Excessive Heeling, Weather Helm, Jibes

Heeling Too Far – Inability To Point High – Strong Weather Helm – Slow Boat Speed – Do These Have Anything In Common?

Yes – All of these conditions could easily be explained by old, “blown out” sails.

It is amazing how often I hear about a new sailboat owner who either did not inspect the sails that came with the “new” boat, or who didn’t know what to look for when inspecting the old sails.  Just finding that there were not any holes, rips or missing stitches… did not mean that the sails were in good shape.  Sails age.  Days on the water, luffing, sunlight, and strong winds ware sails out.  Days on the water, luffing, and strong winds tend to stretch the material that sails are made out of.  As the sails stretch, they become rounder and rounder (deeper and fuller).

Sail-makers talk about the maximum depth of chord – the distance between a straight line from luff to leach and the sail material.  When the wind is light, the sails need a lot of chord depth.  When the wind is stronger, the sail needs less chord depth.  And in strong winds, the flatter the sail the better.  Think about the huge amount of curve there is in a small plane’s wing (like a Cessna 172) and the relatively small amount of curve in a Lear Jet’s wing.  The faster the plane flies, the less curve the wing needs.  The same thing applies for sails.  The lighter the wind, the more curve the sails need.  The stronger the wind, the less curve the sails need. 

Sails can be made flatter by increasing tension along the sides of the sail.  We increase the tension along the sail’s luff by increasing halyard tension or by increasing downhaul tension (sometimes called a Cunningham).  We increase the tension along the sail’s foot with a clew outhaul line on a mainsail or the sheets on a jib.  And we increase the tension on the leach with the main sheet or boom vang for the mainsail, and/or the jib sheet for jib sails.  “Blown out” simply means that increasing the tension on the sail’s sides does not flatten the middle of the sail.  So, as the wind increases and we increase tension along the sides, the sail stays too round and powerful.

“Blown out” sails are probably sail fine in light breezes.  But, as the wind pipes up, the blown out sail cannot be flattened.  The sails are too powerful relative to the wind; and the boat heels over uncomfortably with every gust.  Even though the boat is heeled over uncomfortably, the boat is not moving fast through the water.  Most of the energy from the sail is sideways energy – NOT forward energy.  The keel isn’t gripping the water efficiently either… so, the boat ends up sailing slowly sideways.  Sailing sideways (leeway) means that the boat seems to not be pointing very high.  If you try to point higher, the boat actually slows down.  AND, the excessive heeling makes the boat hard to steer (weather helm).  Ultimately, the weather helm may overwhelm the boat; and the boat rounds up uncontrollably.  As this happens, the wind fills the jib on the wrong side (back-winding the sail) and the boat spins downwind, does an uncontrolled jibe, and rounds back up toward the eye of the wind uncontrollably.  This is about the time the “Admiral” says, “Take those blankety blank sails down and start the engine.”

So, if you have experienced an inability to point with similar boats, excessive heeling, sailing sideways slowly, strong to excessive weather helm, or uncontrolled spins…… the solution may be to buy a new set of sails.  Another option (if the budget isn’t there for new sails) might be to send your sails to a reputable sail loft and ask if the sails can be re-cut to improve their performance.  I did this with my 110% working jib a few years ago and am still amazed at how much better the boat sails with this sail now.  The sail is about 10% smaller but sails much better than before the re-cut.  If your boat really needs new sails – but the budget is tight… Maybe consider looking into one of the less expensive Asian sail lofts like Neil Pryde or looking into a discount warehouse operation like thesailwarehouse.com.  Ultimately, if the budget is really tight, you might consider sewing your own new sails.  Sailrite.com might be just the place to order the materials to make your brand new sail.

You will probably be surprised at how much better your boat sails.  The “Admiral” might be surprised at how much flatter the boat sails.  Both of these are a good thing……

What If Your Engine Fails???

What If Your Engine Fails

Imagine that you and your significant other have cruised to one of your favorite anchorages on Saturday; and have spent a delightful evening.  The next morning after breakfast you notice that the wind has piped up into the high twenties with gusts in the thirties.  AND, the wind will be right on your nose for the trip back to your marina.  Beating into strong winds and big waves doesn’t sound like much fun… so, you decide to use the trusty engine.  After all, that’s why you bought the iron genny for anyway.

With breakfast dishes done and everything secured, you start the engine, untie the lines and head for “home”.  You round through the bay’s narrow entrance and feel your first wind gust as the bow lifts on a large wave.  The wave plus the wind gust push the bow of your boat to the side (quartering the oncoming waves)  To counter the wind and wave action, you increase the throttle to nearly full speed ahead, turn the boat back onto its proper course, and proceed into the gathering weather.  After only about a hundred and fifty meters, the engine dies and the boat turns across the waves… drifting back toward the rocky shore.

Fortunately, the engine restarts quickly… but you notice almost immediately that the engine is sluggish and seems to bog down as you try to accelerate and turn back onto your course for “home”.  And, after running sluggishly for only a couple minutes, the engine again dies and the boat swings back across the waves.  A stronger gust actually heels the boat over to about thirty degrees on the next wave.  Again, the engine starts right up… but still isn’t running anywhere near one hundred percent.

What should you do?  What are the options?  Have you ever pre-planned for such a scenario? 

Of course, one option would be to try to get back into your secure anchorage.  But, with the wind and waves pounding into the narrow entrance (with its rocky shores), the maneuver would be tricky even if the engine were working perfectly.  If the engine died again while you were actually within the entrance, you might be washed aground on the rocks.

Another option might be to try anchoring the boat.  How are your anchoring skills?  With this strong wind and wave action, will your anchor hold?  Or, will the anchor drag - - again putting the boat on the rocks.  This may be when you reconsider the wisdom of saving money when you bought the minimum size anchor for your boat instead of spending more cash and getting a larger anchor.  How does the $20 to $50 dollar difference stack up now compared to the value of your boat… and potentially the lives of those aboard?

You could set sails and try sailing your way against the strong wind and waves.  What sails should be set?  Can you quickly hoist the mainsail?  Is the mainsail cover still on - - or is the mainsail simply flaked on the boom with a couple of sail ties - - ready to raise?  Can you hoist the mainsail in a reefed or double reefed set - - instead of trying to reef the mainsail after it’s fully hoisted???  What jib should you set.  In these strong winds would a storm jib be the best choice?  Are the jibsheet lead blocks in the correct position?  How much time is there to get everything ready, raised, and sheeted in correctly?  When was the last time you and your significant other talked about such a scenario?

Sailing is so much fun and so easy on nice light to moderate breeze days that we all tend to forget to plan for emergency situations.  The scenario described could surely be described as an emergency situation.  What are the Five-“P’s” of good sailing?  Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance……  Maybe it’s a good time to do a little bit of “what if” planning for situations that can (and do) happen.