Stress-free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques by Wells Duncan

Author:Wells, Duncan [Wells, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781472919748
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

SAIL TRIM AND HANDLING

There are many excellent books on sail trim worth consulting. As a general rule, if the tell tales on the headsail are flying straight, the only noise we can hear is the rush of water past the hull and your boat speed seems reasonable, all is well.

A flappy sail is not a happy sail. It may sound corny, but it’s true. Eric Hiscock talked about putting ‘his sails to sleep’. When they were asleep he knew they were trimmed to perfection. A flapping or a fluttering noise is the sail telling us that it’s not as efficient as it could be and asking to be trimmed.

Raising the main

Remember you are not just lifting a sail on a halyard when you raise the main, you are also hoisting a whole lot of cordage, the reefing lines, and are faced with a huge amount of friction (the resistance of sliders in the mast track, turning blocks and lines to the cockpit running through jamming blocks etc). To help reduce this, pull out the reefing lines at the end of the boom so that they don’t have to run the gamut of obstructions. It makes a fair mess in the cockpit, but it makes raising the main easier.

People generally raise the main while under engine by turning the boat head to wind. I prefer to do this while under headsail. To do this, sail close-hauled (see here) and ease the main sheet so the boom is lying directly downwind.

The advantages of doing this are:

•No slatting of the boom. Being on a point of sail you will have a little heel and the boom will lean off to leeward. And with no slatting you are less likely to break anything or suffer from chafe. Or get clouted by the boom.

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