Downwind Adventures

P

PlaneSailing

Member
Hi - just a simple question about downwind (if there is such a thing as a simple question!) :

I have sailed fairly successfully by going by the lee downwind in light air. However, attempts at BTL during racing in heavier winds have been dramatically costly - I ease out the sail, wobble, boat rolls on top of me and . . . . capsize to windward.

When going from a normal run to BTL - Should you ease out the main and bear away simultaneously or do one before the other to get to BTL safely?

BTL seems to be stable when you get there, as is a very broad reach, but there seems to be a very unstable zone in between.

Tiller or heel? - I understand using boat heal to steer is faster than tiller movement, but the idea of bearing away by heeling to windward and paying out sheet at the same time seems, in theory at least, to be suicidal. Can anyone put me right please?
 
im not the best at downwind but you want to heel to windward and turn and ease. or you can wait for a wave to catch and use less heel and more rudder and catch the wave to speed back up. Good luck
 
Right!

Generally death rolling is caused by having the sail eased too far for the direction in which you are sailing.
I prefer not to think, right I'm definately going by the lee now, or I'm going to do a broad reach now, I just sail wherever is fast and trim the sail to suit.

Steering is done by using the mainsheet and rudder really, heading up is done by sheeting in and steering a bit with the rudder, to bear away (quite exciting this) let the sail go a bit, and then just follow the boat round with the rudder. If it gets a bit lairy then get ready to jump to the top rail and bear away with the rudder really hard! it seems counterintuitive but it stabalises the boat really effectively.

In heavy airs running by the lee doesn't involve letting the boom right out, the leach of the sail gets blown out in front of the mast with the boom still behind 90 degrees.

If you find yourself going in to windward then react fast, sheet in and bear away hard.

Most of all practice, downwind in a laser goes from being scary at first, sitting there wondering what the hell is going to happen next, to a right flippin laugh and a feeling of pity for these aysymetric boys who don't get to do it!

As an aside, get Steve Cockerills boat whisperer dvd's he explains it really well with videos and analysis.
 
Re: Downwind Adventures -

Thanks for the advice - sounds good.
I think what I did wrong was to sheet out without steering, and reacted too slowly.

As for recovery from ww roll - all the Laser books incl Ben Ainslie say to sheet in and head up - but yes, the bear away makes sense too (per Steve C) oddly enough. I suppose sheeting in will put some righting pressure on the rig. OMG - its so crystal clear!! . . . Yep - practice is the only way to go.

PS. I saw the post about a "light weight geezer" (hi petiedons!) at 120lbs - must go like a rocket downwind compared to a "heavyweight geezer" like me (210lbs) - apart from giving up the beer, and getting an 8.1 - anyone have tips for cruiser weights??!!
 
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