Re: Balancing the helm when reefing - Mast attitude

From: SolarFry@aol.com
Date: Mon Mar 27 2000 - 11:47:34 PST


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{:^)

Why not KISS it? Afraid of that forestay?

Rather than shooting CDI and having to clean all that CDI blood, why don't
you try simple task of moving top of mast aft a bit... That will cure problem
and might even allow you to sail with a full lapper. A one inch move of mast
tip causes quite a change in handling. Reach under that CDI skirt and fondle
it's forestay turnbuckle to add a few inches...

I had the opposite problem with my new P19. I corrected by moving mast tip
fwd. At 18 MPG it would head up into the wind fiercely out of helm control.
Now it sails with a little heel under one reefed main and full lapper.
However, if wind reaches 25 MPG it still heads into wind before suffering a
knockdown, depowering sails, which is a lot safer than falling off.

Comments encouraged...

{:^)

Best
SF

In a message dated 3/27/00 11:24:01 AM Pacific Standard Time,
DrJudyB@pacbell.net writes:

<< Hi Geoff,
 
 That's a good thought, Geoff, but I don't think aa higher CE is the *main*
 reason for the slight increase in heel that I noticed. I don't think the CE
 is much higher on the reefed lapper than the strom jib. Perhaps a little,
 but not much higher. We use both the lapper and the storm jib on our CDI.
 The clew is the same height on both sails and when the lapper is reefed, the
 geometric CE is pretty close on the reefed lapper as it is on the full storm
 jib. I'll have to check that next time I have the two sails on my living
 room floor, but I think my memory visual memory and drawings are correct.
 
 I really think it's because you get a baggy shape if you reef the lapper by
 50%. The deepest draft is right at about the luff when you reef 50%.
 Redwing's custom-made storm sail is about 40 sf, which is about what we
 reefed Chris' lapper down to. But the 40 sf of our storm jib is ALOT
 flatter than the shape we had on Chris' reefed lapper. It was easy to see
 it. There was a really deep curve in the sail right at the front. There
 was no way to trim the angle of attack as flat as I can on the the storm
 jib or depower the jib really well.
 
 The heel wasn't overly excessive on Chris' boat with the lapper reefed to
 about 50% of it's original size, but I thought it was a little more
 noticable than what I'm used to when Rdwing's rigged with the storm jib in
 similar conditions. It's hard to compare the two boats across a period of
 several weeks, so I can't be really sure of that. It was just an impression,
 not something I could actually measure.
 
 In addition to discussing "weird ways to reef that don't work well and how
 to fix it", I was trying to inject some data into that old debate about how
 much you "loose" when you get a CDI, compared to hanking on a smaller sail.
 There definitely was a measurable loss of 5-10 degrees of pointing ability
 and about a 3/4 knot loss of boat speed (down to a still respectiable 4.7
 knots) with Chris' boat rigged that way, compared to my Redwing with a
 stormsail and first reef. Even with the loss of some performance, it was
 nice to know that if you get caught out there with the wrong headsail in
 highwinds on the CDI, it's still possible to have fun sailing the boat, and
 get home in comfort and safety.
 
 In my opinion, reefing a lapper down to the size of a storm sail isn't a
 substitute for owning a stormsail and choosing the right headsail before
 your leave the dock . But it's nice to know that you can reef the lapper
 down to half the size and still enjoy the sail.
 
 And, as for 198 knots of wind, we all know SF Bay is infamous for REALLY
 high winds <BG> (Obviously it's a typo. I meant to write 18 knots, like
 the previous sentence mentioned)
 
 Judy B
 1985 WWP #266 Redwing
 SF Bay, CA
>>



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