Second time out, first under sail

[Gus]

What a great day!! Got to sail the chrysler @ Jordan lake, here in NC. Nice breeze in the morning, great tacks. In the afternoon the wind died, so we motorsailed for a while, then the wind picked back up, another couple of tacks. As I was motoring towards the ramp, iron jib died, and the current push us towards a bridge, I didnt make it under it, an a powerboater saved us by towing us back to open water, my pride was damage, and that's it! This chrysler 22 is a TANK! The forestay got rubbed against the concrete in the bridge, and I'll get it replaced before the next trip, other than that, everything went fine :)
Couple of photos @ www.flickr.com/photos/gus_chrysler22/

Gus

[AdriftAtSea]

Ouch.. them motor boats are occassionally useful beasties to keep around.

[Gus]

Now I know, I won't badmouth a motorboater again ;) Now jetskiers... :p

Gus

[Captain Smollett]

Hi Gus,

I did not realize you were sailing Lake Jordan.  I used to fish there a lot.  Beautiful lake with lots of coves.  Never sailed there, tho; I might just have to drag the trailer boat up there.


Glad your day went well overall.

[Gus]

I liked Jordan, nice lake with some shallow places to beach the boat. I'm getting ready for the second trip. The 22 til 25 in pamlico river. I'm still working in the thru hull rudder post fix. I ended up glassing a 2' inch PVC pipe to the hull-cockpit floor. I also reinforced that area with glass. I'm waiting for the paint to dry so I can reassemble everything (the post is in place thou)
And today I got in the mail 2 barlow winches and a guzler 500 bilge pump. AND I located a couple of leaks in the fore hatch that I need to fix...  AND... I finally order the boarding ladder. I found a nice looking one for 75 bucks online in DotLine Marine. It never ends...

Gus

[Gus]

Got to the lake at noon. Not a whole lot of wind, some stinkpotters were making fun of me "not a good day for you" they said.
After launching (I was alone) I met up with another sailboat already in the water. I was talking to the skipper, still with my main up, and the wind picked up. Oh boy, it was a fun fun day. I almost got the boat's starboard rail to touch the water. 5.2 knots on a 30 minutes tack, it was fun, but at the end of the day I was dead tired.
The PVC thru hull rudder fix worked perfect, not a single drop of water in the bilge, I'm really happy. The fishfinder/depthfinder is fryed.

I took some pictures, they are post at www.flickr.com/photos/gus_chrysler22/

Question for you guys. My boat came with a traveler track and a traveler cart that you control the position by adjusting some long pins in the track. What are the best settings for light air, medium air, and a blow? I was reading a book, but is kinda confusing.

Can wait for next weekend, I'm hooked now :)

Gus

[Captain Smollett]

Theory:  Traveler is generally used to control leach tension/twist in the mainsail.  The traveler does for the main essentially what adjustable lead cars do for headsails.

Closehauled in light air, you can move the traveler to windward so that you can pull the boom over the true centerline (or therabouts).  As the wind pipes up, you'll get more weather helm and easing the traveler can alleviate that so that you may not have to reef as soon.

In the video "Improve Your Sailing Skills" it is stated flatly: "the best indicator of traveler position is helm balance."

Further off the wind, you can ease the traveler to hold the boom down.  If you keep the mainsheet lead over the centerline (or even to windward a bit) when the boom is fairly broad off, you'll note the mainsheet pull is a rather steep angle; the mainsheet tension is only partly pulling DOWN and the boom can lift fairly easy (with swells, puffs, etc).  You'll have too much twist in the main so that the top part of the sail is luffing or the bottom is overtrimmed.

So, you essentially use the mainsheet and traveler together to obtain proper trim and proper twist.  There's nothing magical about the traveler itself; for boats without a traveler, Richard Henderson (Understanding Rigs and Rigging) tells us that the same control can be had by using an off-center vang (vang led to rail rather than base of the mast like most people do), and he's won races with such a setup.

Rule of thumb: if you have leach telltales in your mainsail, you want them to all 'break' at the same time when you luff the sail.  If the top ones break first - too much twist; use the traveler/mainsheet to flatten the sail.  If the bottom ones break first, add some twist.

Hope this helps, and I hope the old salt racers on board here don't tear me up TOO much.   ;D

[Gus]

Thanks for the reply!! ok, last weekend, I was heeling a lot, and I noticed, that when the boat was at about 4 knots, the edge (where the air exits the sail) in the main, from the third batten up, it will flatter really fast, so if I put tension in the mainsheet, the boat will heel a lot (that's when I almost got the rail in the water) and the flatter will stop.

So in simple terms, light wind, put the traveler in the center, moderate winds, put it windward?
Thanks and excuse my ignorance.

Gus

[Captain Smollett]

So in simple terms, light wind, put the traveler in the center, moderate winds, put it windward?
Thanks and excuse my ignorance.

If I'm reading your comment correctly, I think that's a backwards...close hauled, in light air, the traveler can be to windward - ease the traveler (to leeward) as the wind picks up to decrease twist and thus reduce weather helm.

The coolest explanation of sail sail shape I've seen is to think of shape (curvature and twist) as the gears in your car. 

In light air, you need "low gear" to generate power.  This is a full sail (in REALLY light air there's an exception due to airflow detachment issues, but we'll ignore that) with a fair amount of twist - but with the boom pulled right to the center (or even slightly to windward).  Note that to get the boom ON the centerline, you'll need the traveler car to windward.

In your car, a higher gear develops less torque but is faster.  So, as the wind picks up, you need a higher gear - less "power" but faster.  This is flatter sail, trimmed off a little bit.

To flatten the sail, you need to ease the traveler and trim the mainsheet.  It's the two together that control trim and twist.  At least that's how I think of it.

the edge (where the air exits the sail) in the main, from the third batten up, it will flatter really fast, so if I put tension in the mainsheet, the boat will heel a lot (that's when I almost got the rail in the water) and the flatter will stop.

That edge is the leach - the after edge of the sail.  Others may have to chime in on this, but it's my understanding that THAT fluttering is best controlled with a leach line if you have one.

I don't trim my mainsail to stop the fluttering on the leach - I trim to stop the fluttering on the luff (the leading edge of the sail) or ideally with the telltales.  If you were close hauled with a genny (or maybe even a working jib), the headsail may cause the luff of the main to flutter A LITTLE BIT with the main properly trimmed - so using the telltales is generally the best guide for proper trim.  Anyway, I wonder if in trying to get rid of that fluttering on the leach you were overtrimming and that was causing you to "heel a lot."

You said the wind picked up, but can you offer an estimate of its strength?  Flying just the main, or main plus a headsail?  If so, which headsail?

You've talked a bit about heeling and rail in the water, etc, and generally, you want to keep the boat on her feet.  Sailing more or less upright is fast, heeling beyond 20-25 degrees or so is slow (though sailng while heeling SEEMS fast).  If you had excessive heel with proper sail trim, that's PROBABLY an indicator that it's time to shorten sail.

Ah, the fun of sailing....so many variables, and each day is different. :)

[Gus]

I had a full main, and a working jib. Thanks for all the information!