Sailing upwind in light to moderate wind

[Sam Buschell]

We've been having trouble sailing upwind in light to moderate conditions.
The grove seems very tight, our pointing isn't there, and boatspeed isn't adequate.
Our sails are three or four year old Kevlar and the bottom and foils are in good shape.
Any advice on how to correct this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Tom Elsen]

Hi Sam
Try these as a start point --
Watch your jib halyard tension VERY carefully. You might have too much.
Keep the nose down until you get up to speed (don't try to point up coming out of a tack).
If you've got some chop, dial in a bit of twist - traveler above center, boom perhaps slightly above midship, don't oversheet.
If the water is flat you can add more sheet so that the second batten is just inside the backstay.
Go for speed not point.

[Scott Ross]

Sam,

Your comment about the groove being narrow makes me think you have your genoa trimmed in too tightly. Easy the genoa out slightly to create a more forgiving entry on the sail and a wider groove. You wont point as high but you shouldn't be trying to point in light air anyway. You're better off footing for speed. Also try moving the jib lead forward in light air to open the leech of the genoa some.

Tom's comments about putting some twist in the main are spot on. Ease the mainsheet until the telltale on the top batten starts to stall. In light air the top batten will not be parallel to the boom but will fall off 5-10 degrees to keep the airflow attached at the top of the sail.

[Guest]

Well, I can tell you how we set up.

First off, ease that backstay some. A tight forestay equates with a tight groove, and less power in most cases. We trim our genoa leech 2 inches outside the spreader in light stuff, and one inch off in moderate. Just easing the genoa sheet that extra inch allows the leech to open up a bit. I run 20 on my inner shrouds and 24-26 on my outers (with a loos gage) with max forstay and I leave my backstay off 100% in the light stuff.

Next - rarely pop the inside telltale on the genoa while steering. Very rarely. In moderate stuff you can keep the inner telltale on a 45 degree angle with the lower, but in the light stuff both straight back will be more forgiving.

Genoa halyard - adjust this for depth placement. Depending on your sail cut, maximum draft at about 45-55% is generally right. For a slightly wider groove, you can move the draft to 45% - this will round the sail entry and make it slightly more forgiving - but it will flatten the back sections. There's a fine line here where you'll tension that halyard too tight.

Mainsail halyard - again about the same draft, around 50%. Wrinkles in the luff aren't necessarily bad if you HAVE to have them to get the correct draft placement.

Get people down below in the light stuff. You want at least 5 degrees of heel, if not more, when it gets truly light. And when I say down below - I mean stuff them inside.

I rarely allow the top batten to fall off parallel with the boom. Upwind, in moderate, sometimes I'll have the boom an inch or two above center to induce the slight windward helm that you'll want to insure you're getting lift from your rudder as well as your keel. In the light stuff, I place boom dead on center. Remember, if you aren't pulling your tiller a couple degrees to windward, the rudder isn't doing you any good upwind.

In the light stuff - don't let your crew move. Get them settled and GO. You'll lose 4 boatlengths (if not more) in a tack in light air - so don't tack unless there is a truly pressing reason.

Finally, in the chop, don't oversteer. Even when the bouncing is all over the place, the wind is still where it started out. Try to keep your boat on a steady course where you knew the telltales were flying before you started bouncing.

[Tom Line]

That was me.

[Sam Buschell]

Thanks for all of the good information.
Take care.