Re: Using the jib for tacking

TillyLucy@aol.com
Sun, 24 Oct 1999 23:04:29 EDT


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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While I think that backing the jib to bring the bow through the wind on a
tack should be part of every sailor's "toolbox", I don't know that I would
suggest doing it as a matter of routine. For best performance, carrying as
much speed from the previous tack to the subsequent one is desired. This is
especially true in lighter winds. Since the technique of backwinding a sail
is also used to stop a boat or back one up it's unlikely to work to your
advantage when you are trying to maintain headway.

I would agree that in windy and/or choppy conditions, where turning a P-15
into to the wind will bring it to an immediate stop, backing the jib is the
tactic of choice. But when the wind is light and the water is flat, a smooth
turn without backwinding should yield more satisfactory results.

On another topic, I recovered my trailer bunks this afternoon. To do so, I
bought a roll of, you guessed it, that nice soft trailer bunk carpet from
the local West Marine. It only took about 3 ft. of the 15 ft. roll to do both
bunks on my Shoreline trailer. I have tons left over so if any of you local
Potterers would like to re-do your bunks, please feel free to use this
surplus material. You are also welcome to borrow my staple gun., it you need
it. The carpet is black, by the way.

Dave Kautz
P-15 #1632 Tilly Lucy
Palo Alto, CA

In a message dated 10/24/99 7:17:32 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
panstett2@yahoo.com writes:

>
> Until two years ago, last June, the only boat I sailed
> for 10 years was my 14' English-made Skipper. This
> boat is a simple day-sailer with a small jib, and I
> love her. When tacking, I never used the jib to
> turn-about, yet often in somewhat difficult winds this
> boat with a loose-footed sail was not very responsive,
> and I would have to re-tack with more speed and a more
> aggressive manuever with the tiller. Coming about,
> then, always worked, but with more violence than I
> cared for.
>
> Then two years ago I took a sailing course on Lake
> Superior, and the instructors strongly advised using
> the jib to bring the boat through the wind, keeping in
> mind, always, that release of the jib sheet right
> after the bow moved through the wind was paramount.
>
> Well, when I applied this tactic with my Skipper, the
> tacking, in any wind, was so much easier, less
> violent, and more controllable, that I regretted not
> having using this procedure before.
>
> Now, with my Potter 19, I always use the wind to spin
> my bow by keeping in place the jib sheet when
> tacking...I just make sure that when I'm doing this
> the jib sheet is not clutched, but free and ready to
> release from my grip. This has given me so much more
> freedom of movement, and frankly more feeling of
> safety.
>
> Solar Fry...What am I not seeing?
>
> Paul Anstett
> Fargo
>