Sailing by the lee

L

larry

New Member
First of all I'm new here. I have a question when sailing downwind. Do you raise your rudder when sailing by then lee and control the boat with body movements, or you let your rudder as it is and place the boat to a position where minimum power is applied to the rudder?
 
you arent allowed to raise the rudder while racing

i never place the boat to a position, generally im steering to the waves and while doing this, making my way towards approaching gusts.

the only time i follow a straight course by the lee is in very light winds where rudder movements slow the boat alot
 
also with a raised rudder, the force on the pintles and gurgons and efictivlythe transome increases dramatically
 
You should always have a very light feel on the rudder, and the more you move it the more it is a brake, use your body movements and practice keeping the boat in a straight line by the lee without even holding the rudder, i figured this was impossible last spring, but during the summer i got better and better at it.
 
Mullet Time! said:
You should always have a very light feel on the rudder ... during the summer i got better and better at it.
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I's second this sentiment. Yesterday, I was just out for the first time since last fall, and one of the things I practiced was sailing downwind in general, and by the lee in particular. Balance is really key. The boat "hull-steers" very strongly and sail has a huge lever-arm when the boom is out all the way. Trying to overpower either of those can stall out the rudder pretty easily - and then things get really exciting. I try and sail by boat heel as much a possible and use the rudder as a "fine tune", either helping or slowing the balance-induced turn (occasionally I'll tie the rudder on the center-line and sail downwind that way as practice).

These days I generally spend the vast majority of my practice time working on roll tacks, leeward mark roundings, and sailing smoothly downwind (especially transitions between BTL and regular broad reach over waves). The only point of sail I specifically work on is downwind, because it's so easy to get it wrong, and the results of an error can be pretty dramatic (death roll!).

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
Surprisingly, I have actually found I go faster downwind in light air by heeling the boat more to windward and applying some rudder rather than by heeling less and keeping the rudder neutral. Has anyone else experienced this?

David
 
Ok people thank you all for your answers. This weekend I tried it and found out that you let the boat oversteer until it heads dead downwind, where minimum pressure is applied. I just need to be carefull not to jibe. Also in unbalanced courses sometimes you just need to sail in a broad reach, but anyway the slight difference in speed should not be that crucial.
 
larry said:
...This weekend I tried it and found out that you let the boat oversteer until it heads dead downwind, where minimum pressure is applied.
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That's exactly the approach I use; a combination of hull and rudder steering.

larry said:
...in unbalanced courses sometimes you just need to sail in a broad reach, but anyway the slight difference in speed should not be that crucial.
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You would be surprised how far "up" on the by-the-lee side you can sail. A broad-reach BTL is no problem (say, 15 degrees off dead-downwind), and even higher is possible in light air and with experience. On a course that favors the starbord gybe (i.e leeward mark to the right looking downwind), I will often gybe and sail BTL down to the mark that way. It seems to be faster, and the mark rounding is easier because you've already gybed. One downside it that you do have to watch out for all the starbord gybe boats, as they have right of way.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
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