JeffH (and others),
Quite a while ago you gave me some sage advice on mainsail trim to reduce weather helm. I found your descriptions extremely helpful and would like to have you chime in once again if possible. I’ve beat up on this subject pretty good on another forum but still value your perspective.
Cutter rig, steel hull
Displacement 40,000#
Full keel, barn door rudder
LOD 44’
LWL 37‘
LOA 49’
Draft 6-1/2’
Beam 13-1/2’
Slack bilges
Shrouds are attached to the hull at the toe rail
The Yankee is slightly overlapping and of very heavy cloth. It hangs like a drape under 7knots but by 12 I need to reef it significantly.
The other day I was on a beam reach with the main and stay sail flying, I was making about 4 knots in 15 knots with confused 2 to 3 foot seas, multiple wave sets.
At this point the helm is light, the boat balanced. I want some more speed so I roll out some Yankee. How much? About 1/2 the wraps or maybe 30% of the sail area. The boat picks up a good turn of speed to 6+ BUT I now have about 10° of weatherhelm and 10°-15° of heel. It kinda feels like the sail is driving the bow down and heeling the boat.
Last year I got caught in a sudden 30 knot gust with all sails up and it pinned the boat down, I released the main and she stayed down until I pulled the headsail in. Not a good thing. At the time I didn’t have the headsail trimmed well, but I’ve cleaned my act up on that front significantly. I’m pretty sure of my headsail trim now.
A few days later I exchanged the Yankee for this weird sail that came with the boat. I’ve never flown this sail before. The luff is about 8’ shy of full length, so I set it low and put a pendant high to keep the Profurl roller at the top. The tack is waaaay up there. I have figured out a way to sheet this thing inside the shrouds fairly well, jury rig but it’s adequate.
I haven’t yet had much chance to play with this sail but I can tell it is a very different experience from the Yankee. I’m in Jolly Harbor, Antigua and we have had a long stretch of robust and gusty winds making fooling around in any consistent wind conditions a challenge but I can tell this.
Flying the weird headsail, staysail and main she points far higher. With just the headsail and staysail in about 15k broad reach I’m getting some lee helm. With 25 knots and all sails it is well over canvassed. I think it’s close to balanced at 15 knots with headsail, staysail and main but need to fool around more in some consistent winds to be more sure of myself.
At this point I’m fairly confident that the Yankee just isn’t working as it should. Today I talked to a fellow who has a rig that looks much like mine, his head stays angle out about as much as mine do, less vertical than most boats. His experience with the Yankee is very much different than mine.
My question is that with this information are you able to hazard a guess about what might be going on with my Yankee? Is it possible that it’s partially rolled shape is so bad as to cause these problems? Or that it is bagged out and causing heel?
I’m not anxious to put the old headsail back on but will if necessary to sort this out. Its very heavy, I can pick it up if well bagged. It probably weighs at least 80 pounds.
I’m heading south to Guadeloupe Friday and then later down to Dominique.
My many thanks,
Howard
Quite a while ago you gave me some sage advice on mainsail trim to reduce weather helm. I found your descriptions extremely helpful and would like to have you chime in once again if possible. I’ve beat up on this subject pretty good on another forum but still value your perspective.
Cutter rig, steel hull
Displacement 40,000#
Full keel, barn door rudder
LOD 44’
LWL 37‘
LOA 49’
Draft 6-1/2’
Beam 13-1/2’
Slack bilges
Shrouds are attached to the hull at the toe rail
The Yankee is slightly overlapping and of very heavy cloth. It hangs like a drape under 7knots but by 12 I need to reef it significantly.
The other day I was on a beam reach with the main and stay sail flying, I was making about 4 knots in 15 knots with confused 2 to 3 foot seas, multiple wave sets.
At this point the helm is light, the boat balanced. I want some more speed so I roll out some Yankee. How much? About 1/2 the wraps or maybe 30% of the sail area. The boat picks up a good turn of speed to 6+ BUT I now have about 10° of weatherhelm and 10°-15° of heel. It kinda feels like the sail is driving the bow down and heeling the boat.
Last year I got caught in a sudden 30 knot gust with all sails up and it pinned the boat down, I released the main and she stayed down until I pulled the headsail in. Not a good thing. At the time I didn’t have the headsail trimmed well, but I’ve cleaned my act up on that front significantly. I’m pretty sure of my headsail trim now.
A few days later I exchanged the Yankee for this weird sail that came with the boat. I’ve never flown this sail before. The luff is about 8’ shy of full length, so I set it low and put a pendant high to keep the Profurl roller at the top. The tack is waaaay up there. I have figured out a way to sheet this thing inside the shrouds fairly well, jury rig but it’s adequate.
I haven’t yet had much chance to play with this sail but I can tell it is a very different experience from the Yankee. I’m in Jolly Harbor, Antigua and we have had a long stretch of robust and gusty winds making fooling around in any consistent wind conditions a challenge but I can tell this.
Flying the weird headsail, staysail and main she points far higher. With just the headsail and staysail in about 15k broad reach I’m getting some lee helm. With 25 knots and all sails it is well over canvassed. I think it’s close to balanced at 15 knots with headsail, staysail and main but need to fool around more in some consistent winds to be more sure of myself.
At this point I’m fairly confident that the Yankee just isn’t working as it should. Today I talked to a fellow who has a rig that looks much like mine, his head stays angle out about as much as mine do, less vertical than most boats. His experience with the Yankee is very much different than mine.
My question is that with this information are you able to hazard a guess about what might be going on with my Yankee? Is it possible that it’s partially rolled shape is so bad as to cause these problems? Or that it is bagged out and causing heel?
I’m not anxious to put the old headsail back on but will if necessary to sort this out. Its very heavy, I can pick it up if well bagged. It probably weighs at least 80 pounds.
I’m heading south to Guadeloupe Friday and then later down to Dominique.
My many thanks,
Howard