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Old 04-07-2010, 17:24   #46
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Ease your sheet as you fall off

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Originally Posted by Newinthewater View Post
I'm still here!
I've been reading much of what everyone has been pitching in and can't thank you enough for all the info.
For those who were wondering, I've been learning on a flying scot.

btrayfors post made the most sense to me (despite being counter-intuitive). I was told a boat will heel the most when in close haul. So, anything other than close haul should really flatten the boat. Correct?
I went out there for practice and tried out both going into the wind and falling off. Going into the wind definitely heeled a bit more until it lost speed and flattened. When I tried to fall off into a beam reach, a gust came in and I freaked out and let the main sail loose to spill the wind rather than overcoming my fear and trying to fall off with the sails trimmed for close haul. I'll have to try it next time I'm out in the water.

After my practice session, I asked some of the instructors hanging out and they gave me some contradictory answers. One claimed you can do either to flatten the boat, while the other assured me falling off would force the sails perpendicular to the wind, forcing it to heel more. Seems like sailing is an art - open to interpretation rather than one correct answer?
Had you not let your main out when you fell off to beam reach you would have capsized or come very close to it. You must learn to coordinate the angle of the sail with the position you are steering to. It all takes practice.
In a good 12 to 15K wind (white caps) in a Flying Scot you cannot fall off a close hauled position and keep your main in tight without heeling so much that you will be in fear of capsize. Cruising vessels act differently but your sails will not be as efficient when they are hard in and you are on a beam reach no matter what you sail.
Good luck with the learning curve.
regards,
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Old 05-07-2010, 07:07   #47
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The first thing to do is to remove all of the Incline-O-Meters so that your wife can't see them. Then heeling becomes less of an issue.
I added one for the opposite reason! It allows her to see that the boat isn't heeling that much. It also allows her to tell me that we're heeling more than the 20 degrees I told her was reasonable.

Which means I can adjust the sails, flatten the boat, and keep it sailing faster
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Old 05-07-2010, 20:00   #48
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OT, but that reminds me of one of the reasons that we give to students at High Performance Driving events to learn to be a smooth driver. If you're very, very smooth, your wife won't get mad at you until you really are driving fast.
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Old 08-07-2010, 19:59   #49
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Thank you, everyone

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone.

I've been out a few more times and I am definitely getting over the fear of heeling - the last time I was out there I was screaming for more wind hoping get the boat to sit sideways . And everytime I thought it was going over, I practiced the proper way of keeping the same course and just adjusting the sails to feel a bit more at ease.
I am still a bit scared of jibing (gybing?), which I do vvveeerrrryyyy slowly, and I'm sure one day I'll get over the fear too. I probably I practice it less because I close haul or beam reach having a great time at first and just dread having to come back to the marina running with the wind, which is not as fun...
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Old 08-07-2010, 20:05   #50
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...dread having to come back to the marina running with the wind, which is not as fun...
No worries. Gybing can be intimidating. Keep the apparent wind far from astern, like around 140. Do 'chicken gybes', which is where you tack by going around the long way, trimming the main and jib some as you go.
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Old 08-07-2010, 21:53   #51
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Tending & trimming the main sheet is imperative in the gybe. It's really easy to break stuff.
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Old 25-07-2010, 07:20   #52
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A boom brake is a great piece of gear, especially if you have a big main. I made my own and won't sail shorthanded without it rigged. Luckily i have plenty of spare winches, if you get the tension on the line just right it is amazing to see the boom swing through in a controlled manner even in high winds.
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Old 02-08-2010, 20:28   #53
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The heeling issue will go away as you learn to sail-best to learn on single hand sail boards in my opinion-also a good idea to dump the boat now and then so you can think about why and what to do to prevent. Even if you could know and memorize all the corrective factors it would not be enough- you have to do it feel it and learn to respond automaticly -10 footer or 110footer-with horses it was and still is called seat of the pants knowledge
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Old 02-08-2010, 20:40   #54
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The easiest way to jib is get on a really fast cat or tri in 15+ k of wind on a power reach say 15-20k then just throw a snap jib and pull the main across fast-the faster you go the easier the jib(think apparent wind speed and pressure on main)-I use a similar technique on my monos single handing-my last three monos J/35-J/44-J/100 works for all - its all in the timing. Don't try this in heavy air untill you have perfected it- and especially don't do it if you are a greenhorn
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Old 03-08-2010, 06:35   #55
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Heeling too much?

Problem: Racing in heavy weather...
Solution: Get your salopettes on!
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Old 20-08-2010, 01:20   #56
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The trick when pinching up is of course to avoid going into irons and losing control and having to go through an exercise to get back into control. With luck on your side, your instructor would have taught you enough about getting out of irons that you could do it in breezy conditions. Racers also do a lot with placement of crew weight on the boat but beginning sailors might not be comfortable with this.
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Old 20-08-2010, 06:23   #57
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I for one used to sailing 36-50 footers never use the pinch up method, its far to easy to stall the boat and thats way way worse in a blow.

In my experience, consistent over heeling ( for want of a word) is eased by furling the headsails. The main tends to introduce weather helm and round-ups and newbies often think this is a heeling issue, its more of a turning toque issue and is addressed by de powering the main ( in what ever way you like).

As to turning downwind, yes and no, firstly you obviously need to trim out or you can make it worse, secondly your speed can intially peak and that can cause handling problems. And lastly reefing from that point can be difficult. ( requiring you to trun into the wind again).

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