right angle with the wind and it would heel quite a bit and was pretty scary for someone with as little experience as I have, but I was hoping that this is what the boat was meant to do. Was I pushing the limits of the boat to much?
Put a reef in the main next time, it will make things easier and help your confidence.
3) Another problem I had is when I was sailing on a broad reach, I would let out enough
line to allow my boom to be square with the wind. When I did this and I would try to jibe, my boom would swing around and into my forestay and not swing all the way to the other side of the boat. Can I not leave all the slack in my boom while jibing? Or should I have brought the boom to center of the boat before I attempted the jibe?
This will break your boat and possibly break your neck...... turn the boat slower and yes sheet in a little over half way........... let us know how it goes next time......Thanks alot everyone for any replies!