[Rhodes22-list] Leech and foot line adjustment

Michael D. Weisner mweisner at ebsmed.com
Mon Oct 19 18:29:38 EDT 2020


Hi Rick,

For years I felt that the mainsail should be trimmed first, just as you have said.

I was lucky enough to crew aboard a sailboat that always won races and watched as the jib was always rough trimmed prior to the main. After adjusting the main, the crew touched up the jib controls. I asked why and the answer was always about the relative position and interaction of the two sails. The main is in the shadow or wash of the larger forwardmost sail.

I tried the process on my Rhodes 22 and was very surprised that I was able to change course faster and get back to speed quicker by paying careful attention to sail shape and deployment of the genoa before I fiddled with the main. One of the most important considerations was the angle of the genoa to the furler. It should be near 90 degrees and result in a very well defined curvature. In the past, I had always set the jib sheets much too tightly.

I quickly looked for an article as a reference and found this one:
http://sailingmagazine.net/article-17-sail-trim-101.html
which starts with:

"When discussing overall sail trim, it makes sense to start with the headsail for two important reasons:
    The jib directs airflow over the mainsail.
    The jib itself creates lift and provides a portion of the boat's forward momentum."

I am not saying that you must set the genny first, but please give it a try. You might be surprised.

Mike
s/v Wind Lass ('91)
Nissequogue River, NY
I’d rather be sailing :~)


-----Original Message-----
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> On Behalf Of Rick Lange
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2020 3:03 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Leech and foot line adjustment

Hi Mike,

I respectfully take issue with your suggestion to set the genoa sail before the main.

My training to sail a cutter rig was to first set the inner or staysail first, then the outer or yankee sail.  The logic is that the accelerated airflow over the staysail lifting surface is the greater force exerting more influence on the overlapping yankee than the other way around.

Especially with the 175 genny on the R22, the main will have considerable influence on the curvature of the overlapping genny.  So I always *first set the main*, get it to pull as hard as I can per the knot meter, then set the genny leach curvature to match the main leach curvature.

[image: RevSail2019a.jpg]

Regards,

Rick Lange


On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 11:29 PM Michael D. Weisner <mweisner at ebsmed.com>
wrote:

> Adjusting the larger furling genoa can be fairly complicated. One must 
> determine the optimal location of the jib sheets and cars as well as 
> the length of the exposed sail. Once this has been accomplished, the 
> sail shape may be fine tuned through adjustment of the foot and leech 
> to keep the sail from curling.
>
> The genoa (headsail) should be adjusted prior to adjusting the mainsail.
> For IMF rigs this is complicated by the outhaul tension, mainsheet and 
> traveler adjustments, not to mention sail shape lines.
>
> A reasonable general explanation on the adjustment of both lines may 
> be found at:
> https://www.precisionsailloft.com/blog/leech-and-foot-lines/
>
> More specific information may be found in our archives at:
> http://www.rhodes22.org/blew_skies/imf.html
>
> http://www.rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/2005-December/027408.h
> tml
>
> http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/2005-June/023989.html
>
> Most of us have learned through trial and error. This is a great 
> reason to spend as much time as possible sailing your Rhodes 22. Books 
> only tell you what should be done. Sailing and making mistakes force 
> you to learn by correcting your errors.
>
> Mike
> s/v Wind Lass ('91)
> Nissequogue River, NY
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> On Behalf Of 
> Gmorganflier
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2020 1:27 PM
> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Leech and foot line adjustment
>
> Hello,
>
> I’ve spent hours and days looking through the archives for tidbits of 
> info to help a novice sailor like me to know my boat better and hints 
> on sailing techniques which I copy and paste into folders on my iPad.
>
> I had someone at my sailing club point out something on my sails which 
> I didn’t even know existed nor had I seen discussed in the archives. 
> My Genoa has a leech line and a foot line which can be adjusted. My 
> furling main has a leech line.
>
> How are these used and adjusted? The person who pointed out this 
> feature to me said it looked while sailing  like my Genoa was cupped 
> on the leech and I needed to loosen the leech line..does this sound right?
>
> Thanks,
> George Morgan
> S/V Knotty Lady 1986
>
>
>
> --
> Sent from: http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/
>
>
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