|
Our boat has a very high aspect main which, sailing off the wind in light airs, isn't very useful compared with the drive we get out of the headsail. On more than one occassion we have hard-sheeted the main to provide stability and keep it from fouling the air to the headsail which provides the drive. In relatively larger seas, with the yacht's heading varying with the roll of the sea, this approach can be problemsome as, as the wind's angle on the main come more ahead, the sail begins to force the boat to head up. At this point, we lower the sail to the first or second reef-point as, hard sheeted it still provides some stability but is not large enough to make the boat want to round up as she passes over a swell.
__________________
"It is not so much for its beauty that the sea makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from the waves, that so wonderfully renews a weary spirit."
|