[Rhodes22-list] FW: ??? Sarboard tac ???

Leland LKUHN at cnmc.org
Wed May 30 09:24:32 EDT 2007


Alex,

As one newbie to another, it's not the boat, it's you.  I know because I've
been there and done that and occasionally am still there and doing that.  If
later in the day the wind shifted and the problem went away, there's likely
nothing wrong with your boat.  Rummy and Wally have good advice for checking
your rigging, but they're just being nice.  To lose that much speed in a 12
knot wind, your mast would have to be laying on its side.

When you tacked and could never achieve the same speed, something was
different.  It might have been a little thing, but it was enough to slow you
down.  The difference between a close reach, a close haul, and being in
irons is not that much of a change in direction; but what a difference it
makes in speed.  You had some minor change in point-of-sail, amount of sail,
sail trim/shape, wind, waves, current, centerboard, running rigging,
standing rigging, human ballast, drag (bumpers? prop? rudder?), barnacles or
whatever--it just doesn't take much.  And when you start combining these
changes!  No wonder it takes only a few hours to learn to sail but a
lifetime to master it.

If I'm on a close reach; I typically lock the tiller straight (or 3 degrees
into the wind per the book), have all the main sail out, and reef the genoa
based on the wind so the boat heels about 10 to 15 degrees.  If I trim the
sails anywhere near correct, I'm going about as fast as I'm going to go. 
It's always fun to make further adjustments, but they usually don't add much
speed.

All this thinking about sailing, I may have to sneak out early today.

Lee
1986 Rhodes22  At Ease
Crab Alley (Kent Island, MD)




MichaelMeltzer wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mailman-bounces at www.rhodes22.org
> [mailto:mailman-bounces at www.rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Alex Stavisky
> Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 6:16 PM
> To: rhodes22-list-owner at rhodes22.org
> Subject: ??? Sarboard tac ???
> 
> 
> Here's one for you experts.  I was on a starboard
> tack close reach on a 10-12 knot breeze with my
> R22.  My speed, per the GPS, was  a good 5-6
> knots, I tacked to port tack at a close reach and
> could only get 1-2 knots all I tried.   I failed
> to get anything better at every try.  It was very
> difficult for me to tack back to a starboard tck
> and most times I had to jibe.  I was using the
> mainsail only and when I added the genoa I had
> only marginal improvement.  When using the genoa
> it was out full and I had an exact reading on the
> actual wind position.  Later on in the day and
> with a wind shift the problem went away.  I had
> been in the middle of a 2-3 mile lake faced on
> one side with a small mountain.
> Any ideas what could have been going on?
> Alex the newbee.
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> 
> 

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