[Rhodes22-list] Reply to Just Bent about weather helm

Rik Sandberg sanderico at earthlink.net
Wed Jul 18 09:15:00 EDT 2007


JB,

That's called "rounding up" and it's usually a good thing because it 
gets you out of an over-powered situation.

The boat does this because you have it heeled over far enough that the 
rudder looses it's bite. Time to reef if this is happening.

Rik

Just bent wrote:
> Hank,
> my flared sides were in the water. It seemed as though as soon as they go
> under water, you turn to weather.
> Jb
>
>
> Hank-5 wrote:
>   
>> As I understand it, weather helm has more to do with the placement of the
>> mast in relation to the boat, not necessarily the design of the hull.  The
>> flared sides shouldn't have anything to do with it as they are not in the
>> water.
>>
>> Hank
>>
>> On 7/17/07, James Barron <jbarron1 at cinci.rr.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> To Jb from JB
>>>
>>> The same thing happened to us on our last sail.  We had the full Genny
>>> out
>>> and were
>>> having fun at what I thought was close to the limit of wind we could
>>> handle.  Then the gust hit-- we
>>> saw it coming--just didn't anticipate how strong it was.  We were not
>>> prepared to uncleat
>>> the jib in time, or turn into the wind, so the gust pushed us over until
>>> the rail was in the
>>> water.  We were taking water into the cockpit.  But Stan has said that
>>> when that happens,
>>> the boat rounds up and corrects the problem, so I said a little prayer to
>>> Stan, and that is exactly what happened.
>>> Not the smoothest of moves, but it kept us safe.  The water all drained
>>> out of the cockpit, and none got
>>> into the cabin or bilge. We put the Genny back to about 100% and had no
>>> further problems,
>>> even though the wind gradually got stronger.
>>>
>>> I have always thought that weather helm refers to the slight tug on the
>>> tiller that means the
>>> boat has a slight tendency to want to turn to weather, or into the
>>> wind.  That is a safety feature,
>>> in that if you let go of the tiller, the boat will turn in the safer
>>> direction.
>>>
>>> The R22 tendency to turn abruptly into the wind seems to me to be
>>> exaggerated compared to
>>> other boats, and I am glad it is.  A function of the flared sides and the
>>> general design of the boat?
>>>
>>> Another newbie
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From:   Just bent
>>> Sent:   Tuesday, July 17, 2007 7:32 PM
>>> To:     rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>>> Subject:        Re: [Rhodes22-list] DOB Drill
>>>
>>> I also have a general sailing question. It seems when I get a gust of
>>> wind
>>> and heel over too far, the boat spins to weather by itself. Is that
>>> normal?
>>> I was thinking my rudder was coming out of the water too far or is that
>>> what
>>> they call weather helm?
>>>
>>> Jb
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>       
>> __________________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>     
>
>   


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