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Regularly, but only in light winds and "usually" in a very controlled manor. (accidents do happen though ) When sailing on the river the wind usually runs up or down, rarely across. So when running down wind in light airs its either wing and wing or gybing a lot so we can run on a broad reach rather then DDW. Here is my usual...
1. Light winds, steady direction - wing and wing if we can.
2. Light winds, shifting, broad reach and gybe. (We get a lot of shifting winds that can cause an accidental gybe very easily.)
3. Medium winds, maybe gybe if plenty of crew in the mood, or chicken gybe if short handed or just want easier sailing.
4. Brisk winds or more, chicken gybe.
We've chicken-gybed even while racing when conditions warrant.. and it's not always a dead-simple manoeuvre either... It's best to trim the sails throughout the 'harden-up and tack and falling off' lest the boat slow enough to settle into irons.
Also known as wearing the ship... Fore & afters brought their bow through the wind. Square riggers brought their stern through the wind.
This is something you would want to do in strong winds.
Almost always gybe. The trick is to trim hard as you're going into the gybe and release as soon as the wind comes around the back of the sail. When done properly there is very little stress on the rig, even in heavy wind conditions.
It's all about timing as I'm yelling to my crew "trim! trim! trim! trim! trim g$d d&#m it, trim faster! release! release! good job!" Yes, I do have to ply my crew with some spirits after we drop the sails to get them to come back.
Don,t realy like the chicken jibe in the short heavy sea,s we get in the shallow
costal areas here on the East coast of Ireland in an East wind.uke
I like to reef down till I feel in control, roller boom is handy here, and bring her through on a tight main sheet.
With the Genoa rolled up to balance it comes across easy enough.
Dont like a dead run unless the wind is fairly light and the seas are settled.
Safe sailing
Regularly, the trick is to first learn how to do it properly. Then do it all the time until it becomes as natural as tacking. Once you become used to it you will be able to tell either when it is about to happen or better yet, control exactly when it does...ar
Yes, we will sometimes do a "chicken gybe" or tack if that seems the most prudent course of action given the conditions, racing or cruising.
Kind of the opposite of "wearing ship."
(The old square-riggers just couldn't get their bow through the wind to tack, so they would gybe the whole ship around from one closed-hauled course to the other -- "wearing ship.")
How's this for a challenge: gybe a symmetrical spinnaker single-handed (yes, you can use your autopilot). I'm not sure I could have done it with my old dip-pole set-up (although we would do that double-handed), but after switching to a carbon pole with jaws for end-for-ending it is do-able.
I use a boom break to control the jibe. I'm not racing so speed isn't a factor. We bring the main in, jibe the headsail, then the main. In very heavy wind and large seas, we will also partially furl the headsail to aid in controlling the boat through the jibe.
Having jibed countless times while racing I am not shy about doing it cruising, even though there is much less crew aboard (and often not much in the way of crew experience). I tried doing the sheets a few times but find that the most important job in a jibe is steering, so that's where I am usually in a jibe in any kind of significant weather. Strap the main in as far as possible, jibe the jib, then flip the boat and ease the main and take up the preventer on the other side. A bit more of chore if singlehanding but not too bad if the Autopilot is working well.
I have done a single-handed gybe in much lighter conditions than this. I end-for-end the spinnaker pole, but I keep the main under control the same way this guy does. I never leave the mainsheet all the way out and just let the boom swing across.
Didn't notice, rather I noticed that he's not clipped in with a tether to any jacklines.
edit: I also notice that he has control lines for the mast car led aft, so he can manage both the topper and the butt to dip the pole from the cockpit before going forward to switch the guys. Nice!
I spent all last summer ducking an angry boom, twisting up the sheets tripping over the CB trunk, reaching for the tiller for NOTHING?
Just kidding of course, but why would you NOT gybe? What is the alternative? I admit, the thought makes me nervous as I contemplate getting a bigger boat soon.
regularly when the course and situation warrent it. I like to call it a CONTROLLED gybe. No advantage in stressing the quipment. We also use a preventer when downwind to prevent accidental gybes
I must admit, we often do a "Goose-Wing" jibe on purpose . Then again, we are in a smaller boat (25') and on one of the Finger Lakes. With the light winds we see in the later part of the summer, this approach seems to get us donw the lake with the wind much faster.
Often upto 20knots when single handed; chicken jybe over 20knots.
For single handing I think it may depend on how the main sheet is set up. On my boat the main sheet is a 6:1 purchase and attached to the end of the boom. As I head down wind I at the same time sheet the boom towards the center. As soon as the wind backends the main I let the boom out. During the process I under no circumstances cleat the main sheet off and this is the trick I feel that makes it relatively safe.
It might be a whole different story with a German system or if the helmsman dont have access to the main sheet whilst helming..
Regarding boom brakes; great idea but I dont have one. I played a lot with lines set up to be a boom brake and I think they are no good for cruiser racers with big mains/booms - the boom would break.
I like to do an "S" Gybe. Just like the letter S is what the boat does. Put the helm down and as soon as the boom starts to move you center the tiller-wheel and the bboom stops at center of boat with no pressure. It can then be brought over by hand or slowly plops over to other side. You have a window where there is little to no pressure on the main in which to accomplisy the actual Gybe. This is also refrred to as a safety Gybe. It can be used in moderate to heavy wind to control the boom and prevent damage to the boat. Great for racing when others are to scared to Gybe.
Paulo, I would give Adam the correct wording for trabunchando. Yeah, gybe had an ing correctly at the end.......but damn close thank you very much! so any way.
Gybing, heck, did it 18-25 knots with a spin up last night! what a hoot, hit 9.13 knots in a 6.6 knot hull speed boat! prety kewl phun last night.
marty
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