Question of sail

[Cotillion]

I own a Halmatic 30 long keel boat. The sail plan is an in mast furling main which looks slightly on the small side with a large genoa. Whilst close hauled she can sail at about 35-40 degrees off the apparent wind. However the compass shows approximately 100-105 degrees difference between each tack. Being long keeled I expected a better performance than this. Any clues please as to how I can tighten up the difference.

Also when close hauled the leach of the genoa is touching the outer shrouds when the tell-tails the me that the sail is set correct.

As well as general comments I'd like to hear any observations from anyone who owns, or has owned a Halmatic 30.

Thank you in advance.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have never owned a long keeled boat but your figures are pretty much what I would have expected.

My Sadler 34 is the shallow fin version, our friends' Sadler 34 has the deep fin, yet we outpoint them by at least five degrees. We put this down to sail quality, especially the genoa.

We normally sail close hauled at about 30 degrees to the apparent wind on flat water, a few more in choppy. We usually tack through about 90 degrees on the compass but the plotter shows more due to leeway.

 

[johnalison]

I suspect that 100 degrees between tacks is about par for the course for a boat of this general type. A fancy jib and a better cut main will improve things a bit but many people will exaggerate how close-winded their boats are. Sailing in company with other boats, or better still, racing, will give you a better idea of how you are doing. My very different boat, 19/20th rig and a bit bigger will do a bit better, but not much, and we are closer winded than many. My jib just about touches the spreader but it is laminate and likes to be sheeted well in. You might do a bit better by easing the jib and gaining more boat speed/less leeway.

Years ago I used to race my 26' Mystere. We were much less close winded than most of our competitors but more than held our own to windward by making little leeway. We occasionally lost out when a very tight course was needed to a mark and other boats could pinch their way upwind.

 

[dom]

....Any clues please as to how I can tighten up the difference.

Also when close hauled the leach of the genoa is touching the outer shrouds when the tell-tails the me that the sail is set correct.

As I read your question - you can never tighten it up! The faster you go the more your apparent wind will swing forward (heading you) and your TWA will worsen! Incidentally leeway will only exert a second order effect on your compass course and mainly affects COG.

Re your leech on the shrouds - don't worry about that at all; your two sails form an airfoil, whose efficiency is largely independent of the mast and other bits and pieces which allow you to set it up. But keep an eye out for any chafing and stick on a rub patch to prevent a more expensive repair later.

 

[Cotillion]

Thank you for your comments.
I was out on a friends Contest 35 at the weekend and that defiantly tacked through 90, though the comparison is chalk and cheese as his is a fin keeler with a ridiculously huge, though knackered, main (needs reefing with 14 knots over the deck) and i was thinking maybe there was something I could do to improve performance.

 

[Blue Drifter]

I have a Halmatic 30 (1979), it suits me very well and I have 12 years of happy ownership.

I changed the original boom roller reefing system by buying a new boom and main set up for standard slab reefing + stack pack. The new main = 168 sq ft. My Genoa = 287 sq ft (140%). Later Halmatic 30s had a standard slab reefing set-up.

When hard on the wind I crank-in the Genoa so that the sail is a fist width off the end of the spreader tip and the sail off the tell tales. When sailing in company I have not noticed that pointing is a problem, although I have to admit I have not done the detailed compass comparisons as you have. When beating I normally put the first reef in at around 16 knots of apparent wind, earlier in waves, this may be a bit tame but at 60 I like to have complete control in the puffs.

I hope this is useful, there is an Unofficial Owners Website set up by Timmygobang at, just Google Halmatic 30 unofficial. Send me a pm if you want any more info.

I suspect the spellchecker changed your definitely to defiantly but somehow it still works.