About sailtrim upwind in shifty conditions

As I understand it in light breeze upwind when enough wind to flow over a deep sail it's best to have like 12" in between the blocks down to block to block when the wind allows you to hike out fully.

I these conditions it works to flatten the sail with mainsheet in the gusts. But when the wind mostly are like 6 knots and one wants a deep sail but in the gusts it's to much to keep the boat flat with block to block, how do you trim then. Easing the main without the kicker pulled is not really a good idea, and in the lulls you don't want so much kicker. Maybe extra Cunningham gives more flexibility in such conditions?

Or do you keep an eye on the wind and re-trim all settings before and after every gust or what?
 
It's a judgement call on how long you expect the gust to last. When fully hiked, you may need to briefly come inboard to grab a control line. The time you lose doing that may be greater than the time lost to improper sail trim.

I find I work the vang/kicker the most. I set the outhaul and cunningham to what I think will be the appropriate settings at the leeward mark. I try to keep the vang within reach so I can make adjustments as needed. I adjust the outhaul and cunningham only if there is a sustained change in wind speed.
 
I teach the kids that we have speed bumps and pot holes when we sail. I compare it to riding a bike. You pay attention to both. You see the speed bump(puff or gust) and anticipate when you have to do something about it. Likewise you see pot hole(dead spot) and steer around it or make sure you've got enough speed to go thru it.

Fast sailing takes constant adjustment to the sails. Not only because of an overpowering gust. But also because of changes in apparent wind, which are caused by changes in boat speed, wind speed, and wind direction. All or some of those are changing constantly. Adjusting to them or not is the difference between a fast sailor and typical one.

You see the speed bump(puff or gust) and ease the mainsheet slowly as necessary to keep the boat flat. Hike the boat flat. Do not fight the boat. You will lose less speed by over easing & hiking flat than by not easing enough and then trying to hike harder. Then resheet when the hull speed comes back up. It is more or less constant in a Laser at 15knots upwind. Do not be concerned about easing too much. An undertrimmed sail is faster than an overtrimmed sail.

Considering that the average increase in windspeed lasts 30 seconds it would not be worth it to adjust anything other than the mainsheet for such a short time.
 
I teach the kids ............. anything other than the mainsheet for such a short time.
So in the context of my example I understand that You are suggesting, that I should set the kicker, outhaul and cunningham for the "basic wind" 6 knots and then work with the main sheet, body and balance to navigate for wind over the course. And my understanding is that when the gust is comming I leave the vang setting as it is and accept that when I ease my sheet the sail will be luffing more and cause more drag then if I would have pulled it. This because normaly its not worth it to pull the vang and release it after the gust. Am I getting what You are saying?
Also where I sail gusts normally adds 50-130% off the basic windspeed.
 
Ja!

People become overly concerned about the sail luffing slightly for a few seconds, while not being aware that they are often oversheeting which is slower.. You should setup the downhaul/outhaul/vang so that you can comfortably sail 90% of the time. Vangsheeting, the process of quickly easing , hiking, and resheeting will take care of the upper 5% and your boatspeed will take care of the lower 5%.

Basically set the outhaul for the wind condition(0-10,10-15,15-20knots). You adjust the downhaul progressively as the wind velocity increases. The downhaul on Laser's also has a mast bending(depowereing) effect besides simply moving the draft forwards. Finally start putting extreme amounts of vang on(beyoond block-to-block) to induce more mast bend further depowering. You might start doing that above 20 knots.
 
After more language research I suspect that I got I all wrong above. Vangsheeting seems to mean that the vang is set to a certain level and that keeps the boom from rising from that level.
So when I am vangsheeting I don't pull the main harder so the vang becomes slack, or what is the difference between vangsheeting and "just sheeting".
 
I sail on a really shifty lake with gusts frequent and strong. Normally I set the outhaul and downhaul for the lulls, I then set the vang so there is a slight droop most of the time. When small gusts roll through I squeeze the blocks together and hike out (with a tighter than normal strap so that you can move in an out of the boat quickly and smoothly) and when the big gusts barrel through, you can dump a little sheet and hold you course with the rudder and keep the boat flat while you get you butt out the boat and squeeze the sheet back on. With that vang set in the aforementioned way, the main doesn't rise too much, not enough to matter when dumping the sheet quickly. Also in the lulls you can ease the blocks a few inches, thanks to the slightly loose vang, to stop the sail getting choked and stalling. Dumping the sheet in the gusts doesn't power up the sail if you ease about a foot of sheet the once you are out and hiking then squeeze it back on again.
I wrote this in a rush so I don't know if it makes a lot of sense but, ask me if you don't follow. Give it a try and see how you get on, I find it works for me and I'm normally fast in this sort of wind.
 
Vang sheeting is actually pulling the vang on more than block to block, but it doesnt really work very well with the conventional 3:1
 
http://centerofeffort01.blogspot.com/2012/07/tips-on-pinching-vs-footing-part-1.html
After more language research I suspect that I got I all wrong above. Vangsheeting seems to mean that the vang is set to a certain level and that keeps the boom from rising from that level.
So when I am vangsheeting I don't pull the main harder so the vang becomes slack, or what is the difference between vangsheeting and "just sheeting".
Vangsheeting is when you have the vang on tight - more than block to block. When you ease the booms goes out parallel to the water. The problem in gusty conditions is that it is difficult for the average sailor to ease before the puff hits them Easing in the puff, and once your boat is heeling, is too late. You loose flow over the foils, the boats stalls and your either go into irons or capsize. The goal with vang sheeting is to anticipate the puff (remember the stuff on the water is secondary to whats up higher) and ease slightly before the puff hits you and hike the boat flat and trim back in. This is a great skill to practice. A "safe" way to sail in puffy conditions is to trim the vang to the median puff so at block to block it will be slight droopy. That way you have some forgiveness when you ease. The boom will go out much quicker spilling (it won't power up) air and you'll be able to sail through the puff. There is a good post from Clay johnson on centerofeffort if your interested... http://centerofeffort01.blogspot.com/2012/07/tips-on-pinching-vs-footing-part-1.html
 

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