Lee Helm

[Stryker72]

I noticed last night while sailing that my boat will turn to leeward if I put the rudder straight, I had to keep the tiller about 20 degrees to go straight. The wind was very light about 2-3kts. Would this be lee helm? and if so how could I go about correcting this? I believe if I adjust my mast rake aft that should help. When setting up the boat it looked as if the mast was perpendicular to the deck of the boat.

It is a Barnett butterfly. A cat rigged dinghy.



Thanks!

[CapnHand]

That's a pretty boat. Raking the mast back will help. Other things you can do while sailing:

• move your weight to leeward in light winds, inducing heel
• trim in the sail and the boom vang
• ease the cunningham and outhaul to move the curve of the sail forward
• moving weight aft will have a similar effect as raking the mast back but will also move the CLR back, it depends on how the boat is balanced, sometimes shifting weight forward will correct lee helm

[nolatom]

Before you rake the mast aft too much, try seeing how she balances in more wind than 2-3 knots. It could be that very light air just doesn't flow all the way aft on the sail. At 5 knots and above, you may find there's more wind flow aft along the leech, the Center of Effort moves aft, and you get a slight weather helm, which is what you're looking for.

Not knowing the Butterfly, I'm guessing, but try it.