[Rhodes22-list] How to improve Rhodes 22 upwind performance?

Mon Mar 21 22:49:26 EDT 2022

Roger,

Thank you once again for your very comprehensive explanations and suggestions.  

My original question was regarding the routing of the jib sheets.  As I mentioned, I moved them from outside the outer shrouds to between the inner and outer shrouds.  This lets me sheet in the genoa a few inches closer to the centerline.  I definitely notice a distinct improvement in windward performance.  I was out sailing today and paid close attention to the details (winds ranged from zero to about 15 knots.)  Attached is a picture I took.  The genoa is sheeted in harder than it should be just to illustrate the maximum sheeting angle.

My boat always has moderate to light lee helm.  I had the backstay tension very tight but it still has lee helm until heeling very far.  I plan on installing a longer forestay extension so I can rake the mast more.

I do understand and actively use the traveler to help maintain sail shape.  Unfortunately, my main always has a little curl in leech.  My sailmaker told me it had gotten stretched out and couldn't be fixed easily, but he didn't think that it would greatly affect performance.  I'm not so sure--what does the community think?

Dennis McNeely's thoughts about weight distribution were interesting.  I have nothing in my V-berth and most of my gear is under the cockpit seats or in the lazarette.  That would make the boat stern heavy, but I don't see a good option for fixing that except for loading the bow with something heavy.  Has anyone ever attempted that?

Anyway, this is a great conversation!

Thanks,

Mike

Mike McKay
s/v Liber (2006/2018)
Allatoona Lake
Acworth, GA

-----Original Message-----
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> On Behalf Of ROGER PIHLAJA
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2022 8:47 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] How to improve Rhodes 22 upwind performance?

Mike,

Here’s an experiment to determine if you have too much mast rake.  Assuming light to moderate wind so you can put up full sail, establish a close hauled point of sail, and trim both sails as good as possible.  Take note of how much weather helm you have.  Assuming you have the IMF mainsail, reef the mainsail a small amount, say 6 inches.  Reestablish a close hauled point of sail and trim the sails as good as possible.  You should now have less weather helm or maybe neutral or even lee helm.  Keep reducing mainsail area until you have eliminated all the weather helm.

By shortening the forestay, the weather helm can be tuned out of the rig.  I like the helm to be neutral to very slight lee helm in light air.  As the wind strength builds, the hull is going to heel over no matter how much rail meat you pile onto the windward rail.  I won’t go into the physics of why and how; but, the asymmetric wetted shape of the heeled over hull just naturally generates weather helm.  You counter this tendency towards weather helm by reducing mainsail area.  This moves the rig’s center of effort forward and reduces weather helm.  You want to leave the foresail at full area as long as you can keep the boat sailing on her lines and use the mainsail area to balance the helm.

In light air, there is very little feel to the helm no matter how the rig is tuned.  The easiest point of reference is to have the rig tuned for neutral helm, especially for a novice helmsman.  So, even though the helmsman isn’t getting any feedback thru the tiller, he/she knows to simply center the tiller, and the boat will go straight.  As the wind strength builds and sail area is not reduced, the hull will begin to heel over, and weather helm will build.  The helmsman is now getting plenty of feedback thru the tiller.  If the weather helm gets to be tiresome; then, the mainsail area can always be reduced to take the pressure off the tiller.  Even a few degrees of rudder angle off center develops an amazing amount of drag.  This slows the boat down and reduces pointing ability.  Remember, the boat is making leeway even when the tiller is centered, and this leeway is enough for the shoal draft keel, centerboard, and rudder blade to work together to develop the required lift for the boat to be able to point.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilbrium

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows

From: ROGER PIHLAJA<mailto:roger_pihlaja at msn.com>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2022 7:32 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] How to improve Rhodes 22 upwind performance?

Mike,

A couple of things to check:

1.   Is your centerboard all the way down?

2.  Is your rudder blade all the way down?

3.  In 5-15 knots of wind, you should use the mainsheet and traveler to center the boom.  Make certain the boom is not rising up and there isn’t too much curl on the leech.  Make certain the mainsail foot out haul is tight.  Without battens, there is only so much you can do with mainsail shape; but, this will set you up to do the best that is possible.

4.  Use your backstay adjuster to get the sag out of the forestay.  It takes quite a lot of tension on the backstays to remove the forestay sag.  Don’t be afraid of cranking on the backstay adjuster.  A mast head rig needs the forestay to have little sag in order to properly form an efficient slot with the mainsail.

5.  Refer to my rig tuning procedure in the archives to adjust the tension in the standing rigging.

The Rhodes 22 sails best to weather if it is regarded like a big sailing dingy, as upright as possible.  There should be zero to very slight weather helm.  If you have too much weather helm; then reduce the mast rake angle.  ie Make the mast rake more perpendicular to the deck.

My guess is you have too much mast rake, which is giving you a lot of weather helm, and killing your ability to point to weather.

Hopefully, these suggestions help.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 18, 2022, at 1:49 PM, mm.bizlist1 at gmail.com wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> Now that I've been sailing my Rhodes for about a year, I'm starting to focus
> on getting the best performance out of her.  While I mostly sail for fun, I
> do race every couple of weeks and want to be more competitive.  In
> particular, I have found that she does not go to windward very well for me.
>
>
> I have a 130 genoa and the IMF mainsail.  Until very recently, I have been
> routing the jib sheets outside of the outer shrouds and handrails. That
> limits how much I can trim the genoa. Consequently, I can only tack through
> about 100-120o.
>
> Recently, I tried running the jib sheets between the outer shrouds and the
> inner shrouds.  That definitely improved my pointing ability significantly
> at the expense of less than optimal headsail shape on some off wind points
> of sail.  However, this configuration lets me use my jib cars to adapt to
> wind strength and whether or not I am partially reefed.  I think this will
> retain the ability to use a whisker pole on downwind legs.
>
> I did briefly try both of the inboard jib sheet fairlead/cleat alternatives
> but using those would seem to require having a second set of jib sheets and
> probably going on the foredeck to switch between them after rounding a mark
> (I often race solo).  Also, those options eliminate the ability to control
> the sheeting angle to the clew with the jib cars.
>
> I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts and comments about what you have
> learned about how to optimize your boat's performance.
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Mike McKay
> s/v Liber (2006/2018)
> Allatoona Lake
> Acworth, GA
>
>

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