Weight shifting

st louis sailer

New Member
Any thoughts on shifting your weight when single sailing a Capri 14.2? When I race with a crew I am fine, but when I single sail, I find myself shifting around and not doing well in races.
 
Disclaimer: I have no personal experience racing C14.2 single handed. But based on my experience from other boats...
I think you should be as far forward as you can comfortably steer for upwind. Like between the barney post and the jib sheet blocks. You would be trying to maximize the waterline length. I have found even with crew sitting forward and drinks in the hold, weight needs to be forward to keep the bow in the water.
Downwind, reduce wetted surface and keep the bow high by moving aft.
If you don't like my ideas, try to get someone to take profile pictures while your on a beat, you may see something about the way the boat is balanced that you can't see from the cockpit.

Cheers, Karl
 
Wow so you're from the St Louis area? I might be relocating down there from Chicago but I'm disappointed in the sailing opportunities for me and my Capri. Now I checked out Creve Cour, nice lake but terrible launch facilities. I'm solo and would not be able to work it out, there's no dock and the sides of both ramps are hull destroyers! And Lake St. Louis is supposedly private. Also Horseshoe Lake but once again, don't see a dock where you could tie off while jockeying the trailer. Where in the world do you sail down there?
 
Wow so you're from the St Louis area? I might be relocating down there from Chicago but I'm disappointed in the sailing opportunities for me and my Capri. Now I checked out Creve Cour, nice lake but terrible launch facilities. I'm solo and would not be able to work it out, there's no dock and the sides of both ramps are hull destroyers! And Lake St. Louis is supposedly private. Also Horseshoe Lake but once again, don't see a dock where you could tie off while jockeying the trailer. Where in the world do you sail down there?
I sail with Creve Coeur Sailing Association at Creve Coeur Lake. We have a club of approximately 50 members and we race twice a month. There is a dock, a ramp and even a sand beach area for small boats to launch. We have everything from Thistles to sunfish's in our club. If you relocate, look us up.
 
OK now I was just there a few weeks ago and saw all 3 ramp areas. Nothing I saw was suitable for single handedly launching/retrieving my Capri 14. I would tear my boat up trying to do so. Jagged boards with bolts sticking out, concrete abutments that were rounded outwards and curved the wrong way, no mooring cleats. I can understand if you have a group of buddies it would be OK, but even so I'm sure you would have to get into the water to make things happen. The places I sail in Chicago all have the long straight floating docks going out from the ramps that allow for easy in/out for the solo sailor. Now I also spoke with the staff who operate the rentals and was told there was a dock at one time but it got swept away in the flood. Apparently there's nothing in the works to replace it. I confirmed that by calling the County who operates the park. Real disappointing, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link!
 
S: I single hand in our Tempe, AZ race series and suggest what you need mostly is practice. Tacks are a little hard because you need to reach both sheets in timely manner, move your weight appropriately to keep boat balanced, all the while moving the tiller. Also, before the tack be sure all the sheets are accessible and untangled. (If you are stepping or siting on them so they won't feed out, you only have yourself to blame.) Tacks can be done fairly smoothly with practice, except maybe when the wind gets too strong.

When running downwind, I set a small bungee between the end of the tiller and the lower Barney Post while I move forward to set or take down the Whisker Pole. But if the wind is howling downwind, I omit the whisker pole and may just try to wing-on-wing without a pole, or go off wind a bit for a broad reach. With practice, one does improve which makes sailing ever more rewarding.

RK
 
I installed a "tiller tender". It locks the tiller in place with a precise flip handle mechanism that allows for easy minor adjustments in helm before you go forward to do chores. Lock it on a lazy beam reach and it's fine to leave the helm (only in calm water, of course). Could send additional info if anybody's interested.
 
I installed a "tiller tender". It locks the tiller in place with a precise flip handle mechanism that allows for easy minor adjustments in helm before you go forward to do chores. Lock it on a lazy beam reach and it's fine to leave the helm (only in calm water, of course). Could send additional info if anybody's interested.

I would love more details!!
 

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I installed a "tiller tender". It locks the tiller in place with a precise flip handle mechanism that allows for easy minor adjustments in helm before you go forward to do chores. Lock it on a lazy beam reach and it's fine to leave the helm (only in calm water, of course). Could send additional info if anybody's interested.

I'm interested.
 

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