How about doing a course? It would steepen your learning curve considerably and instill a lot of confidence. You would also learn about navigation, weather and collision regulations etc.
gusty winds - PANIC!!!
- Thread starter chrisbitz
- Start date
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
I find it a bit of a pain. In the video the rudder is on the point of stalling in gusts when heeled and needs attention all the time. I changed the blade from the original design to a deeper straighter one (from a pattern of a Prelude rudder) and it transformed the boat. I could sail it hands-off just using the mainsheet to steer. In gusts it stopped whinnying about, but you did need to be aware it may be more likely to knock-down in a really big gust.
Old and new rudder blades
In the vid you can see at 1 minute that the tiller needs no attention and at 3minutes 20 seconds that there is little weather helm in gusts. All that has been changed is the rudder blade. The water behind the boat is much less disturbed by the new rudder, so is slowing the boat less.
Highndry
Well-Known Member
I love this site and I hope the OP doesn't begrudge my jumping in here and thanking everyone for the invaluable advice. I'm guessing I'm about where the OP is in terms of experience and what feels comfortable (I didn't have the dinghy grounding though) and we have similar boats. The knowledge and confidence that a thread like this builds is fantastic.
chrisbitz
Well-Known Member
It's almost an unusually
nice tone of conversation isn't it? Nobody saying they've been heeling over 10 times more than that for 30 years, and it doesn't scare them at all, and nobody saying we're stoopid newbies, and should sail reefed until we've had 3 years experience, and passed all our RYA examinations
No-one's mentioned how their mac is better than windows either.... yet.
What boat have you got?
Highndry
Well-Known Member
I've done some of the basic RYA stuff - DS and shore-based bit of the Coastal Skipper - but unless you're out on the water all the while, they don't really prepare you for your first season in your first boat with a wife and daughter that wish you knew what you were doing!! I spent last Summer getting better and better at dumping the main sheet!
But my Mac...
Oh, and my boat - 20' Hunter Medina - came from Windemere too. They probably know each other!
But my Mac...
Oh, and my boat - 20' Hunter Medina - came from Windemere too. They probably know each other!
Little Dorrit
Well-Known Member
I am not sure if my suggestions have already been made but my own instinct would be to reef after first de-powering the main sail by letting the main sheet traveler down to leeward (make sure the kicker is slackened). Easing the head sail slightly can also help when the wind is gusty. Remember however, the old adage that the time to reef is when you first think think about it!!
Searush
Well-Known Member
In a boat that small I might be inclined to play the main sheet rather like on a large dinghy in effect, rather than cleating it off & then releasing it completely, I would hold it in my hand (possibly use a ratchet block to ease the load) & just let a little slip out to spill the load. But don't forget that just the response of heeling significantly reduces the force of the wind by spilling it over the top of the sail. However, letting a little sheet go spills it out of the back of the sail so still retains more of the forward drive.
Keep an eye of the luff of both the jib & main as they are the first sign that gusts are pulling ahead of you as wind doesn't just vary its strength, it will amost always change direction too & if it pulls astern it can significantly increase the heeling effect when you are beating. When something happens, try to work out exactly what it was & then you can think about how to deal with it. Next time it happens, try your solution & see what happens. if it does solve the problem, you have learnt something, if it doesn't you need to work out why & change your plan, or recognise why this time was different to what you expected.
It's known as the "Kolb Learning Cycle"; Plan; Do; Review and is how we learn to deal with stuff.
Keep an eye of the luff of both the jib & main as they are the first sign that gusts are pulling ahead of you as wind doesn't just vary its strength, it will amost always change direction too & if it pulls astern it can significantly increase the heeling effect when you are beating. When something happens, try to work out exactly what it was & then you can think about how to deal with it. Next time it happens, try your solution & see what happens. if it does solve the problem, you have learnt something, if it doesn't you need to work out why & change your plan, or recognise why this time was different to what you expected.
It's known as the "Kolb Learning Cycle"; Plan; Do; Review and is how we learn to deal with stuff.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
Interesting. We do that 24 times a day when trialling. It makes it a steep learning curve
Highndry
Well-Known Member
This is pretty much what I've been doing. One hand on the tiller, one hand on the main sheet and use the two together. It seems right.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
If you are sailing single-handed it may be an idea to re-run your headsail sheets if they are tricky to reach at the moment.
On Feckless the sheets were cleated on the coachroof which was hopeless. I led them down the coaming using bullseye fairleads and turned them using cheekblocks. On my boat there was a drain channel in the seat which allowed me to lead the sheets down to some cam cleats.
You can see how this makes it easy to handle on this vid at 45 seconds and at 1 minute/40 seconds you can see my foot-cleating technique.
On Feckless the sheets were cleated on the coachroof which was hopeless. I led them down the coaming using bullseye fairleads and turned them using cheekblocks. On my boat there was a drain channel in the seat which allowed me to lead the sheets down to some cam cleats.
You can see how this makes it easy to handle on this vid at 45 seconds and at 1 minute/40 seconds you can see my foot-cleating technique.
josephmoore
Well-Known Member
As a dinghy sailor I was always a great source of amusement to my friend when I'd sit in the cockpit of his Rebel 41 holding onto the mainsheet... that boat just carried on regardless of gusts assuming you had the right number of reefs in. Not once did I actually have to uncleat and let some out; it just felt reassuring to be ready.
I'm just getting used to my Hurley 22 and found playing the mainsheet works nicely in keeping things comfortable when it's a bit gusty, but it's enough of a yacht that it's not mandatory.
I'm just getting used to my Hurley 22 and found playing the mainsheet works nicely in keeping things comfortable when it's a bit gusty, but it's enough of a yacht that it's not mandatory.
bbg
Well-Known Member
That's the way to do it in gusty conditions. Be prepared to ease the traveller or the sheetas the gust comes on.
As for the last part of what Phil says - if you look at the size of the main and the size of the rudder, it is not surprising that the main can actually steer the boat more than the rudder can, particularly when gusty.
If you are not very experienced you should learn that failing to ease the main during a gust can cause some boats to round up, and sometimes it is impossible to bear away without easing the main. It is an auxiliary rudder.
Highndry
Well-Known Member
If you are sailing single-handed it may be an idea to re-run your headsail sheets if they are tricky to reach at the moment.
On Feckless the sheets were cleated on the coachroof which was hopeless. I led them down the coaming using bullseye fairleads and turned them using cheekblocks. On my boat there was a drain channel in the seat which allowed me to lead the sheets down to some cam cleats.
You can see how this makes it easy to handle on this vid at 45 seconds and at 1 minute/40 seconds you can see my foot-cleating technique.
I like that, I like that a lot.
macd
Well-Known Member
Well, that is another way of spilling wind. And proof that you don't need to be a newbie to be stoopid. I've known people who, time after time, raced well over-canvassed and insisted in the bar afterwards that a reef would have given them more speed and an easier rider...then next time out they do exactly the same. Obviously never heard of this Kolb bloke.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
It also leaves the forward part of the cockpit clear for non-participating passengers.I like that, I like that a lot.
onesea
Well-Known Member
I think nearly all boats do it, I am trying to think of one that I have sailed that has not. It is a great feature I think of it as the boats self-defense.
You push her to hard she looses it, rudder becomes in efficient, the turning effect cause by sails (for what ever reason) is greater than the rudder.
Boat rounds up into the wind, and you think maybe its about time I put a reef in, or I must ditch the main quicker. Ignore these too often and you can find yourself in trouble...
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
Some boats do it at the drop of a hat though.
