Quote:
Originally Posted by christmasisland
My T22 has a centerboard ... rare but true. I have switched to the working jib ... the pre-reef is a new idea, thanks. |
Your Tanzer has a shoal keel/weighted (cast iron) centerboard combination rather than a fixed fin keel; that raises the center of gravity slightly, but Tanzer made up for that by adding 250lbs more lead to the keel,
giving it a ballast ratio of 48%.
I dunno how familiar you are with sailboat design but that's a very, very high number. For small keelboats like these, 30% is more common. Our SJ21 has a 420lb swing keel on a 1500lb boat, so it's a bit light in the loafers at 28% ballast ratio. Still feels solid compared to the Bucc! We considered a T22 and used to joke that it had an SJ21 hidden in its bilge for ballast.
When I want a mellow sail or have newbies on board or am taking a boat out alone, I usually start out with a reef in. Has the dual advantages of reducing total sail area AND moving the center of effort lower, so less heeling force. Easy to shake the reef out if you get bored. With a masthead
rig, the backstay isn't so useful; but other sail controls can help reduce heeling. Have you played at all with the outhaul, cunningham, and jib cars? Do your sails have telltales on them? And is the mainsail looking baggy or blown out? Sometimes just one of these things (or all of them in concert) can cause excessive heeling.
I really like the T22 -- you have a nice vessel to learn on. One of the few boats that size you could take out in a Great Lakes squall and say, "Bring It."