Helmsmanship

[Jm2fly]

My partner and I just completed our first season with our first sailboat. We mostly day sailed with our longest sail being about 12 hours. We plan on doing some serious cruising next season.

I have an honest question that may seem elementary. Please don't laugh. We had some limited instruction. And have a difference of opinion.

If I'm at the helm and the boat is heeling 20 degrees or whatever and starts to heel more say from a gust or increase in wind, is it better to steer into the wind or with the wind to bring the boat back to a comfortable level?

I understand the aerofoil theory but steering more down wind would fill the sails with wind putting the wind more on the beam and cause a greater heel at least temporarily would it not?

[Don C L]

Better to steer upwind. BUT that is not the correct answer. Better to reduce sail area. Before that you can let out the mainsheet a bit. That is not really the best thing when it comes to performance of course either, but we all do it from time to time out of just trying to put off reefing. Of course if you turn downwind soon you will not be heeling much, but if you are trying to get somewhere you may be going the wrong direction. So anyway, the correct answer is to practice reefing for those windier days. BTW, 20 degrees isn't too bad, that's when my boat is just settling in!
oh and btw, don't worry, you won't get much laughing around here I bet, we've all been there
oh, and that last part, yes if you head OFF the wind (not necessarily DOWNwind) initially, if your sheets are pulled in tight, the boat will heel more, which is why one should always be ready to pop the mainsheet loose to take the pressure off and set them correctly for the new heading, especially in catamarans.

[John_Trusty]

The short answer is not in steering, but in the sail area. Your C&C 33 (a very pretty boat, by the way) is a masthead sloop. C&C 33-2 sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

If the heel angle is too much, and you feel overpowered, take a mainsail reef (or two). This will put the boat back on its feet, and will actually make it sail faster due to better hydrodynamics.

For your immediate question about what to do with gusts in the instance, you can turn to whichever direction is the closest away from the beam reach. For example, if you are close hauled, you can turn a little into the wind to luff and reduce the lateral force causing you to heel. The same will work if you are off the wind, you can turn down to stall the sail, but excess heeling is less common off the wind. If you find yourself constantly luffing up due to gusts, you really are due to reef.

[Suijin]

It's one of those question where the answer is more complicated than one would suppose, and is largely situation dependent.

If you're talking about a temporary gust, and you're close hauled, it's actually an opportunity for you to point the boat higher, "carving up" as your apparent wind moves forward. If the stronger wind is sustained, and you're close hauled, you'll want to depower the sails by flattening them; cranking down on the backstay, the cunningham, and the outhaul and adjusting the jib car. If that does not give you adequate relief, then you can let the main out a bit but that's a temporary fix. If you're on the edge and the wind seems like it will maintain it's strength, it's time to reef down.

If you don't want to head up because it will take you off your intended course, then the above sail trim options still apply.

Heading up is usually the first means of getting relief in a gust if you're on a broad reach or closer to the wind. If you're on a deeper reach, just heading up without careful attention to trim may put you at risk of broaching.

FYI, a great book about sail trim is North Sails University's "TRIM". It is aimed at racers, but good sail trim is relevant to everyone and the book does an excellent job of covering the mechanics of sailing.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Suijin

It's one of those question where the answer is more complicated than one would suppose, and is largely situation dependent.

If you're talking about a temporary gust, and you're close hauled, it's actually an opportunity for you to point the boat higher, "carving up" as your apparent wind moves forward. If the stronger wind is sustained, and you're close hauled, you'll want to depower the sails by flattening them; cranking down on the backstay, the cunningham, and the outhaul and adjusting the jib car. If that does not give you adequate relief, then you can let the main out a bit but that's a temporary fix. If you're on the edge and the wind seems like it will maintain it's strength, it's time to reef down.

If you don't want to head up because it will take you off your intended course, then the above sail trim options still apply.

Heading up is usually the first means of getting relief in a gust if you're on a broad reach or closer to the wind. If you're on a deeper reach, just heading up without careful attention to trim may put you at risk of broaching.

FYI, a great book about sail trim is North Sails University's "TRIM". It is aimed at racers, but good sail trim is relevant to everyone and the book does an excellent job of covering the mechanics of sailing.

I agree with all the above: ....and would like to add, that for a temporary de-powering of the mains'l while hard on the wind, we often just travel the main down a bit, not changing trim with the main sheet, but with the traveler.

Ann

[Foolish]

The techniques described above are all great for longer term increases in the wind. When you are talking about the second-to-second gusts that occur on any normal sailing day, then working the mainsheet will give you another way to keep the boat pointing in the right direction and keep speed up to the maximum. As a racer I work the mainsheet a lot; its something that dingy sailors do constantly. As a starting point, try sailing with your mainsheet uncleated. Just hold it in your hand and ease and trim constantly to keep the boat at the appropriate amount of heel. It will only take a few minutes of this for you to get really comfortable with using the mainsheet to control heel.

Once you get the idea, you can start twisting off both the main and the jib for bigger gusts of wind. Twist is your friend.

[Cheechako]

Turning up wind you will heel more initially, but continuing you will luff the sails a bit solving the problem temporarily. Reducing sail by reefing may allow you to go as fast with less heel. For temporary puffs causing too much heel, the answer is to release the mainsheet and stay on course.

[thomm225]

Depending on wind strength, racers on the upwind leg will normally steer through the gusts to keep the boat sailing as close to the wind as possible while keeping the angle of heel the same.....unless it's a big header then they may tack

In heavier winds, you may have to ease the mainsheet a bit or travel down some then steer to see if you can just steer through from then on

The key here is to watch the water closely for the upcoming gusts and steer into or away from them just before they start affecting the boat

We do the same thing going downwind with the spinnaker up when racing beach cats but this time watching the heavy wind gusts coming from behind and steering lower to keep the boat at the same heel and to not pitchpole...........

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by Jm2fly

My partner and I just completed our first season with our first sailboat. We mostly day sailed with our longest sail being about 12 hours. We plan on doing some serious cruising next season.

I have an honest question that may seem elementary. Please don't laugh. We had some limited instruction. And have a difference of opinion.

If I'm at the helm and the boat is heeling 20 degrees or whatever and starts to heel more say from a gust or increase in wind, is it better to steer into the wind or with the wind to bring the boat back to a comfortable level?

I understand the aerofoil theory but steering more down wind would fill the sails with wind putting the wind more on the beam and cause a greater heel at least temporarily would it not?

If you are beating into the wind:
Best thing is to let the main traveller down until the boat rights itself to your preferred degree of heel.
If the use of the traveller is not easy handled, turn a little into the wind, you do not need much to spill the wind and right the boat.
Most modern boats, if overheeled (much more than 20 deg) will steer themselves and round up into the wind.
BUT: if you are broad reaching and the apparent wind comes at more than 90 deg to the bow, your best action is to go off the wind and get into running mode. When gust goes down, you steer up again.
All the above is true for a sudden gust. Steady increase calls for different
solution as explained in the other posts above.