Newbie Cunningham Question

L

LPW

New Member
Re: Newbie Questions

hi-can i ask a newbie question aswell? (sorry for hijacking your post!)
When sailing my laser, is it best to pull on more of the cunningham to get the boat perfectly flat, or would I go faster if I just sailed with a bit of a heel but with a fully powered rig.
 
Re: Newbie Questions

LPW said:
When sailing my laser, is it best to pull on more of the cunningham to get the boat perfectly flat, or would I go faster if I just sailed with a bit of a heel but with a fully powered rig.
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Flat is faster.

Merrily
 
Re: Newbie Questions

Originally Posted by LPW
When sailing my laser, is it best to pull on more of the cunningham to get the boat perfectly flat, or would I go faster if I just sailed with a bit of a heel but with a fully powered rig.

You always want some leeward heel, no matter what. This gets one side of the boat out of the water, and thus less wetted surface.(this means that in really light wind, you need to create leeward heel if there isn't enough wind to do it by itself) However, if the leeward rail is in the water, you are heeled over too much.

As for the cunningham, that controls the draft of the sail. Generally, the farther forward the draft (the more cunningham) the flatter and more de-powered the sail is. Keep the cunningham just tight enough to take all of the wrinkles out of the sail until you are overpowered and having to dump the sail. then, take on more. Also, if you are overpowered, try taking in some outhaul as well until you only have a 3-4" gap between the sail and the boom, and take in enough vang so that when you block-to-block, the vang is tight. Once your vang and outhaul are set like that, then you should add pressure to the cunningham.

hope that helps!
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Re: Newbie Questions

Thanks evryone - sorry one again to Lost@sea for hijacking ure post!

[Moderators Note: This question and its anwsers were moved to a new thread for discussion after this post was made]
 
Re: Newbie Questions

Hi everyone, just skipping back to the cunningham issue,

i recently did a days training with Jim Saltenstall the guy who trained Ben Ainsle for 11 yrs. he suggested that in the laser when sailing on flat water you should have a fair amount of cunningham pulling it down to the boom.
 
Re: Newbie Questions

182618 said:
Hi everyone, just skipping back to the cunningham issue,

i recently did a days training with Jim Saltenstall the guy who trained Ben Ainsle for 11 yrs. he suggested that in the laser when sailing on flat water you should have a fair amount of cunningham pulling it down to the boom.
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Did he recommend this for upwind, downwind, in strong,medium,low, virtually no winds? Really curious, 'cause one setting serves all would save me a load of effort in the boat.
 
Upwind: Pull on the cunningham as you get overpowered. If you keep getting overpowered keep pulling untill it will move no more! Sail flat.

Downwind: Ease it off completley.
 
Re: Newbie Questions

computeroman2 said:
Originally Posted by LPW
You always want some leeward heel, no matter what. This gets one side of the boat out of the water, and thus less wetted surface.(this means that in really light wind, you need to create leeward heel if there isn't enough wind to do it by itself) However, if the leeward rail is in the water, you are heeled over too much.

As for the cunningham, that controls the draft of the sail. Generally, the farther forward the draft (the more cunningham) the flatter and more de-powered the sail is. Keep the cunningham just tight enough to take all of the wrinkles out of the sail until you are overpowered and having to dump the sail. then, take on more. Also, if you are overpowered, try taking in some outhaul as well until you only have a 3-4" gap between the sail and the boom, and take in enough vang so that when you block-to-block, the vang is tight. Once your vang and outhaul are set like that, then you should add pressure to the cunningham.

hope that helps!
Click to expand...

i disagree with everything you have said

in winds over 8 knots the boat should be dead flat, no heel at all. wetted surface makes no difference at all in these winds, having the boat heeled is not using the hull and rig efficiently, boat should only be heeled in light conditions to assist the sail in taking shape with gravity

at least you've got something right, the cunningham is there to bring the draft of the sail forward and hence depower the sail

the cunningham is the FIRST thing you should pull on, then the vang and then the outhaul. the outhaul is not primarily tensioned for the wind conditions, more the sea conditions, tight for flat water and looser for chop. cunningham and vang are for depowering the sail, they work together so they should be adjusted together
 
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