[Public-List] [SPAM?] Racing and heeling

[mahseer at kos.net]

Before doing anything with the main sail make sure the head sail is
correctly adjusted with the luff tension tight but no vertical creases, in
a fair sailing wind (about 10-15 knts I found if the sail is about 1in off
the spreader and when luffing up all the tell tails break evenly the sail
is well adjusted.  With this done I can sail with the rail just above
water with a ballanced helm, main luff tight outhaul tight so that draft
is less than 50% and adjust the traveler so that the mainsail luff just
begins to back wind.  If the wind is gusty first use your taveler to
depower the main until the gust subsides then re trim.  Anything above
that with sustained wind consider reefing.

good luck
John Boor
MAHSEER #380





> Hello Racers,
> I would like to get some opinions on trim and how to sail the A30 in
> races.
> I have been racing our A30 "Lady Heron", hull 297 for the first summer
> every
> Tuesday and Thursday on Lake St-Louis here in Montreal. We have great fun
> learning about racing but also about trimming and fine tuning.
> We started off with being last, last, last and last, but as the season
> progressed we have improved and now we average in the 3rd quater of the
> final results (handicap 0.929).
> What I would like to know is the following. What is the proper heeling for
> maximum performance and when should we start to reef the main sail.
> 1.) The Main sail has a good shape for its age (no knowledge how old it
> is)
> and has 2 reefing points.
> 2.) The Jib (150) is on a roller furler (that is acceptable for our club
> racing) and is older. It seems to have a deep pocket when fully out but I
> would not consider it to be blown out.
> However, I cannot partially furl it as it creats a back-wind pocket if I
> get
> to close on a beating. So we leave it at all time completely out.
> 3.) If we have about 4 - 8 kts of wind she heels a nice 15 degree and we
> can
> do a nice 4.8 - 5.2 kts on a beating. Very balanced helm (slight weather
> helm)
> 4.) If we have 8 - 12 kts (before white caps) the rail will go sometimes
> into the water and we might do 5.4 - 5.8kts (Weather helm increase but not
> to the point that we loose speed with the rudder). If we reef the main, we
> have less heel (again less weather helm) and do about the same speed.
> However, if the wind drops a few knots (from 12 - 8) we loose some speed
> and
> I wish we would not have reefed. So we are ambiguous about what is better
> -
> more heeling
> Over 12 kts with white caps, we also have the first reef but we never go
> over 5.8kts.
> 5.) In comparrison to fin keel boats, we point very well and do not lose
> much. But in terms of speed, she seems to be stuck in second gear (on
> beating)
> 6.) On the down wind leg (we do 2 sausages and a race lasts between 45-60
> minutes), we have good performance and can keep up with all the others.
> 7.) The tell-tales on the Jib and the main are flying well (the blocks are
> set in the 17th hole fom the back on the outer tracks) but again, we never
> get over 5.8kts. I was told that the A30 is tender at the beginning but
> stiff thereafter. My friend has an A37 and even with his large Genoa (170)
> and full main, he never heels as much as we do with the same wind
> conditions
> and he is just flying past us.
> So my question would be - what is the optimal amount of heel and what
> speed
> can you get on a beating if all is trimmed well?
> Thanks for some suggestions on how to get the most out of our A30'.
> Bruno & Elyse
> Lady Heron 297
>
>
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