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……
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