Diana Liebe
New Member
I just started sailing a Sunfish that I bought used. It sails pretty well but when I come about it points to the wind and stays in irons until I break out the paddle.
What am I doing wrong?
What am I doing wrong?
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Here's a trick you can use so you don't have to paddle out of irons.I just started sailing a Sunfish that I bought used. It sails pretty well but when I come about it points to the wind and stays in irons until I break out the paddle.
What am I doing wrong?
There are more seemingly abstract “terms” surrounding the use of a cell phone than a sailboat.Being self taught myself, I know that a large amount of the info given by "real" sailors just goes over my head. So many terms are used that, after trying to decipher, I can become frustrated and just give up.
True, “Helm” is another with both a general and a specific meaning depending on the context.Speaking of terminology, most people use the term "tacking" when in reality you are "coming about" from one "tack" to another.
Speaking of terminology, most people use the term "tacking" when in reality you are "coming about" from one "tack" to another. Like other areas of language the terminology used 100 years ago has become modified and part of common usage, this don't mean it's so.
That wasn’t my message and I don’t believe it was anyone else’s either.Sorry, I was just trying to spare others the trouble I had when I first came to the site. I don't know what it has to do with Aristotle or cell phones, but message received "sit down and shut up".
I have a copy of the US Naval Academy's Text Book of Seamanship - 1891.I just find it easier to say, for example, 'beam reach' rather than saying, 'sailing with the wind coming over the side of the boat at, or about a, 90 degree angle'.
I've been told being in their "fry room" is a punishment
Can you please explain a bit more about the gooseneck position?Could be technique. As you come into the wind the sail depowers and you are coasting onto the other tack. Gotta have enough speed before you start, try falling off a little before you change tack.
Gotta to do it fast, the boat will not coast for more than a couple seconds. Are you pushing the tiller over to full deflection as quick as you can?
Weather helm could be messed up, where is your gooseneck set on the boom. I got my weather helm at zero. Can change tack in a flash but will also roll tack you into the water just as fast, not recommended.
Boat could be water logged, water logged SF are easy to get into irons and don't come out well. Sort of killing the effect of the hull rocker when heavy.
Sail could be blown-out.
Should be one of the above. A dried out SF sits up on the hull rocker and is good for sailing is a small area since it changes tack so quickly.
Can you please explain a bit more about the gooseneck position?
Great info! Thanks.Ideally you want the boat to be “balanced” to the point that if you let go of the tiller, the boat will continue to sail straight ahead. The first way is to simply have the main correctly sheeted. If the main is over-trimmed the bow will want to point into the wind. A second way is to control the heal of the boat. Especially upwind, flatter is better.
Another way is to adjust the gooseneck. If you slide the boom forward the wind will tend to push the bow off the wind. If you pull the boom back the wind will push the stern off the wind and the bow will head up. How far you move the boom varies on a few things, but how much wind is the biggest consideration. More wind boom goes forwards, less wind boom goes back. I usually sail with my boom about 17” forward, or looking at it the other way, gooseneck 17” back. If it blows harder, I may move it to 20” back.
Again it all comes back to balance, if the rudder isn’t pretty much straight, something is wrong and you are going slow.
Hope that helps.
One can feel like an ancient mariner when racing with youngsters. Even years ago, when racing an Ensign, at the helm I used "ready about", then "hard-a-lee". I think everyone knew what was happening, but no other helmsman used that phrase. (We rotated helmsmen in the same boat through five races).Wikipedas got a bunch of terms. Their version of "coming about" is "ready about."
All these years and I've never realized the 'Cat-O-Nine Tails' is also called the 'Captain's Daughter." Next time the crew needs discipline . . .
Glossary of nautical terms - Wikipedia
Here's a trick you can use so you don't have to paddle out of irons. From the quick reference guide, Learn to Sail in 3 Days
GETTING OUT OF IRONSIf you "come about" too slowly, the boat may stop pointed into the wind with the sail flapping over your head. No amount of tiller or sail adjustment will start you sailing. You are caught in irons. The solution: You sail backwards for a moment (a) Push the tiller and the sail using the boom in opposite directions. (b) The boat will back around the rudder. Let the sail go, keeping the tiller over until the sail is out over the side of the boat. (c) Slowly trim it in and straighten the tiller. The boat will gain forward speed. And, you are in control again. Don't rush this procedure or you may find yourself back in irons.[this sidebar tip includes photos of each of the steps if you view the guide in its entirety]The whole illustrated reference guide is a free download from a link in this earlier thread, here: http://www.sunfishforum.com/showthread.php?t=30417