We couldn't starbaord tack - what we did wrong?

underDAWG

New Member
We went out yesterday (Sunday) with my son. It was a great day to sail compared the day before with no wind. It was our first time with so such wind. We did know how many knots, but the weather channel called for 13 MPH wind. We had great fun with many close call but we managed not to flip the boat. :). But any way it was towards the end of the day, we got a lot of head wind. We were struggling for 2 hours without make any progress getting back to the dock.

Becasue of the strong wind, we did not have the jib up. For some reasons, every time we tack. We lost speed so fast that when she headed to the wind. We hit dead stop, and the wind just blew us futher out. We keep trying for serveral times to pick up some speed before we tacked. We keeled so bad that we almost flipped. Finally we jived in order to change the direction. As it was getting darker and darker, we finally flagged a passing motor boat to tow us back to the dock. :eek:

Any suggestions as what we should do next time. Thanks.

Later,
 
running on the main alone, it is very easy to get stuck in irons, but i find it is easier to sail to windward this way in fresh winds because the jib will start luffing much sooner than the main. Problem is that with just the main the boat wants to naturally turn dead into the wind. With the jib alone the boat will naturally want to turn down wind. The main alone works for me, but don't try to sail too close to the wind or you will get stuck "in irons" dead into the wind and the only way I have found to get goin is to let the boat make some backward speed and then turn the rudder to turn the boat. Now that I have a reef in my main, I can just pull that in and furl up most of the jib and this takes most of the chaos out of it.
 
Originally posted by regularman
dead into the wind and the only way I have found to get goin is to let the boat make some backward speed and then turn the rudder to turn the boat. Now that I have a reef in my main, I can just pull that in and furl up most of the jib and this takes most of the chaos out of it.
I had tried to have the boat sail backward and turned the boat with the rudder. Somehow, either it did not steer well or I just inpatient and give up too soon.

How much does it cost you to reef your main and what does it involve? Thanks.

Later,
 
How much does it cost you to reef your main and what does it involve? Thanks.


Do a search for reef and you will find pleny of info about the cost and what it involves. After you search, look at the threads that have the most replies.
 
Hey underDawg were you out in the chesapeake on Sun? I was out on the south river as usually. Boy was the wind strong. Weather channel said 16mph where I was. Luckily I had my friend out there, so out total combined weight was around 350. It was a ton of fun, though a touch more wind that I'm used to dealing with. We sailed with both sail up all the way (since I don't have reef points on my main), but we both were leaning way out over the water for most of the day. Quite an adventure!
 
Traveler Modification.

There is a modification discribed in the C-14 manual that helped a bunch going to wind.
I lenghtened the traveler untill it reached to just under the boom and tied knots on each side of the traveler block so that it will not travel.
This simple modification increased the ability of my C-14 to point close to the wind.
I usually tack without taking the main sheet out of the cams.
That allows for minimum loss of momentum.:)
 
Heavy air

In heavy air, say over 17 knots, an unreefed mainsail is impossible to tack. We had a race going one day when the wind climbed to that speed and beyond. The only ones able to make any progress to windward were the ones who dropped (and tied off) their mains and sailed with jib only. It was a struggle, but they did make progress to windward. A roller furling jib would have helped, as it can be just partly unrolled.

Also, with a partly unrolled jib tacking with a full main becomes easier, as a little bit of jib will help pull the bow through the eye of the wind.

The moral of the story is if you're going to sail in those kind of conditions you should have both a roller furling jib and reef points in the main. With both it's easy to single-hand and/or sail in the really knarly stuff.
 
Once while out single handing a pretty fierce wind came up. It blew so hard that while beating to windward I actually got blown back to a beam reach and had to release my main all the way to keep from going over. Since I was alone I couldn't also release the jib and with just the jib alone the wind almost capsized me.

I could actually hear the wind whistling past the shrouds!

I was finally able to come back up toward the wind with the jib only and it was about that time when my main sheet came undone from the traveller. I was able to make it all the way back to our dock to windward using the jib alone to tack. It's a noisy way to do it with the main flapping but it can be done.
 
Jib sheet mod

Jack
There had been several times when I needed to dump the jib and couldn't.
I modifiied the jib sheet and jib cars to fix that problem.
It made the jib as easy to remove from the cams as the main sheet while hiked out.
I reversed the jib cars moveing the port jib car to starboard, etc.
Than I retied the jib sheet to make one continous loop.
The single jib sheet loop goes through both jib cars.
The jib sheet when in it's cam is right beside your seat and therefore is very easy to reach.
The only negative is that the tight jib sheet crosses the cockpit.

I have a half size main sail that is great for 15 to 25 knot winds. The storm main sail and about 1/3 of the self-furling jib is the ticket.
It makes tacking in 15 to 20 knot wind without removing the main sheet from the cams a comfortable move.

I went all summer without getting my Hobie float wet.
 
Art, the other drawback would be jib sheets too short to use a whisker pole which is essential for racing.

I don't do much day sailing since racing is sooooo much more fun!:cool:
 
Originally posted by underDAWG
I had tried to have the boat sail backward and turned the boat with the rudder. Somehow, either it did not steer well or I just inpatient and give up too soon.

How much does it cost you to reef your main and what does it involve? Thanks.

Later,
You can DIY like I did, I would be glad to tell you about it, if you like. :)
 
Originally posted by regularman
You can DIY like I did, I would be glad to tell you about it, if you like. :)
I'd love to hear how you did. :)

Thanks for all the input. It got me thinking alot and also I went to the library and read up the proper way to sail. :eek: .

Since this incident, I got my reef for $85 and planning to convert to roller furling. I am looking at Harken 434 system. but have not find out what mod I have to do for old jib. It is still very good shape, so I want to reuse it.

Many thanks.

Later,
 

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