At times, in the gusts, Redwing was just a tad overpowered and had a little too much weather helm with lapper and full main. Most folks were sailing with storm jib and full main. I had to perform a few swooping, controlled and graceful roundups into the wind. At other times, I feathered the boat just a bit high and pinched to reduce the weatherhelm. But as time passed, I learned how to trim the sails to balance the boat and she was steady as a rock and fast as hell.
It was and ideal time to learn my boat – too much of the past season Redwing has been in pieces in our yard while I re-reigged here. I haven’t sailed her nearly enough. Some stuff I learned about sailing Redwing:
- The lapper rolls up on the CDI to the size of a storm jib and handles very well, but we lost some of the ability to shape the sail costing us some speed and pointing ability.
- The helm on a P19 is incredibly responsive to mast bend and rake. The effect is so great that it would be hard to overstate the effect of mast rake on how Redwing sails. With the 12:1 adjustable backstay, I could really fine tune the amount of weatherhelm. Easing the backstay line 4-6 inches (moving the mast head less than a ˝”) made a noticable difference in the amount of weatherhelm and greatly reduced her tendency to roundup in the gusts.
- The fractional rig the jib airstream really turbocharges the main on a P19. I tried all of the standard ways to depower the sails while still maintain good boatspeed. When slightly overpowered, pinching (pointing too high so the front edge of the main is almost stalled) worked very well to reduce heel and weather helm and (to avoid scaring the spouse until he got used to ocean swells compared to SF Bay chop). Oversheeting the jib and backwinding the mainsail slightly worked well too. Letting out the jib also depowered the main without a great loss of boatspeed.
Probably, Redwing would have been better balanced and faster with the storm jib, but I was having too much fun to spend even 15 minutes changing the headsail on the CDI. Next time out, I’m going to experiment with Bard’s technique of large headsail with first reef in the main.
Letting out the mainsail works, of course when greatly overpowered, but the boat loses all her speed.
- I sailed for three hours right behind Jerry on Sunday. I learned more about sailing Redwing in those three hours than in all the time I’ve sailed our “new” Redwing so far this year. It forced me to really pay attention to how I trimmed the sails, much more than usual, because I had to match his boat speed and direction. At times, with our lapper vs. his storm jib, I had to keep our speed down (especially broad reaching ) while at other times, I had to concentrate to keep up with him (upwind). Jerry’s boat is heavier than ours, so we generally can go faster on reaches and downwind, but with his new mainsail and the way he’s got her tuned, I think his boat is faster than ours on an upwind point of sail.
- I’m going to tighten the headstay even more than it already is. Redwing still has a touch more weatherhelm than optimal.
- Monterey Bay is one of the best places to learn about sailing Redwing. The winds were so steady, with negligible currents, that I could experiment with different sailtrims for hours and get consistent results. Boy, did I learn a lot about sailing my boat this weekend!
Judy B
1985 WWP19 #266 Redwing