Swimming Down Wind

Fatboy

New Member
Dear Laser Sailors,
A week or to back, I put up a question about Weather Helm, the responses I got were great, thanks heaps. Here's hoping some of you may have some tips on reaching.

Last Saturday the wind was about 15 to 20 knots and consistent. I sail in an area with big tides. The water surface was really choppy (wave faces up to 3 feet and steep). Basically I was out of control and got smashed down time and time again. Got the death rolls something terrible, seemed pulling up the centreboard made things even worse. Had the sail out almost 90 degree's.

Any clues?
Thanks
Fatboy
 
I don't know much about wave sailing but I would imagine that the waves contributed to the death rolls. A few other things you might want to check though..

1) How much kicker did you have on? if not enough then the top of the sail twists forward of the mast and can cause a death roll.

2) at 15-20 kts I would tend to have the sail pulled in a bit from the 90 degree angle (on the basis that going DDW slowly and staying upright is better than capisizing)

You will need to work on the steering down through the waves, if you can get the boat surfing this will help you (thats all I know on sailing a Laser in waves).

Just my 2p, i am sure there are others who are far more learned than I who will offer more advice.
 
Welcome to "Fat Boy DW LAser Sailing"! As a fellow "Fat Boy" I feel your pain as we are more prone to the death rolls and weather capsizes while sailing DW in breeze than our lighter competitors.

I've been doing this a while and still get "rolled" on occasion. Here's a few things I do to try and keep the round side down, (my boat bottom and my own bottom) while going DW.

1)- Leave the center board more than halfway DOWN. Pulling the board up will cause your hull to roll more.
2)- Over trim the main sail by pulling it in further than 90 degrees, (I have a mark on my main sheet showing me where the 90 degree area is). Understand that while your boom is in further than 90 degrees the upper part of the leech is still going to be pulled out further and often beyond 90 degrees by the wind. More vang will cause the leech to "blow out" less.
3)- Keep your weight further back in the boat. Pushing your weight up around the center board or even mainsheet block will push the bow down and lift your rudder making the boat more difficult to steer and more apt to "stuff" the bow into the back of the next wave.
4)- Try to stay on a plane or surf the waves as much as possible, (this is where driving through the waves or "s-carving" comes into play). When you are surfing or on a plane the loads on the sail are much less and keeps the boat stable. This is why you want to jibe at max speed in breeze or going down the face of a wave. If your boat is going slow the load/pressure on the sail makes it much more difficult to control and more apt to want to roll to weather.
5)- Do NOT sail on a DW course. Keep it by the lee or on a hotter reach angle. DDW is still the slowest and most unstable point of sail giving how the sail area is presented to the wind and the stalling affect that happens on the lee side of the sail. Since you are over trimmed you can change your point of sail pretty aggressively with your tiller while not having to trim the sail in much at all. Remember the upper leech will bleed off when you drive down and the lower part of the sail will work for you when you head up.

That about covers what I know at this point, but I'm still learning and I've only been in the boat since 1983!

Good luck.
 
Rob covered most everything, but here are few other tricks I've learned.
1) Always keep one butt cheek on the side deck and face forward. Never be on the balls of your feet in the cockpit.
2) As much as possible steer with your weight and not the rudder.
3) As you find yourself rolling to windward, give a big tug on the mainsheet. It will pull you back up again. Ease if you are healing to leeward.
4) Put a stopper knot in your vang at the furthest out you will want it. That way you can blow the vang at the weather mark before you turn and know its about at the right spot. Digging the boom end will pull you over every time.

Foxy
 
Rob covered most everything, but here are few other tricks I've learned.
1) Always keep one butt cheek on the side deck and face forward. Never be on the balls of your feet in the cockpit.
2) As much as possible steer with your weight and not the rudder.
3) As you find yourself rolling to windward, give a big tug on the mainsheet. It will pull you back up again. Ease if you are healing to leeward.
4) Put a stopper knot in your vang at the furthest out you will want it. That way you can blow the vang at the weather mark before you turn and know its about at the right spot. Digging the boom end will pull you over every time.

Foxy

Agreed on all of the above. The stopper knot is a big help. My guide for setting the knot is when I rig the boat I have the vang max loose setting at a place where I have to pull down onto the boom to get the vang into the fitting. This is my max loose setting for all conditions. As the breeze kicks up my max loose on the vang is tighter than my stopper knot, but the knot acts as my "idiot" guide.

One butt cheek on the deck is good. If you have both cheeks on the deck you are pretty committed to being "parked" on that side of the boat and it is hard to move your weight to counter a roll.

The big tug on the mainsheet is always a saver!

I probably still use too much rudder as opposed to shifting my weight.
 
3) As you find yourself rolling to windward, give a big tug on the mainsheet. It will pull you back up again. Ease if you are healing to leeward.

Defininetly works, also as in the Rooster dvd pulling the rudder towards you helps too. It was a great feeling after having watched that dvd a few weeks ago for me to use that to save me from a deathroll.
 
Definately keep the CB down if you think you might death roll. For 2 reasons :-
1. The foil helps to stop the rocking.
2. If you do roll, you may hit the CB when the boat stops and you continue. This can be quite painful as I know to my cost.

You are much better sailing S from by the lee to broad reach and you should be surfing down the waves in that wind.

You may need to move forward sometimes to help start surfing, but be ready to move back once you catch the wave other wise you'll bury the nose. I find this bit lots of fun in marginal conditions.
 
Folks, thanks for all the tips, this gives me lots to work with over the Christmas/ New Year break. Here's to staying upright !!

Seeya
Fatboy
 

Back
Top