squeakywaffle
New Member
hey guys
I have been teaching myself to sail over the past three years in a laser, and this summer I have been participating in a weekly race down at my local sailing place. I have found that my skills are decent and my boat is performing well, except in one area... pointing.
I find that other lasers (not to mention every other kind of boat out there) are able to point 5-10 degrees further up than me. It doesn't matter what I do... I've tried all sorts of different combinations of outhaul, cunningham, vang, and even the traveler, but my boat still won't point in the same direction as everyone else's without pinching. My current favorite setup is medium cunningham, outhaul about the width of a hand off the end of the boom, a bit of vang, and the traveler fairly loose so the sail comes inboard a bit before it starts to move toward two-blocking. But still, everyone else points better than me.
I am starting to think it must be the sail... I have an 'Intensity' practice sail, while everyone else seems to have fairly new class sails. I am going to get out my old, old, old class sail next time I go and see if it makes any difference at all. It just seems like my sail isn't flat enough at the front edge where it meets the mast.
Anyone else find that the Intensity sail doesn't point well? Anyone have any other ideas? I really have tried everything I can think of short of getting a new sail and I'm starting to get a little frustrated.
edit to clarify:
It's not that my boat is slow- on the contrary, I am faster than most sailing downwind (running?) and reaching. It just won't point where everyone else points without pinching, no matter how I trim the sail (or so it seems to me, anyway... though there may be a magic combination I have missed). I usually finish in the middle of the pack despite this problem, so I am not worried that it might be a problem with my hull or boards or something like that.
I have been teaching myself to sail over the past three years in a laser, and this summer I have been participating in a weekly race down at my local sailing place. I have found that my skills are decent and my boat is performing well, except in one area... pointing.
I find that other lasers (not to mention every other kind of boat out there) are able to point 5-10 degrees further up than me. It doesn't matter what I do... I've tried all sorts of different combinations of outhaul, cunningham, vang, and even the traveler, but my boat still won't point in the same direction as everyone else's without pinching. My current favorite setup is medium cunningham, outhaul about the width of a hand off the end of the boom, a bit of vang, and the traveler fairly loose so the sail comes inboard a bit before it starts to move toward two-blocking. But still, everyone else points better than me.
I am starting to think it must be the sail... I have an 'Intensity' practice sail, while everyone else seems to have fairly new class sails. I am going to get out my old, old, old class sail next time I go and see if it makes any difference at all. It just seems like my sail isn't flat enough at the front edge where it meets the mast.
Anyone else find that the Intensity sail doesn't point well? Anyone have any other ideas? I really have tried everything I can think of short of getting a new sail and I'm starting to get a little frustrated.
edit to clarify:
It's not that my boat is slow- on the contrary, I am faster than most sailing downwind (running?) and reaching. It just won't point where everyone else points without pinching, no matter how I trim the sail (or so it seems to me, anyway... though there may be a magic combination I have missed). I usually finish in the middle of the pack despite this problem, so I am not worried that it might be a problem with my hull or boards or something like that.