[dylanwinter1]

On a recent almost non-stop 500 miles passage with a couple of mates up the North Sea I did a bit of a cockpit chat with Jon and Roger afterwards.

neither of them have raced at all but they are both good cruising sailors. Jon is used to sailing with me but Roger said he had never been sailing with anyone who tweaked the sails as much as I do

Moving cars, adjusting tension

in fact he accused me of suffering from ADHD

I know that, for me, a badly trimmed sail is a botheration to the psyche and an insult to the laws of physics

however, I was unaware that I had a problem with it - or more to the point that I was bothering people.

I must learn to touch the zen and let that edge flutter occasionally

Bumma

D

 

[tdw]

I suffer from "justanotherknotitis". No matter what speed we are doing I am always absolutely convinced I can winkle just a wee bit more out of her.

One of these days I might even be right.

 

[Don L]

Constant cruising sail trimming is mostly a sign of boredom because the boat doesn't have good games on board.

 

[socal c25]

poor sail trim causes premature wear and possibly failure to the sails, good on you for constantly adjusting the sails, me I just steer to the wind shifts.

 

[PaulinVictoria]

If the wind and water never changed, you wouldn't need to adjust your sails. But they do, so you do. Bravo. I am a tweaker and proud of it.

 

[dylanwinter1]

If the wind and water never changed, you wouldn't need to adjust your sails. But they do, so you do. Bravo. I am a tweaker and proud of it.

I normally sail alone - or with Jill.

She has mentioned my unseemly tweaking proclivities many times.

But when back to sailing...

when the critique comes from a fellow sailor then it cuts me to the quick

it was a 500 mile delivery trip in the Centaur up the North Sea

six days, four nights, three blokes, 26 footer

the comment came from roger in the post mortem which is tacked on the end of the film

 

[aloof]

Trim or get off the water. You people with flappy bits are disgraceful.

Hint: Only sail downwind ... much less trimming needed.

 

[Minnewaska]

If I'm seeing 8kts or more through the water and no one is threatening to pass me, I get pretty content with imperfect trim. If either of the above are at risk, I'm on it.

 

[TomMaine]

I have it bad, I have a yawl.

I enjoyed the video. I think they were jealous and in fact will be better tweakers from now on.

 

[drsutton]

This well known disease has resisted treatment for years until I found my patients responded to a novel approach. Purchase an old mast and mainsail for the back yard. Sit on a stool, grab the sheets and wait for to chase the wind. Some respond sooner than others, but most give it in 2-3 hours. The Dr dosen't even have to be present.
Cured in NC.

 

[GeorgeB]

Dylan, are you starting up some sort AA type 12 step program?

Hello, my name is GeorgeB and I am a string puller. It has been 21 days since I last tweaked a sail…

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to cross the Atlantic. The first couple of days the autohelm drove the boat. I got a little concerned as there was weather predicted in mid ocean and having only gotten on board the day before we left, I was concerned that I didn’t have any tiller time. So I started to hand steer. Had fun “racing” against the autohelm. The owner, a fellow whom I raced with caught wind of this and we began compete for things like fastest surf, fastest average speed over a watch, VMG, stuff like that. The other two crewmates, both confirmed “cruisers” took an interest and joined in the fun. We held informal driving and tweaking seminars and soon they were driving like “pros”. By mid-Atlantic, the boat was hand steered and tweaked most of the time (except for meals, cocktail hour and the evening movie). We all had tons of fun, got the boat to break the 200nm threshold a couple of times and crossed in under 19 days.

 

[blutoyz]

I tweak because it is the right thing to do. If you have a powerboat and your engine misfires and 2800 rpm you change it...sails are your engine.

My philosophy

 

[Don L]

Isn't tweaking some type of butt shaking dance thing?

 

[Minnesail]