sailing down wind trickier then into wind ???

[jez33]

hi again.
im getting much better and using all the advice and tips you all gave me to improve my sailing in my comet sailing dinghy.

im finding though when the wind gets more choppy that down wind gets very unstable. i can even let the whole sail out and be almost directly downwind and i mostly find that a sudden gust can tip the boat onto the side which doesn't have the sail or boom on it (so if sail on right side it tips left).…

is it perhaps because i had the dagger board right down?

plus would it make the boat more stable on a downwind leg if i dont let the sail right out all the way

 

[Seagreen]

Been a long time since I sailed a dinghy, but I remeber some things:

If you are running downwind, you can pull the dagger-board up about halfway or so, but you need some of it in the water as it helps you steer.

Also, try and avoid sailing directly downwind. For any given dinghy, sailing about 30 deg away from the directly downwind direction and "tacking" downwind makes the boat more stable and faster. If you even shift your weight aft, you can, if the wind is quite strong, get the dinghy to plane over the sea at a much faster speed than just sailing through it.

 

[Skyva_2]

Ah yes, the death roll to windward....

Don't let the sail out completely, and steer away from a gust. Tighten the outhaul, kicker and the cunningham.

Most important, shift your weight a long way aft in a blow, get near the transom.

C/board mostly up, not all the way.

 

[oughtoc]

Yep, don't go for the dead run in gusty conditions, go for the training run instead. Plate 90% up to stop the sideways lift, if the boat turns on a run with the plate down it sort of trips over it so let the hull slip. A gust will change the apparent wind direction, so bear away with the gust, then resume course as it drops again. Don't let the nose dive as mentioned, keep the boat flat though - a big rooster tail out behind you means you are too far back & the nose in the air destabilises the steering.

hope that helps

 

[fishermantwo]

Death roll is caused by the CE [centre of effort} of the sail suddenly jumping some distance further over the lee side. Sailor leans out to counteract this, CE rapidly moves back to wards the sailor , boats falls on top of him. Use boom vang to keep leech from "blowing" forward and keep the CE over the boat. Really fresh conditions may require you to pull the main sheet in to reduce power. Survival conditions you may have to ease boom vang in conjunction with pulling the main in to reduce power. Avoid sailing by the lee and raise the board to at least half way, don't pull it right up you may need it to right the boat.

 

[grumpydog]

Oh sailing upwind is far easier isn't it?! More fun too, I used to find when I sailed dinghies regularly (Toppers and Lasers mainly). Some of us used to use a trick that contradicts others' advice on the forum, so it's probably wrong, but you might as well try it. Obviously, downwind tacking is the best way to remove the problem, but when it was only borderline necessary, we used to bring up the dagger-board entirely, leaving nothing of it in the water to 'catch'. Seemed to work for me...