Losing the Wind in my Sails

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bandeato19

New Member
I seem to keep losing the wind in my sails. I constantly have to move the rudder to keep the boat moving at a 45 with the wind. I think the problem may be due to a flimbsy rudder but, I am not sure. I have to fight the boat to get it to move like I want and overcompensate with the sail. Any help/suggestions?????
Thanks
 
:)I believe 45 is about the max..............maybe you want to try to flatten your sail more or try sailing a bit more off the wind.......
 
bandeato19 said:
I seem to keep losing the wind in my sails. I constantly have to move the rudder to keep the boat moving at a 45 with the wind. I think the problem may be due to a flimsy rudder but, I am not sure. I have to fight the boat to get it to move like I want and overcompensate with the sail. Any help/suggestions?????
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If what you mean by "loosing the wind" is the boat keeps pulling up into a stall, this could be a combination of strong weather helm (sail's center of effort position), a shifting rudder angle, and perhaps over trimming.

A tack at 45º is pretty much right on the edge of sailing possibility. Holding that course depends on several variables, your rudder wobble is one, but also involved is the condition and rig of your sail, the daggerboard you are using, the helm setting of the sail and your position on the boat, both fore & aft as well as hiking out.

The lateen rig performs better further off the wind than it's high aspect ratio counterparts so coming down five or ten degrees and taking another tack or two can actually get you from point A to point B more quickly despite the additional distance.



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Lots of individual things.
1. Week rudder. You need a strong blade, head and pin/gudgeon setup without loose play.
2. The "official" blade is raked back, and it amplifies force on the tiller.
3. The force called "Weather helm" is a strong force that spins the boat upwind. It is generated by
a. the boat heeling strongly to leeward (The hull shape/drag pushes boat to windward.), and b. the center of effort (COE) of the sail being too far behind the COE of the daggerboard. IT is a powerful lever.

You can adjust the COE of the sail with the gooseneck and halyard positions.

SO, make sure your rudder is strong and tight. Look at your sail attitude, and pull the center (w' the gooseneck) toward your d'board if it's 'way off. Then, sail the hull flat in light wind and see how the helm feels. You should be able to move the gooseneck (with the halyard height where you like it) to a position at which you have slight weather helm at the hull trim you are comfortable with. (ending preposition intended)
 
The polar diagram is right on! DOES SOMEONE HAVE ONE FOR SUNFISH?
I've found that sailing in mixed fleet on a lake with some pretty tall wind shadows and wake-boarder waves, that the S'fish needs to keep moving (bear off) at all costs. One can take advantage of the 'fish's quick response to feather up on gusts or to carve up on blow-downs, but the 'fish is usually best below 45 deg. on the diagram.
 
I'm not a novice sailer, but new to sunfish and its peculiar sail.
I encounter the same problem, only when on the "good" tack.(starboard)

When closing on port, I point higher and faster.
The same on starboard is slower, not so high, and wind tends to refuse a lot (I'm aware of this issue when accelerating swiftly on a cat, and wouldn't assume it's my sunfish accelerating THAT much ! :D )

any ideas ?
 
What does the wind "refusing" your sail mean? I have been sailing since my cone was very small and have never heard that term before. BB
 
Sorry !
I merely translated by word a french term without even thinking about it :D
It's when you accelerate in close hauling and the true wind is modified by the boat wind.
The perceived wind is stronger, and closer. Your jib begins to take the wind on the other side, and it looks like your boat is going in irons without changing your bearing.
 
The sail IS peculiar and, because of the mast, it's assymetric. After my short time with the Sunfish, I'm still experimenting. There are several other folks on this forum with more experience, and maybe they’ll weigh in.
When set up as recommended, the (racing) sail looks loose. It has pronounced scallops between the ties to the spars. On starboard tack, you can pull those out with luff tension (Do you have a Cunningham adjustment?). However, my boat seems to need the free luff in light air. With a tight luff, it does seem to point a little higher but it’s slower. The free luff IS more sensitive to folding, and that's a problem in waves. The scallops are less pronounced on port tack and the luff might appear to be more stable because of the mast interference. On port, the sail has plenty of draft aft of the mast.
I believe that the recreational sail is a little more close-winded, but the power of the racing sail more than compensates for that.
Anyway, I’m guessing that there’s no substitute for bearing away a little and picking up boatspeed before trying to point.
 
for what it's worth, my sail is a recreational one.
I'll try to sail it a bit loose, I tend to tension too much.
Thanks for the tips.
 
The faster your boat goes to weather the higher the apparent wind, the faster you go the more the apparent wind moves forward. For example if the wind were blowing 10 knots true, and you were sailing close hauled, and were magically able to sail at 20 knots, the apparent wind would be right on your nose. In your Sunfish I doubt your apparent wind ever increases to the point where you need to fall off to avoid going into irons. In strong winds you need to de-power your sail (flatten it) and sail higher than normal to reduce your angle of heel. If you foot off and ease your sail slightly you will gain speed and your apparent wind will increase and you will quickly become over powered, the solution, head up higher tha normal, but avoid going head to wind. Your inside tell tale should be at least 45 degrees above horizontal and the luff of the sail should be back winding. Your boat should perform better on starboard, assuming your mast is on the starboard side of your sail spars. On this tack the mast is not pushing into the sail thereby disturbing the air flow.
 
When in doubt let it [the sail] out. When it starts luffing trim it in until it stops. If it continues to luff, turn your bow away from the wind.

Get out there and sail it and you will figure it out.
 
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