I made my first ever YouTube (sailing) video today! Woo Hoo!!

Winston29

Active Member
I know that probably sounds pretty lame. I'm going to be 54 in November and I've owned SmartPhones for years, but I'm only just now making a YT video. :p :rolleyes:

It's not much, just a 30 second test to see what my new sails look like on the boat........ But it's a start, and I plan to get a lot more creative with my camera angles and shots in the future.

I even bought a GoPro to make fun sailing videos with, and I'm experimenting with camera booms and mounts to get videos from off-the-boat perspectives. :cool:


 
Looking forward to some great sailing videos!!! :)

A friendly tip: slight "scalloping" in the luff or leading edge of your mainsail can be eliminated by hoisting the main clear to the masthead, then adjusting your downhaul depending upon wind strength & point of sail. In Navy parlance back in the '70s at San Diego Naval Sailing Club, salty ol' sea dog & 30-year Navy veteran 'Doc' would say, "Two-block the main!!!" Which was clearly spoken from habit, didn't make much sense when I was dealing with a halyard shackle and masthead sheave, LOL. But I've always remembered the expression... and it's a good point to observe when hoisting your mainsail, as it makes your overall rig as tall as possible for increased efficiency, while the boom is lifted a bit higher off the deck for increased safety. Scalloping is usually more noticeable in a jib with too much slack in the halyard: not only is it unsightly, it decreases performance, particularly when sailing to windward. :confused:

For the same reason, you'll adjust the foot of your mainsail using your outhaul... again, this adjustment will vary according to wind strength & point of sail. The idea is to "iron out" all wrinkles or scallops and make the mainsail nice and smooth, so the wind will flow more smoothly across the curved foil shape of your sail. Hoisting main & jib as high as the rig permits and keeping those halyards taut is half the battle... and I'm NOT raggin' on ya here, I like ya well enough to simply offer this helpful tip, it'll increase the efficiency of your rig and add boat speed, always a good thing whether you maneuver or remain on one chosen course. The scalloping in your mainsail is barely noticeable, but it IS noticeable, hence the friendly advice. If you hoist the mainsail with boom shipped & mainsheet rigged, check to make sure that the downhaul and mainsheet are NOT cleated (from your last voyage, for example, or from securing your mainsheet after derigging), that way nothing will interfere with hoisting the mainsail clear to the masthead. :rolleyes:

Okay, I'm done beating this dead horse, LOL, and I'm still looking forward to some great videos in the future!!! CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
Looking forward to some great sailing videos!!! :)

A friendly tip: slight "scalloping" in the luff or leading edge of your mainsail can be eliminated by hoisting the main clear to the masthead, then adjusting your downhaul

Funny you mention that... I posted that video over on sailinganarchy, and got the same suggestion about "scalloping" and tensioning the luff.
Problem is, the sail is already all the way up the mast as far as it will go, and I'm in the process of trying to figure out just what's going on.

The new sail is 8.5" taller than the original Catalina/Barbie sail, but at 17', still within specs (17'3"), so I'm focusing on the gooseneck right now to see if it's too high. I'm told the gooseneck is supposed to be 28" above the foot of the mast.

I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow morning and see if I can figure out what the problem is. Hopefully those two screws, located on the mast, just below the gooseneck, will allow me to lower the boom a little, and in doing so, stretch out the luff a little more.
I'm not sure I want to rely solely on the Cunningham, and wind up with a pile of sailcloth at the foot and tack.

It has been suggested that I raise the main, with the boom hanging free, to see where the gooseneck sits in relation to the mast when the sail is hanging with weight on it. If it hangs lower than where it's set to currently, hopefully I can move those screws and lower things a bit.
 
It has been suggested that I raise the main, with the boom hanging free, to see where the gooseneck sits in relation to the mast when the sail is hanging with weight on it. If it hangs lower than where it's set to currently, hopefully I can move those screws and lower things a bit.

It has also been suggested that I run a tape measure up the main halyard to the sheave, and measure the distance between it and the boom/gooseneck.
The hope being that they're 17'3" apart.

Actually, I hope they're not, as it would give me the solution I need to fix this issue.
 
It has been suggested that I raise the main, with the boom hanging free, to see where the gooseneck sits in relation to the mast when the sail is hanging with weight on it.
I was going to suggest exactly that when I watched that clip! Back in the day when I sailed 470s and similar boats, we'd always hoist the main without attaching the boom to the gooseneck first. (Actually, I don't think they do it like that anymore because they tie the tack to the mast now.) We'd raise the sail just high enough that you needed to pull the boom back down just a little to get it on the gooseneck.

So if the gooseneck height is adjustable, set it so that the luff is very lightly (pre)tensioned. I agree that the sail shouldn't be that wrinkly on a nearly straight mast.


(By the way, your jib luff wire looks quite loose. Is it on purpose? How do you tension it?)

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(By the way, your jib luff wire looks quite loose. Is it on purpose? How do you tension it?)

That was mentioned on sailing anarchy as well. :p It's adjustable at the top tang. I noticed it when I installed the new jib, but was surprised when someone noticed it in the video... I can't see it in the video myself. Now all my running rigging is sloppy.
Thing is, the manual states that the rigging on the 14.2 should be set quite loose. I'm not sure they mean that loose, though.

What do you mean by "nearly straight mast"?
 
If you don't have a purchase system on the jib halyard, then the jib luff will be very loose for most conditions. I admit I don't know any class-specific tuning tricks, but it still looks funny. Did you get any kind of tuning guide from your sailmaker?

It may be that the camera is distorting things, but it looks like the mast has a very slight bend (which is absolutely normal and a good thing), but there shouldn't really be that much "wrinkliness" until the mast bends considerably more (and you straighten that "extra" cloth with the cunningham).

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There's no jib halyard, it's furling, but there's an adjustable shackle at the top for tensioning the luff wire.

I had no idea installing new sails would be this much work. :D So many things to adjust and fix.
 
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You'll dial it in soon enough, then this will cease to be a problem... you're on the right track, and moving a little hardware may be necessary if the mainsail is longer in the luff than your previous "Barbie Dreamboat" sail. I have confidence in ya, I know you'll make things right... and if I didn't say it before, I like those windows in the jib, I've never seen any quite that large, but sails and sailmaking have evolved over the years, with better & stronger materials offering new possibilities. CHEERS!!! :rolleyes:
 
Nice 1st video. How fast was the wind blowing?
Thanks!


Not a ton of wind. 10-12mph, maybe.
We didn’t have to hike-out very hard.
To be honest, I prefer it that way.
Nice and relaxing.

As we were heading back to the dock, around 6:30, the wind died completely with us about a mile and a half out, and we thought we were going to be swimming back to shore. :p

Thank goodness it picked back up to about 8mph and took us the rest of the way in.
 
San Diego Bay is notorious for wind suddenly dying in the late afternoon... one time, I had to unship the rudder of my Laser, sit on the bow and use the daggerboard as a paddle to make the last mile to my launch point. Ruined my beer buzz doing it, don'tcha know? Meh, exercise is good for you, LOL. :confused:
 
San Diego Bay is notorious for wind suddenly dying in the late afternoon... one time, I had to unship the rudder of my Laser, sit on the bow and use the daggerboard as a paddle to make the last mile to my launch point. Ruined my beer buzz doing it, don'tcha know? Meh, exercise is good for you, LOL. :confused:
I hear the 14.2 paddles really well, but I’ve yet to try out the new one I bought.
 

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