Weather Helm

L

LarsenCanvas

Guest
Went out today and it was real gusty. I kept rounding up in the puffs. Had the rudder pulled all the way over and could keep it from rounding up. What is the trick to keep the boat moving and minimizing the weather helm. Even when I let the main out I still was rounding up. I tried to flatten the sail by having the cunningham ring about 2 inches from boom, and vang on tight. Also I rounded up so hard one time, I got caught in irons. It took me quit a while to get going again. Any tips on how to get going again once you get caught head to wind.
 
To avoid the weather helm, you must keep the boat flat, so hike hard and use the mainsheet. If you get to the irons, vang of and slightly raise the centreboard, and the trip will continue.
 
LarsenCanvas said:
I tried to flatten the sail by having the cunningham ring about 2 inches from boom, and vang on tight.
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In really windy weather rig your cunningham on one side of the boom, and you can pull the cunninghan eyelet below the boom. This pulls the draft of the sail forward, which should help reduce your weathr helm. Otherwise just hike harder!
 
All of the above is good advice - have noticed also in extreme conditions that if the foot (outhaul) is pulled too tight, the boat likes to stall more often, and in recovery from knockdown or in 'crash tacks' seems more prone to getting stuck in irons (particularly if wind is savagely veering too and fro)

Might try to ease the foot just a little - even if you have to throw more sheet and use more twist towards the head.
 
You should also be careful not to overtack. When i first started sailing a laser i kept on turning to far when taking- which led to many capsizes.
 
Check to make sure that your rudder is not slipping backwards/up after blasting along in heavy air. Even if you're concentrating on sail shape, vanging, hiking hard and sailing flat your helm can feel heavy if the rudder has slipped just a little bit. One can even file the rudder a little bit so the rudder can attain a deeper, more forward position. Make sure that it stays there while underway. Also, try raising your centerboard a little unless you sailing as close to the wind as possible. It's always possible to be overpowered depending upon your weight and how hard it's blowing, however.
 
john w said:
---snip--- One can even file the rudder a little bit so the rudder can attain a deeper, more forward position.
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Be careful of the rule with this one though, see the diagram in the rule book for the max angle allowed. The quick check is that the upper back of the rudder itself is parallel with the cheeks of the rudder head. It's really easy to spot when somone's rudder is too deep
 
I'm also interested in this, as I always seem to suffer from weather helm when reaching. From what I'm surmising, I need to:

- Hike more
- More vang
- Ease mainsheet
- Possibly more cunningham (altho' I thought cunningham was meant to be off when reaching..:confused: )

Or a combination of the above...

Is this correct?

Thanks..
 
chrisfsi said:
I'm also interested in this, as I always seem to suffer from weather helm when reaching. From what I'm surmising, I need to:

- Hike more
- More vang
- Ease mainsheet
- Possibly more cunningham (altho' I thought cunningham was meant to be off when reaching..:confused: )

Or a combination of the above...

Is this correct?

Thanks..
Click to expand...

The Photo Gallery at www.laser.org has some pictures from last weekend's District 24 Grand Prix. John Romanko came down from Vancouver to win all but the last of 8 races (he "cruised" to third) and pretty much walked away from us on Saturday when it got up to the mid-twenties (with higher gusts). You can find some shots of him sailing upwind in here (an example) and check out his set up (sail #176262). Basically: cunningham max (to the boom), outhaul tight but not strapped, vang super tight (boom with noticeable bend) then hike hard and ease main sheet to keep boat flat. Anticipation of gusts is key as well as resistance to temptation to lean in when main is eased and gust goes away.

Anyway, check out his pictures!
 
Actually, if you're sailing to weather, one should sheet in all the way, what is refered to as "two-blocked". Then you hike like mad and try to sail absolutely as high as possible to the wind. If you start to get "pressed", sail even higher so that you are momentarily sailing too high, too inefficient so that you are NOT catching the full force of the wind. It's much easier to do this than constantly be working the mainsheet in and out. This is the one time that I'll actually use the mainsheet cleat. Keep a hand on the sheet (after cleating off) so that if you really blow it, you can quickly dump everything (let the main sheet go). I believe this is wht a previous responder was refering to as "feathering". It's amazing how the laser will continue to climb when pinching into the wind like this. When the breeze slacks off, fall off the wind and continue to sail a tight reach/close-hauled course. Regards, John
 
john w said:
Actually, if you're sailing to weather, one should sheet in all the way, what is refered to as "two-blocked". Then you hike like mad and try to sail absolutely as high as possible to the wind. If you start to get "pressed", sail even higher so that you are momentarily sailing too high, too inefficient so that you are NOT catching the full force of the wind. It's much easier to do this than constantly be working the mainsheet in and out. This is the one time that I'll actually use the mainsheet cleat. Keep a hand on the sheet (after cleating off) so that if you really blow it, you can quickly dump everything (let the main sheet go). I believe this is wht a previous responder was refering to as "feathering". It's amazing how the laser will continue to climb when pinching into the wind like this. When the breeze slacks off, fall off the wind and continue to sail a tight reach/close-hauled course. Regards, John
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IMHO, this works pretty well in flat water but if you are in any chop at all you need to sail bow down. This means driving, not feathering, hiking like a madman and playing the mainsheet to keep the boat flat. This is why the "good" guys sail away from the rest of us in when the breeze comes on (and all of us SF sailors got a real reminder of this last Saturday from John - you can see this in the photo linked in my previous post where his sheet is eased about 6 inches).
 
I looked at those yesterday, and was a bit confused until I did a bit more detailed research. (Great pics by the way..). I had always been following the "Cunningham off as you round the windward mark" mantra, but according to the Ainslie book, in heavy air at least (as it is in the photos) you need to have the cunningham partly on while reaching. I guess it all depends on the definition of "heavy"...

I guess I'll have to start experimenting at what point to start pull on some downhaul, but definitely use more vang and hiking and ease the main.
 
In my second laser (which had wooden foils) I had a lot of trouble with rounding up, especially upwind, although I also did the occasional arc on a fast reach too.
At the time I was only around 9 or 10 stone (60-65kg) so rather light.
The downwind stuff I solved by easing the kicker a bit more and easing a lot of mainsheet, just so i could keep the boat flatter, or even heeling to windward when i could. It still happened sometimes tho.
Upwind, as I normally sailed on flat water, I found that I could lift the board by about 6", and this really helped my ability to steer the boat. I think what was happening was... Exiting the tack, the boat is going slowly, so the board, having less area than normal, would slip sideways very slightly, so helping the bow to fall away from the wind....then as the boatspeed came up, the very slight decrease in lift was compensated by the slightly higher centre of lift, which meant the boat had slightly less leverage, which in a weird catch-22 meant I could keep the boat flatter, which made the hull a faster shape and put the board deeper into the water! (I know I know, its confusing me just writing it!!)
Anyway, it made a HUGE difference to my sailing! Bizzarrely, I never had this problem in any of the other 4 lasers I've owned!
 
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