Laser starts Rock'n Roll on a broad reach

M

Matt

New Member
Hi Everybody,
I have always problems on a broad reach in a breeze (20 knots up). The boat gets instable and I have problems to stabilize it again.
Sailing by the lee is not the solution because the way is to long and I go for a swim before the boat gets stabil again. Heading up and a bit more vang might be the solution. What's your way to deal with it?
Thanks,
Matt
 
Matt said:
Hi Everybody,
I have always problems on a broad reach in a breeze (20 knots up). The boat gets instable and I have problems to stabilize it again.
Sailing by the lee is not the solution because the way is to long and I go for a swim before the boat gets stabil again. Heading up and a bit more vang might be the solution. What's your way to deal with it?
Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...

Hi Matt, Have a look at the Rooster web site http://www.roostersailing.com/
which has some really good techniques for dealing with this death roll unstable situation. It is not intuitive, (ie you need to bear away towards a jibe and sheet in a bit when the mast heads towards windward) but once you practise it and find it works, it makes a lot of sense!

Clive,
 
I found the rooster site, especially the videos, pretty useful. It's really hard to convince yourself to bear off when your boat is rolling to weather, but it seems to work.

Not that I'm good at it by any means, but the biggest thing for me was watching, in the rooster video, how the sailor doesn't waste any time turning around trying to plant his butt on the high side, he just dives face first across the cockpit and lands with his chest on the rail, which he pushes down with his hands as though doing a push-up exercise, all while bearing off hard.

but, uhh, yeah, Lasers are pretty squirrely on a deep reach.
 
Chris123 said:
I found the rooster site, especially the videos, pretty useful. It's really hard to convince yourself to bear off when your boat is rolling to weather, but it seems to work. ... which he pushes down with his hands as though doing a push-up exercise, all while bearing off hard.
Click to expand...
It is hard to internalize the new reaction bear away when you start to roll to weather; it's so counter to everything taught in most sailing programs.

One thing that helped me was reading somewhere that the worst that will happen is that you'll gybe. I now regularly bear away in when I get a little out of balance, and the couple of times I've gotten in a really bad situation and forced myself to bear away, every time was a save. The one time I got really out of control, by the time I got the boat flat I'd gybed, but it wasn't as bad as one might think because 1) I was already down in the boat when the boom came across, so that was a non-event, and 2) I was one a beam reach after the gybe with the saill all the way out, so everything stabilized almost immedately.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
Hi Everybody,
thanks a lot for your hints but the bear away does not solve the problem. On a run the bear away and sailing by the lee is definitely the solution but on a broad reach the turning angle is to large. Before the boat stabilized again it capsized.
OK, I will try the bear away again but the water is still very cold......
 
Hi,

If I understood correctly, your problem is that laser starts rolling back and forth while on broad reach. Solution is to sheet in a bit, pull the kicker tighter and move towards the stern. That should help the rolling. In addition to this the "counter strike" someone suggested earlier works well i.e. put some force against the rolling.
Timing is critical here.

Reason for the rolling is that when your boom is all the way out and the kicker is loose, the top of your sail twists so much that the force it creates actually is directed to the opposite side compared to the boom. It actually tilts to boat to windward.

When the reach is tight you may want to losen the kicker to avoid the boom dipping into the water.

JMU
 
Three things I do to avoid rolling:

1)Tighten the vang
2)Lower the daggerboard
3)Sheet in a bit more

The most important is to tighten the vang so that the angle between the mast and the boom is 90 degrees or less.

Also what works for me is not to counteract against rolling, but to 'go' with it as long as I don't roll over, by placing myself closer to the center of buoyancy and at the same time lower the daggerboard all the way down(for that moment) and sheet in.

Just remember to always adjust your sails so that the boat WILL NOT ROLL. It's better to think this way, rather that thinking of evasive actions during rolling.
 
i have this same problem. i only weigh 121lbs and once i had to go down wind to the coarse and it was 3 foot waves and 25mph winds with 30 degree weather and i couldnt get down to the coarse and regretibly abandoned the race.
 
I don't know exactly whats causing it, but I assume its the chop. What I do in a broad reach in a chop is I hike out on all the waves and constantly move in and out from hiking. Also, like it's been mentioned already, heading down towards a jibe while hiking and sheeting in a little bit should do it, but immediately head back up after the wave. Remember, though, you can only pump once per wave.
 
as the boat starts gaining speed on a reach, you will have more of a head wind meaning sheeting in or have the boat be unstable as it is undersheeted.
with the chop, work the waves, pumping your sail on waves and surfing if possible doesnt seem like it will make your boat anymore stable, but when your surfing properly the boat will be a lot more stable, but watch out cause the faster your going the quicker things go worng, so watch out
 
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