Tried out a bit of sailing upwind,

[Mr B]

I dont normally sail upwind, Tide was in so I gave it a try,
You can see whats left of the flag on the Right top spreader, And the wind direction from that,
It was a constant 10 knots of wind,
I estimate it was about 30 degrees off the wind direction,
I did it in two directions about the same each way,
Then I sailed it down wind heading back to the Marina, 5.3 Knots.
Should I have the clew of the Genoa further back or further forward when Im travelling upwind,
Thanks, ,

[tkeithlu]

Adjust the position of the genoa block forward or aft until you get no luffing when the sail is full. That posiition should do for all points. You are basically defining a triangle. You are moving it aft to tension the foot and forward to tighten the leech.

I encourage you to do more upwind sailing. First, it's fun, and second, if you sail upwind from your dock you maximize your chances of getting back home under sail power.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Adjust the position of the genoa block forward or aft until you get no luffing when the sail is full. That posiition should do for all points. You are basically defining a triangle. You are moving it aft to tension the foot and forward to tighten the leech.

I encourage you to do more upwind sailing. First, it's fun, and second, if you sail upwind from your dock you maximize your chances of getting back home under sail power.

Thank you,

I dont think I will ever sail good enough to park it in a Marina on sails, ,
I had enough trouble parking it today with the cross wind on the motor,
It blew me sideways across the marina and I hit the pilings on the other side,
Third attempt, I finally got it into the berth, Then I used a long rope around a piling and dragged it into the berth,
Tied off the front and then used the motor to go sideways to tie it up at the transom,
I cop all the wind exposed at the end of the Marina, So parking the boat is not easy,

[Bill O]

Every boat is slightly different and you'll need to play w/the sheet leads/car positioning to get the proper headsail shape and find the sweet spot.

Your last 2 sail pics look like a better set than the others. Can't tell by the pics, but do you have any tell tails on your sail? If not, add them as they are a nice visual aid to help trim the sail. Other good clues/visual indicators of sail trim are where the leech is breaking and luff shape.

Much of the "how to" are described well in books/articles. So start reading and make some cheat sheets out there so you can decipher what the visual indicators are telling you.

Once you find the proper car positioning on the track (for various wind angles), possibly mark them for easy reference. Once marked very easy to hit the correct lead position and can easily tell crew that may not be familiar w/your boat where to position the cars.

[Brioche]

Keep in mind that your speed may also affected by the tide. Unless both runs were at completely slack tide, you may have been aided by the current in one direction and hindered in the other. Sailing in a highly tidal area, we often race the buoys and feel good if we can stay in the same place upwind during tidal flow.

[Mr B]

There are tell tales on the Genoa, Bill, They were horizontal most of the time,
I single hand all the time, There is no such thing as others on my boat,

Youtube tutorials look like the go for me,
3000 Nmiles on my boat and this is the first time I ever tried sailing up wind,
The wind beam on, is usually the most I go, Being a Cat, I get slammed under the bridge deck and its not pleasant with the wind on the nose, ,

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Brioche

Keep in mind that your speed may also affected by the tide. Unless both runs were at completely slack tide, you may have been aided by the current in one direction and hindered in the other. Sailing in a highly tidal area, we often race the buoys and feel good if we can stay in the same place upwind during tidal flow.

It was at the top of the tide and no tide running, The first two runs,
It was also across the tide if it was running, At 90 degrees,
So it was equal both ways,

The down wind run, The tide was running out, So I was running directly against the tide,

The tide here runs some thing chronic, 6 or 8 knots at full flow,
Im only a cruiser, Not a racer,

I tried sailing on racing J boats, Getting some sailing Experience, Totally different concept to how I sail,
I set the Autopilot and 4 or 6 hours later, I might adjust it, if I change direction, Or the wind changes, Or just leave it as it is,

100 miles in a straight line is normal for me, Open Ocean,
Im only sailing around Western Port bay till my boat is ready to leave,
Im just sorting out any bugs it may have, Before I leave,

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Mr B

There are tell tales on the Genoa, Bill, They were horizontal most of the time,
I single hand all the time, There is no such thing as others on my boat,

Youtube tutorials look like the go for me,
3000 Nmiles on my boat and this is the first time I ever tried sailing up wind,
The wind beam on, is usually the most I go, Being a Cat, I get slammed under the bridge deck and its not pleasant with the wind on the nose, ,

Good to hear you have tells already installed and glad you reminded me you have a cat.
Some videos are well done and you can see what they are talking about some not so good. Maybe I'm old school, but sometimes book illustrations are better to picture what they are trying to describe.

Sailing upwind IMO takes more attention to detail to trim properly for more speed than running abeam. Many don't care about trim, but I do like to get the best out of the boat whenever possible so pay attention to those details. Heck what else are you doing out there anyway!
I understand the deck slam in cats and you'll need to determine the correct balance of shutter thru the boat and the need to sail upwind that works for you.

[carstenb]

Don't know how you feel about learning from videos - but Jack Klange's series on both sail trim and how to dock your boat is excellent. He goes through every point and explains exactly how you should do it.

Watch them and you will learn how to dock your boat with ease and confidence.
The entire series cost something 10-15 bucks as a download (couple of hours of instruction) so the cost is minimal.

The sailing channel has them. here's link:

https://www.thesailingchannel.tv/pro...pt-jack-klang/

Just for clarification - I have no affiliation with the Sailing Channel nor do I get anything for recommending the videos

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Thank you,

I dont think I will ever sail good enough to park it in a Marina on sails, ,
I had enough trouble parking it today with the cross wind on the motor,
It blew me sideways across the marina and I hit the pilings on the other side,
Third attempt, I finally got it into the berth, Then I used a long rope around a piling and dragged it into the berth,
Tied off the front and then used the motor to go sideways to tie it up at the transom,
I cop all the wind exposed at the end of the Marina, So parking the boat is not easy,

Cars get parked, boats get docked

[donradcliffe]

In the second picture, the lead needs to come aft and the sail needs to be pulled in tighter. The optimum lead goes forward as you reach off. You will also go upwind quite a bit faster if you use the mainsail too.

[tkeithlu]

Mr. B, don't even think about sailing into a marina slip unless you want to stay awake late some night. Marina's nowdays try to pack so many slips into the smallest space possible that you need more skill than mine to get into some of them. Without a bow truster, windage alone can make it impossible.

You're in a high tidal zone, from your comments. Yeah, around our old stomping grounds (Georgia coast) the tide was eight feet and greater than sail speed up the channel when it was falling. It could take sail and motor to make much headway.

[Cadence]

Remember sailing into the wind you are making plane wings our of your sails. The tell tales on the vacuum side should be limp.

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

Cars get parked, boats get docked

I was going to say the very same!

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Remember sailing into the wind you are making plane wings our of your sails. The tell tales on the vacuum side should be limp.

Sorry, but no they should not be.

There is no "vacuum side" (where do people get this terminology from?) that would imply no airflow at all.

The inside (windward) tell tales can be dancing a bit, usually up at something like a 45deg angle, but certainly not limp. And for a cruising boat, heavier, and with a less efficient keel and rudder, and needing a bit more power from the sails, both tell tales streaming aft is probably simplest.

Here is a simple article:
https://www.pbo.co.uk/seamanship/tro...elltales-24274