Stopping a Folkboat

[mikeinkwazi]

Does any one know how to make a Folkboat stop?
Non of my other boats were a problem to hove to, but my Marieholm IF is refusing to lie still!

 

[gregcope]

How fast are you going?

I have found them to shift at at least around 1.5knots or so when hove too. Need to be carefull on race lunch stops as you could travel quite far...

 

[mikeinkwazi]

How fast are you going?

I have found them to shift at at least around 1.5knots or so when hove too. Need to be carefull on race lunch stops as you could travel quite far...

'Eliza' is going at least as fast as that! This is the first boat I have owned that will not stop.
I guess she will settle down better with a reef in the main but with no jib up she sails and tacks, just slower. Back the jib, still sails and tacks. It's an interesting problem!

 

[Boathook]

'Eliza' is going at least as fast as that! This is the first boat I have owned that will not stop.
I guess she will settle down better with a reef in the main but with no jib up she sails and tacks, just slower. Back the jib, still sails and tacks. It's an interesting problem!

I was taught that to heave to you need a main and jib. I can get my cat to heave to but she still moves at around 2 knots and I need to play with the main trim to get down to this.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

I recognise the problem, it always seemed to me that the difficulty arose from a relatively tiny headsail being overpowered by the very much larger main. When I had a Folkboat I found I could heave to by easing the main right away with the jib backed. Still forereached at a knot or so.

 

[DanTribe]

My Stella, very similar to a Folkboat, would sometimes lie happily with no headsail and main sheeted in hard. She would fall onto one tack but quickly round up onto the other and keep repeating. this. Tacking angle was only enough to fill the leech and barely making way. Never tried it in heavy winds, I think it would do the sail no good.

 

[rob2]

I agree, it's all to do with sail balance. Many masthead boats need to have quite a bit of genoa rolled away before they will heave to at a sensible angle, fractional rigs have the opposite problem so you need to take a reef in the main or you'll end up with the main flogging and that can be expensive for a tea break!

Rob.

 

[mikeinkwazi]

I agree, it's all to do with sail balance. Many masthead boats need to have quite a bit of genoa rolled away before they will heave to at a sensible angle, fractional rigs have the opposite problem so you need to take a reef in the main or you'll end up with the main flogging and that can be expensive for a tea break!

Rob.

On the next fine day I'll try all the options.

 

[Seajet]

It seems a bit drastic just for a lunch stop, but if all the suggestions don't work, how about a sea anchor ? Should slow down the fore-reaching and help keep the bow up.

 

[dulcibella]

There are several different heave-to techniques. Many boats can do it without a backed headsail - indeed, backing the headsail puts a lot of chafe on it and is better avoided where possible. My Rustler 36 heaves to very nicely with a reefed main and no headsail. The range of methods and the types of boats that they suit are well covered in Lin and Larry Pardey's small book "Storm Tactics".

 

[Polly1]

I tried with my Folksong yesterday. Genoa only, backed helm hard over and she lay across the wind hardly moving. I tried reefing the genoa to see if she would point into the wind more but it had no effect just less stabilising effect.
This was with no main in a force 4

 

[BAtoo]

Does any one know how to make a Folkboat stop?
Non of my other boats were a problem to hove to, but my Marieholm IF is refusing to lie still!

Well in my experiance heaving to does not mean "stopping"; the boat will fore-reach, possibly quicker than you expect....

Its all about balance really. With the FB you have a large main and small foresail and therein lies the problem - too much drive from the main overcoming the realtively "weak" jib. So less main - either let out/down the track to depower (but then it will possibly flog too much) or reef it (possibly too much hassle for a short brew.....)



At lest you have a decent underwater shape to help you.....