Laser Vang

Jay Mystic

New Member
I have a couple of questions if you guys or gals don't mind. I am completely new to laser sailing. My first question is about the vang well both question are. But the first one is what do they mean when they saw adjust the sail for 30 degrees of twist. I know they mean in medium to heavy winds. I kind of think what it means. the top of the leach is twisted off 30 degrees from the boom but like how many inches off of boom or what. Its a pretty tight vang right. just seeing what other people think about that. My other question is vang in medium or heavy wind. What is a good starting point for the vang setting. I have heard one person say easy the vang all the way off and gradually make it tighter. Less vang is better going downwind than too much vang on. Any advice for a good vang setting in medium conditions. Maybe setting the vang where the top of the leech flicks fore and aft about 1 foot. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
As twist means a difference of angle of attack between the bottom and top sections of a sail, you can express it in degrees. In a singlehanded dinghy it's a pretty useless measurement, because you can't really observe it on the water yourself very accurately. You really should have a down-looking camera at the top of the mast for that!

I assume you're talking about downwind (running) settings here, as 30° sounds like quite bit for the Laser. A practical newbie starting point for vang tension would be having the boom just slightly above perpendicular to the mast - I used to imagine being able to barely fit a big coin between the boom and the gooseneck fitting. Your vang will be then some 62 or 63 centimetres long, measured pin-to-pin between the boom and mast fittings. Mark that setting at a clearly visible point on the vang line, or even tie a stopper knot in the line. In the latter case, you need to push down on the boom to get the vang key in place when rigging.

There's a window in light air when you might want to let the vang a little bit looser than that basic setting, but don't worry about that for now. When the going gets heavy, you want to gradually tighten it for better control, but never pull the boom below right angles to the mast. There's of course a lot more fine-tuning one can do within that range, but this should get you started.
 
As twist means a difference of angle of attack between the bottom and top sections of a sail, you can express it in degrees. In a singlehanded dinghy it's a pretty useless measurement, because you can't really observe it on the water yourself very accurately. You really should have a down-looking camera at the top of the mast for that!

I assume you're talking about downwind (running) settings here, as 30° sounds like quite bit for the Laser. A practical newbie starting point for vang tension would be having the boom just slightly above perpendicular to the mast - I used to imagine being able to barely fit a big coin between the boom and the gooseneck fitting. Your vang will be then some 62 or 63 centimetres long, measured pin-to-pin between the boom and mast fittings. Mark that setting at a clearly visible point on the vang line, or even tie a stopper knot in the line. In the latter case, you need to push down on the boom to get the vang key in place when rigging.

There's a window in light air when you might want to let the vang a little bit looser than that basic setting, but don't worry about that for now. When the going gets heavy, you want to gradually tighten it for better control, but never pull the boom below right angles to the mast. There's of course a lot more fine-tuning one can do within that range, but this should get you started.

Thanks for the advice I will for sure use these settings. I have heard you want the mast to come straight or very nearly so. You want the top of leech to fan fore and aft. What do think about that, in medium wing.
 
I have heard you want the mast to come straight or very nearly so. You want the top of leech to fan fore and aft. What do think about that
I think that the sail sets better (camber not too far forward) with a slight pre-bend, and that the fanning isn't fast as such, but rather a sign that the leech isn't too tight.
 

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