sailing basics (trapeze, spinnaker)

[Erik Schmalz]

For my 1000th dumb question…

at what wind speed should I expect to be fully out on the wire with two sails? I’m 175lb or so, and sailing on a sort of gusty inland lake with North sails. I’ve been going out in fairly light winds (under 7 or 8 mph) mostly because I’m still scared of things, but it usually seems like I’m fighting the boat rather than working with it, and I haven’t yet made it completely out onto the wing.

I guess the real question is whether this is bad sailing, bad setup, or just not enough wind. The last one is easy to fix, but I’m guessing is least likely.

One other thing that’s been on my mind recently: in capsizes with the spinnaker up, do you try to right it immediately or do you drop the chute while overturned? I was assuming the latter, but I can’t imagine how to do it with the boat quickly turtling.

So many of these things would be so easily answered if there were other Swifts around! I need to convince some people around here to build them.

[Keith Councell]

Capsizing with kite up, something I have have a lot of experience with. Answer depends. If light/medium wind and the boat does not go full turtle and you hurry, I right it immediately. Once the bow goes head to wind you pretty much have to pull it in. Once turtles I pull in form the back or the retrieval side while in the water, not a uber quick process. If the you get the mast at water level you can do it from the CB too.

I would get out sailing in 10-12 mph wind. The boat is easier to sail and more comfortable. My 2 cents.

Keith C

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[Philip Ryan]

I basically agree with Keith - and would add:

If you have lost steerage due to too much heeling, you are probably going to capsize. So let it happen and just get out on the daggerboard early (before the mast hits the water).

Then take a little break/breather and enjoy the view before righting the boat.

The boat will rotate when it comes up, often enough to put you on the lee side - so step in forward of the mast so you are free to move all the way across the boat and you have mast and shrouds to hang on to

When the boat is on it's side and fully settled, you can do this little move where you step in onto the mast to quickly uncleat the main or correct a problem that you see. You have to be really quick back to the daggerboard or you will drive the mast down and turn turtle.

Same goes for uncleating the spinnaker, but in that case you can just hoist yourself onto the rail and lean into the boat to uncleat it. Don't get your weight over center, or you will do a headfirst dive or front flip onto the boom

When you are pulling in the spinnaker, be patient. All that water in the spinnaker will not fit into the retriever chute, so it needs to be squeezed or drained out. That takes some effort and a little time. Only pull hard enough to make progress and be satisfied with that. If you yard on the retriever line too hard you can pull the retriever patch out of the spinnaker.

When you pull the retriever with the boat capsized, you will tend to drag it across the non skid. That pretty much messes up your non-skid and can even eat through the fiberglass.So do your best to hold the retriever line away from the boat a little. This makes it harder

Whenever the mast tip starts to sink below the surface, take a little break to get farther out on the daggerboard and enjoy the view again.

Sail the boat as flat as possible

In gusty winds raise your trapeze height a bit so it is easier to quickly get into the boat in lulls.

Make sure you are using minimum cunningham, a fair bit of vang, and shrouds with the right rake and tension - until you are overpowered. Then it is time for cunningham.

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[Erik Schmalz]

Thanks to both of you. Sorry, Keith, I wrote a reply and sent it but I keep forgetting that for some reason my phone doesn’t like sending from this account.

I’ve never been particularly graceful in my capsizes. I’m going to have to work on the over the rail and onto the board thing. I know it’s an established technique, but despite spending a decent bit of time in small boats, it’s just not something I’ve actually done. I’ve always ended up completely in the water, wondering what just happened. 

That said, I’ve only fully capsized the Swift once (and saved it from being toe-rail-deep to leeward a few times). I totally understand that I’m on borrowed time in that respect though.

I’ll work up the guts to get out in more wind when/if I get some. That should help with my trapeze learning AND my capsizing technique….

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[Erik Schmalz]

I figure I’ll just continue my new questions in the same thread. That'll make it easier for me to find the answers when I forget next year.

Last year, I (think) I got the forestay and shrouds close to where they need to be. I can probably use a little more shortening so I have more adjustment, but I’m quite close. Mast rake is measured and adjusted, jib track is corrected, measurements verified agains plans, etc. Now that that’s hopefully settled, I’m wondering if it’s correct that the jib battens get hung up on the mast when turning. In light air, it takes some doin’ to get them through. In heavier, they go, but they snap through pretty hard. This happens no matter where the jib is vertically. Normal? Fix needed? As a reminder, my sails are all North.

I hope the fact that it’s been quiet in here means everyone is out sailing….

Thanks all,

-erik

OH, and single-handedskiffs.com is gone again. I was JUST thinking that I should copy some of the info to a local file so I always have it and when I went to look at it, it was down. 

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[Robin Smith]

Hi there,

Just confirming that my jib doesn't contact the mast at all on a tack. It contacts the water sometimes, but that's due to operator error:)

Robin

CAN048

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[Philip Ryan]

hmmm - First, I believe Erik has North sails? North makes the jib to the class maximum measurements which makes it hang up on the mast pretty aggressively. I think the girths are about an inch longer and the luff is a couple of inches more than the Banks jib. I can't tell any performance difference though...

These comments about the jib are making me think about some of the questions (and potentially answers) that have come up about setups.

I came to the Swift after a brief stint in the 49er, and 49er sailors religiously measure the bend between the hounds and the boom. I carried this habit into my Swift sailing without thinking about it and assuming that things would be a bit different, which they are. I also assumed that everyone was getting their shroud, forestay, lowers, and vang settings using lower bend as one of the guides. Am I right - or?

A couple of very general observations are:

- Robin has complained about occasional speed issues, and frequently about wrinkles that he doesn't see in other people's rigs.

- I worked with lower bend pretty religiously for the first couple of seasons to get myself and the boat on the same page, and haven't thought about it since. Once I had numbers that seemed to work, I just used them and forgot about low bend.

The concepts that I remember are:

- light sailors will have slightly more low bend than heavy sailors

- more low bend makes the mast (and therefore the boat) a bit softer and more forgiving, and the opposite is also true

- heavy sailors make the mast (and therefore the boat) a bit softer and more forgiving, and the opposite is also true

- low bend reduces power in the lower 1/3 of the mainsail

- low bend is tightly correlated with lowers and vang tensions, and this interaction has complicated effects on the rig

A few conclusions might be:

- given that every jib I have used, with any setting I have chosen, has caught at least a little bit on the front of the mast, Robin's mast step may be a little farther aft than mine and/or he is using a straighter lower mast than I do, which may account for the different sail cloth wrinkle pattern. Sometimes Robin is faster than I am, so maybe we should learn something from his setup.

- perhaps sailors that complain that the boat is unforgiving have not compressed the mast enough for their body weight, i.e. lighter sailors should use higher shroud tensions which will allow the mast to bend more easily

- Heavier sailors that have speed issues should probably take a page from Rob Harper's playbook. He tends to use all his settings much lighter/looser than I do. And it works. He is also often faster than I am.

- For beginners while learning, a good setup might be enough extra tension on all the shrouds and controls (except the uppers and the vang) that the boat becomes a bit underpowered/lazy/unresponsive. *note - the vang must have just enough tension that you can flip the battens when you tack or gybe.

Does anybody else have comments?

Philip

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