Mainsheet trimming

O

oatsandbeans

Member
As someone rather new to sailing singlehanded boats ( no jib), I am trying to get my brain around how to sheet the main.
On all the boats that I have sailed with jibs,in winds of 5-10knots I simply set the main sheet up to get the boom on the cenreline and use the main sheet to get the top leech tell tale streaming 70% of the time.
Does this approach work on a Laser?
OK we won't have the boom on the centreline ( it goes on the quarter) but use the top tell tale to control the main sheet tension.

It is clear that this is not the accepted approach as from viewing the posts and readfing the books on the subject everyone seems to set up the main using a specific distance between the mainsheet blocks which then varies depending on the conditions.

In the limited amount of club sailing that I have done using this approach, I appear to be fast, and sail a similar course, but I do get some rather funny looks from the others as my boom sometimes ends up quite far off the centreline.

Please help me, am I completely out to lunch on this??
 
OatsandBeans,

I am assuming that you are talking about upwind sailing. You are NOT completely out to lunch.

There are a few factors that you need to take into account. First is the wind strength - if it is howling and you can not keep the boat flat, then you either pinch and luff to keep it flat or ease the main. Either way, FLAT IS FAST.

If there is a large chop and you need to power through it, then you are going to want to 'play in the waves' as I call it. This is a co-ordinated tiller action, mainsheet action and a sort of rocking motion to help get you over and through the waves. You'd want to leave between 6 and 12 inches from the end of the boom to the traveler block. This gives you more power.

If you are in nice flat water with a good steady breeze, your approach is basically correct. I think Laser sailors have just gotten used to refering to the distance between the blocks as it is the only real thing that you can see from the Helm - you can not really duck to leeward to see where the boom is;-) I have always sailed in these conditions with my main trimmed 'Block to Block' That is basically the same as saying the boom is on the quarter. I then use my weight and as little rudder as possible to fly the tell tales - as much as I can - I am not sure about the % though.

Anyway, does that help or add to the confusion?

Matt

And hey, if you are going fast, who really cares about the looks!
 
Matt,
thanks for the response. Yes I'm really talking about sailing to windward in windspeeds just up from a drifter (~3knots) to fully powered up ( maybe 12knots). When fully powered up I do block to block it as the top leech tell tale then flows 100% of the time anyway then.

Maybe I should just keep quiet about it and hope for some light wind regattas, ( oh s**t!! I've just blown it on this message board, and now they will all be doing it)
 
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