knot_moving
Member
Well I finally got out for my 1st sail - had all the updated rigging and my new sail from Intensity Sails. It was blowing steady 10+kts & gusting over 15. I was sailing in a pretty protected bayou so the waves were only a foot or a little more.
Reading an earlier thread on breaking in sails I tried to mostly just reach back and forth. It was quite a blast, I could cosnistently get the boat really screaming. A few questions came out of the day:
1) I seemed to have quite a bit of weather helm. Is this normal on a high speed reach or is it indicative of something wrong in my trim?
2) How much prebend should I be using in these types of conditions? I wonder if anyone has done any measurements regarding this - getting set up properly and measuring the distance from the boom to mast vang fitting. Luther carpenter had a great tuning spreadsheet for the V15 & I suspect someone somewhere along the way must have doen something similar here. I know it needs to be adjusted for individuals and specific conditions, but it would be great to have some marks that I could use to get in the ballpark.
3) The traveller knot was catching the tiller (maybe I had less weather helm than I thought ?). How thin a line can I use and suggestions on how to keep the tiller free of the knot? I have the aluminum tiller extension with aluminum rudder head insert.
4) I was having a lot of trouble getting the windward luff telltales flying. I have 2 sets of telltales low down (by the starboard sail numbers) with 1 set ~5" from the mast sleeve seam & the other set ~8". Also a set up at the height of the upper batten ~8". I couldn't seem to get any consistenty streaming (while keeping the leeward tales streaming too).
btw the sail quality seems to be very good when I compare the stitching etc to the old sail that came with my boat when I bought it. I also purchased a very high quality rooster deck cover and blade bag that I'm quite pleased with.
Reading an earlier thread on breaking in sails I tried to mostly just reach back and forth. It was quite a blast, I could cosnistently get the boat really screaming. A few questions came out of the day:
1) I seemed to have quite a bit of weather helm. Is this normal on a high speed reach or is it indicative of something wrong in my trim?
2) How much prebend should I be using in these types of conditions? I wonder if anyone has done any measurements regarding this - getting set up properly and measuring the distance from the boom to mast vang fitting. Luther carpenter had a great tuning spreadsheet for the V15 & I suspect someone somewhere along the way must have doen something similar here. I know it needs to be adjusted for individuals and specific conditions, but it would be great to have some marks that I could use to get in the ballpark.
3) The traveller knot was catching the tiller (maybe I had less weather helm than I thought ?). How thin a line can I use and suggestions on how to keep the tiller free of the knot? I have the aluminum tiller extension with aluminum rudder head insert.
4) I was having a lot of trouble getting the windward luff telltales flying. I have 2 sets of telltales low down (by the starboard sail numbers) with 1 set ~5" from the mast sleeve seam & the other set ~8". Also a set up at the height of the upper batten ~8". I couldn't seem to get any consistenty streaming (while keeping the leeward tales streaming too).
btw the sail quality seems to be very good when I compare the stitching etc to the old sail that came with my boat when I bought it. I also purchased a very high quality rooster deck cover and blade bag that I'm quite pleased with.