Is there a good reference out there on the internet that explains how to tune a boat for proper sailing that a beginning sailor can easily understand?
That is, something that explains in layman’s terms when and how to adjust sail tension, angle, boom vang adjustment, mast rake, etc.
Not exactly everything you wanted to know, but a good start - and hopefully will remind you of anything you forgot. Obviously this was made for big boats - so skip any options <u>NOT</u> on your boat. Hope it helps.
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Thanks Dick. I have seen that before. It looks very handy, but not exactly what I am looking for.
Note that for example the “wheel” diagram simply says “Adjust Main Outhaul”. Ok, that’s great. Now what do I DO to it? And when do I do it? How do I adjust it, in or out? Does it depend on the windspeed? Does the level of adjustment depend on the angle of the boom or the luff tension?
You have to remember, I have no clue whatsoever as to what lines to adjust and under what conditions to adjust them. For example, unless someone tells me “You should tighten up your vang.” then I would have no idea that it was even loose to begin with.
I’m looking for something that outlines the process of evaluating your boat and how it sails from the first time in the water. Does that make sense?
Andrew,
What you are looking for is called experience.
I know that sounds sarcastic but let me explain further. Sailing is a lot like riding a bike, or doing another activity that requires concentration, skill, and practice.
Sailing takes time on the water to get good. Adjusting something, observing the reactions, and compensating for the results are what good sailors do.
The best way to learn is not from a book or asking question, (although all information can be helpful) it is gained by lots and lots of sailing.
Peter R.
Visit www.climatemodels.com
Andrew,
I am finding it difficult to answer your question. There are three different things that your question could be asking.
what do these tuning items do?
why do you want to do this?
how do you find the right setting?
For example: the boom vang
what does it do? It pulls down on the boom
why would you want to do this? to control the tension of the leach of the sail
How do find the right setting? You adjust the twist of the sail until the top of the sail just starts to stall as the jib stalls when you bear away from the wind. But that is only a starting point. Adjustments from there deped on the wind conditions etc etc etc etc…
Bob Sternes tuning wheel and the associated article describing how to use it (http://www.rcyachts.net/sail_fast.htm) answers the third question. But if you are not ready to ask question #3 about each of your tuning adjustments, then that does you no good.
The answer to the first question should be fairly obvious once you have spent any time looking at your boat and sails when the wind is filling the sails. That is assuming that your boat is rigged reasonably correctly such that the lines function as they were designed. But if this is where you are stuck, then I suggest you hop on down to your local book store and buy a beginner or intermediate level sailing book. These should include some really snazzy diagrams showing what happens when you adjust each of the tuning controls. I suggest a book rather than scouring the net since then you will have a handy reference that you can take to the pond and that will have all the stuff in one spot. you will find answers to all this stuff on the net, but unless you print it all out, it will be difficult to take with you to the pond and most of this stuff should really be tried out at the pond with the wind in the sails.
If you are looking for the answers to question #2 for each tuning control, you may find some of this in that same book. But most of the ones I have seen give less than stellar answers. Most of the time, if they do go beyond question #1, they go straight to question #3. And unless you are naturally inclined as an aerodynamicist, you will find it difficult to see the changes in sail shape that result from some of the tuning adjustments. There are some good websites dealing with sail shape. But many times these tips are located in class specific tuning guides.
Anyway, if you can give me a better idea of what you already know, then it might help us to get you to the next level…
Will Gorgen
Andrew - yes it does.
Each of the boxes on the circular chart could have it’s own circle made up for each different adjustment. Kind of a pyramid thing.
To start, might I suggest a trip to local library and check out some beginning sailing books. As noted, they will be for big boats - so just skip over the parts that you don’t have/use. Example - don’t worry about how to set, trim and douse a spinnaker. You can skip the backstay if your boat only has a forward stay and side shrouds.
It is important to know what each line is supposed to do, and that will help you determining how or why to adjust it. Some items are common between big boats and small - others aren’t. As an example, in most classes both the main sheet and jib sheet are centrally located on deck for r/c boats, while big boats will have mainsheet travellers and the jib sheets will run to a set of deck mounted blocks. Not a lot of big boats still use jib booms, but not a lot of r/c classes use boomless jibs or mains.
Once you understand the “function” of the line or rigging, the next step would be to identify a local class or two and take a look at class rules, and what functions are allowed. Finally, as you will often see suggested, go to your lcoal pond and meet some of the sailors of the class that interests you. They will be your biggest and best source of tuning and sail trim. Eventually, you can move up the line to the local, regional or class champs to see what they are doing, and eventually you will be helping someone else. During all of this hands-on experience, you will quickly find how hard it is to give basics when there are so many changeable items.
It is easy to say that the outhaul (as example) can flatten the lower part of the sail - or make it fuller. A flatter sail is for higher winds and accelleration, while a fuller sail is for light airs or water with chop/waves where you might need more power. Flat and point hinger, full and foot off for speed. BUT - it is only one control, so downhaul, outhaul, sheeting, diamonds, side stays, rear and forestays all play a part in shaping a mainsail for different wind and water conditions. These are basics, but even those get questioned from time to time.
I have found that having sailed in highschool, and bit in college, and then pretty much since 1974 on big boats (execpt a few years recently) I am still learning and still experimenting. I still read about new ideas or theories, and even try a few that AREN’T recommended - but seriously, start out by learning “what” the lines shrouds and stays control. Then later you can learn “When” or “How Much” to use them to your benefit.
Just my humble opinion of course. Good luck
… find a club to sail with…
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Originally posted by greg V
… find a club to sail with…
<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
and when there is no club? how do you do??? [;)]
Wis
_/ if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! _
Dick; Will…
any precise books you would recommend?
Would be nice to have some experienced rc sailor to post some books; hints or any other source.
As for now; I have: Marchaj; Sail Performance
thats it…but I am not really satisfied with it…to high level and took me lots of time to understand all…lots of aspirine too [;)]
Just my 2 Yen
Wis
_/ if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! _
Wis - will do a quick inventory and post.
I do know, that for very new beginners, the Red Cross Sailing book covers pretty much all areas and while limited to the basics, it is an easy read with good graphics. Probably available through local American Red Cross offices - but they will probably have to order it. Haven’t taught Red Cross sailing programs since 1985, so not sure if in print.
I’ll check on other books - but without a similar boat sailing next to you, you will never know “how close” you are to optimum sail trim.
Don’t forget though, there is more to tuning than just sails… In the neutral stick position, is your rudder perfectly alinged with keel - or did you bump your trim slider a bit and the rudder when neutral really is off a few degrees to port or starboard? Battery location affects fore/aft and even side to side trim too. Are shrouds identical in length, or is mast tilted? Some are able to be checked without a boat next to you - but as Greg noted, a club is a good start for initial setup and then water time experience will improve the “fine adjustments”.
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”> In the neutral stick position, is your rudder perfectly alinged with keel - or did you bump your trim slider a bit and the rudder when neutral really is off a few degrees to port or starboard? <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
This is something I’ve fought with. I’ve come up with a method of doing this at hame but is there a quick and nasty way of checking this at the pond? The winds are so shifty at our pond that one tack is never the same as the last.
Thanks
Don
Vancouver Island
Wis,
I learned to sail as a very young kid (started crewing at 6 years old and sailing school at 7) so I never learned the basics from books. Luckily I had some excellent instructors and by the time I graduated from the Junior Program at the age of 15 all of the basics were so second nature to me that I never bothered to pick up any books on the subject.
I did teach sailing school for a number of years. I taught 3 age groups: 6 to 8 year olds, Boy scouts (10-16) and adults. The little kids learned by doing as very few of them could read. Even my overly simplistic diagrams went over their heads most of the time. We got into the habit of adding the word “mister” to everything to help make it more freindly for the kids: Mister wind blows on mister sail which makes mister boat move… The Boy Scouts insisted on using the sailing merit badge book which is pretty useless. That book mainly deals with rules of the road and safety stuff but does not cover things like sail tuning controls. For the adult class, we had some notes taken from the J world sailing school program. The head instructor for that program had taught at J world and had written some of the notes so they let him reproduce those notes for our class.
I have heard some good things about “Sailing for Dummies”. you might want to check that one out. North-U courses are about the best treatment of the suject I have seen, you can order these materials from northU at http://www.northu.com/nu/NU_catalog.taf?_function=list&category=21 . They offer both books and CD-ROMs. Lots of great diagrams.
PS. You are not going to get what you need out of Marchaj…
Will Gorgen
Will;
First thanks for the link…I might order a fwe things there.
Back to tuning…well my problem is actually the fine-tuning…takes me hours to try and test things…I#12288;must say that I learned a lot here…great advices.
As I said some time ago…I began in my youth to sail; so I think I master the basics [;)]; again its all these fine tunings thingies…maybe what I need is just more experience…can anyone come over and teach me a few tricks…free bed and food [;)]; and of course internet conenction at will in case you need your daily stress (joke) at rcsailing.net (grin!)
Again thanks
Wis…looking for any experiences rc sailor to share infos; advices or more!
_/ if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! _
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Originally posted by Don
[quote] I’ve come up with a method of doing this at home but is there a quick and nasty way of checking this at the pond? <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Don -
I made up what looks like a long letter “H” but it has the insides cut to fit the foil shape at one end of the trailing edge keel and at the other end to fit the leading edge of the rudder. I doesn’t have to go the full length of either, just enough to hold in place against the keel, and use the rudder Tx slider to bring the rudder in line with the jig, and hence the keel training edge. Simply hold against the keel, and gently move the trim slider until the rudder fits the other open end. I suppose a simple “V” notch at both ends on centerline could also work. Never thought about that until just now as I am typing.
You can do a half form too, and in that case I would make it long enough to hold against the side of the keel and the side of the rudder.
Sometimes I have found I am unable to get the rudder aligned witht he keel using the slider - too much or too little with each “click” and when that happens I loosen the set screw on the rudder steering arm and gently (but firmly) turn the rudder by hand to a slightly different position, tighten down the set screw and fine adjust with the slider.
Note - be sure to tighten the rudder arm screw. Twice I have forgotten and the rudder has worked out. One it sank, the other time it floated and I recovered it. Just an F.Y.I.
Wis,
Since you have mastered the basics, then you should be able to get your boat to a pretty good starting point in terms of tuning.
I would use these rules of thumb to use in your initial setup:
Trim: Trim your servo into the close hauled setting and then adjust your sheet length so that your jib boom is at a 15 degree angle to the boat’s centerline. Set your main boom at 5 degrees if the breeze is moderate (middle of the rig range), 10 to 15 degrees if the wind is light or heavy.
Camber: You should start off with 10% camber in the foot of your sails. It is fairly easy to calculate this. If you have a 10" foot, then you want a 1" gap between your sail and a straight line from the tack to the clew (you can use the boom to be the straight line).
Twist: Set you main twist so that the top batten is parallel to the boom. set your jib twist so that it matches the main.
4: Jib sag: Set your backstay or checkstay tension to get a nice firm jib luff. If the water is flat for the breeze, you might want a little more sag which will help you point. If the water is choppy for the wind strenght, you will want a tighter luff so that you will have power to get through the waves.
From here on, you need to sail the boat to assess weather further adjustments are needed. I would recommend that you follow Bob Sterne’s wheel.
As his method describes, the most important thing to adjust (after you select your rig) is the mast position. By this he is talking about rake and step position which affect the balance of the boat (helm). You want to sail with as little helm as possible. Most guys like to bias their boat with a small amount of windward helm. This tends to “keep them honest” so that they do not foot too much but have to work to keep from pinching. I prefer to try to get to a neutral helm for the average heel and then use my mainsheet fine tune to adjust my balance for other wind strengths.
The most important thing you can add to your boat at this point is telltales. I assume you know how to read them? The leach telltales on your main will tell you if your main is stalled. This is the main way to tell if you have too much or too little twist. The jib telltales will tell you if the jib is stalled.
Once you get the boat well balanced, then you can assess the pointing of the boat. This is best done by trial horsing against one of the top skippers. If you find that you cannot point with him at a reasonable speed, then you might have too much backstay tension (not enough jib sag) and your jib is stalling out. You should also look to see where he has his jib trimmed, If the water is really flat, he may have his jib trimmed in tighter than you.
If you can point with him, but do not have the speed he has, you may have too much twist in your main. You want to set the twist of the main so that as you head down, the main stalls (top leach telltale breaks) at the same time as the jib stalls (windward telltale on the jib breaks). You will also want to look at the twist of your jib. I have two sets of telltales on the jib - one set about 6 to 8 inches up from the foot and another set 8 to 10 inches down from the head. You want both of these sets of telltales to break at the same time when you pinch up. If the upper ones break first, then your sail has too much twist and vice versa. usually the main and jib twists end up being about the same, so if you are having problems here go back and set the jib twist to be equal to the main twist and start over.
At this point you should be doing pretty well in terms of speed and pointing. If your speed is still a bit slow, you may need to adjust your camber. If you have too much mast bend, then your sails will be too flat in the middle and may not have enough power. It is pretty rare with our little boats that you would want to overly flatten your sails. It does happen, but ususally you want a decent amount of power.
At this point all the changes you have made to the camber and twist may have put your boat out of balance and you will need to adjust this again and start the cycle over. Each time you go through the cycle, you should be making smaller and smaller changes - spiralling in on the best settings. Of course the wind and water conditions are constantly changing, so at some point you need to stop tuning and start racing. Otherwise you could be constantly chasing the changing conditions. If there is a large shift in the conditions as the day wears on, then you can make some more adjustments.
The most important thing you can do is when you finally get a setting you like, you need to record your settings somehow. Some guys use gauges or take measurments. Other guys use makeshift gauges (which finger can you fit between the jib foot and the jib boom for example). Keep a notebook and record your settings along with the conditions. That way, you can repeat them the next time you are at the pond and you will have an even better starting point.
I spent several months tuning new sails when I get a new suit. I use a lego tensiometer to record my backstay, sidestay, checkstay and jib toppinglift tensions. I take pictures of my sails from above the mast and use UKs AccuMeasure to measure the draft and twist. I record all my settings in a notebook. Most importantly, I have set my boat up with loops so that I can repeat my settings. My jib topping lift is tied into my forestay such that when I adjust the forestay length (to change the mast rake) the topping lift changes with it so that the jib twist stays the same. I have a loop in the end of my forestay that I wrap around a cleat on the mast. By adding or removing wraps, I can adjust the rake. I record the number of wraps needed to get a good balance for a given set of conditions.
After spending a month or two getting my new suit of sails well tuned, I write myself a tuning guide. I put wind strenght along the top of the page and the settings down the side. I record what setting of each adjustment was right for those conditions. I also have some footnotes that tell me how to compensate for bigger or smaller waves. By using this guide can ususlly get my boat race ready in about 10 minutes because I can repeat my settings. That way, I can get on the water first and start watching the conditons (timing the oscillations, learning which tacks are lifted in the puffs, finding the bend along a given shoreline, etc). When my competition gets on the water, I trial horse them to see how my speed and pointing fare compared to them. If something needs adjusting, I bring the boat in and tweak. But usually I find that my speed is adequate.
At that point, I forget about tuning. Just put it out of my mind. I want to concentrate on positioning and finding the shifts while I am racing - not the tuning of my boat. It is pretty rare that i will think at all about the tuning of my boat during a race. Only in the rare case where I have found the favored shift on the favored side and my competition is right there with me will I assess how my boat is performing relative to him. but usually the conditions are changing enough during a race that my focus is on finding the advantage in the wind - looking for puffs, shifts, etc.
After a race (if there is time before the next race) I will assess the condtitions to see if things have changed enough to warrant some tuning adjustments. I rarely change anything if I won the last race.
Will Gorgen
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Originally posted by wgorgen
Wis,
That I have done…was reading Lester’s page way too many times…but I didnt know about the light and heavy winds…will try that!!
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>2. Camber: You should start off with 10% camber in the foot of your sails. It is fairly easy to calculate this. If you have a 10" foot, then you want a 1" gap between your sail and a straight line from the tack to the clew (you can use the boom to be the straight line).<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Thats ok…did that
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>3. Twist: Set you main twist so that the top batten is parallel to the boom. set your jib twist so that it matches the main. <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Here I do have troubles…I cant really adjust the twist in my sails…I need to try more
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>4: Jib sag: Set your backstay or checkstay tension to get a nice firm jib luff. If the water is flat for the breeze, you might want a little more sag which will help you point. If the water is choppy for the wind strenght, you will want a tighter luff so that you will have power to get through the waves. <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Thats ok…took me lots of times to use the proper tension…but now its almost ok
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>The most important thing you can add to your boat at this point is telltales. I assume you know how to read them? The leach telltales on your main will tell you if your main is stalled. This is the main way to tell if you have too much or too little twist. The jib telltales will tell you if the jib is stalled. <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
You remember me asking questions about tell tales to Greg ;)? helped a lot
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Once you get the boat well balanced, then you can assess the pointing of the boat. This is best done by trial horsing against one of the top skippers.<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
best skipper I have around is…me[:-captain]
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>If you find that you cannot point with him at a reasonable speed, then you might have too much backstay tension (not enough jib sag) and your jib is stalling out. You should also look to see where he has his jib trimmed, If the water is really flat, he may have his jib trimmed in tighter than you.
If you can point with him, but do not have the speed he has, you may have too much twist in your main. You want to set the twist of the main so that as you head down, the main stalls (top leach telltale breaks) at the same time as the jib stalls (windward telltale on the jib breaks). You will also want to look at the twist of your jib. I have two sets of telltales on the jib - one set about 6 to 8 inches up from the foot and another set 8 to 10 inches down from the head. You want both of these sets of telltales to break at the same time when you pinch up. If the upper ones break first, then your sail has too much twist and vice versa. usually the main and jib twists end up being about the same, so if you are having problems here go back and set the jib twist to be equal to the main twist and start over.<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
ok here I need to try, test aso…I have troubles with that…thanks for the advices
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>At this point you should be doing pretty well in terms of speed and pointing. If your speed is still a bit slow, you may need to adjust your camber. If you have too much mast bend, then your sails will be too flat in the middle and may not have enough power. It is pretty rare with our little boats that you would want to overly flatten your sails. It does happen, but ususally you want a decent amount of power. <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
I adjust the camber, so that I have NO wrinckles in my sails…I found that the camber I now have suits best for my sails…btw I have only one Rig…thx to Tom[:-eyebrows]
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>
The most important thing you can do is when you finally get a setting you like, you need to record your settings somehow. Some guys use gauges or take measurments. Other guys use makeshift gauges (which finger can you fit between the jib foot and the jib boom for example). Keep a notebook and record your settings along with the conditions. That way, you can repeat them the next time you are at the pond and you will have an even better starting point. <hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
That I nedd to do…I WILL start right away!!!
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>
I spent several months tuning new sails when I get a new suit. I use a lego tensiometer to record my backstay, sidestay, checkstay and jib toppinglift tensions.<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Will, you are an angel[:-angel]
Thanks so much for all the time you are spending and trying to explain things…easily…you should write a book or an article on the net.
Again, thank you so much
Wis
_/ if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! _
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Originally posted by Dick Lemke
I suppose a simple “V” notch at both ends on centerline could also work. Never thought about that until just now as I am typing.
<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Don - forget that suggestion. I tried it last night and while both keel and rudder fit in the notches, it doesn’t guarantee that they are aligned as there needs to be contact on each side of keel and rudder. Back to my original method of cutting a foil shape of both at opposite ends of a piece of thin ply to use as a template.
Wis,
I told you I used to teach sailing school…
So, from your response it looks like one area you need to work on is the main twist. This is fundamentally controlled by the vang with a smaller contribution coming from mast bend both (both fore/aft and laterally). You need to get yourself a good vang. You should have a rigid rod screw vang with a thumbscrew. Many guys overlook this item and try to rig up a vang with a loop of rigging line. This is just not adequate to get any degree of control over your sail twist.
Download a copy of UKs accumeasre program:
http://uksailmakers.com/accumeasuredl.asp
When I was tuning my new suit of sails, I would take pictures like this one of my sails:
Download Attachment: 
68.54KB
By reading this file into accumeasure and putting the splines onto the shape stripes, you can accurately measure the camber and twist on various portions of the sail. In my notebook, I have several print-outs from accumeasure showing the measurements with an accompaning list of tensions and setting for all the tuning controls. It is great to have a picture to compare to.
You will also notice in this picture, my leach telltales. These are critical for assessing your twist and trim on the water. If your upper telltale is breaking (like it is in that photo) then the top of the sail is stalled. You want this to happen just when you stear away from the wind and your leeward jib telltale breaks (which you can also see in that photo).
From this photo, I would say that I need a bit more jib twist as the upper telltale is breaking before the lower one. But keep in mind, this is on shore. On the water, the boatspeed will change the effective gradient wind. But more than likely, I was not done tuning yet when I took that picture…
In that picture you can also see my camber, mast bend, jib and main trim, and so on. Thes pictures are very good data once you learn how to study them…
Anyway, I built a lego tensiometer much like the one lester built:
http://www.onemetre.net/Technicl/Tensiom/Tensiom.htm
Mine is a little simpler, but the same general idea. You need to calibrate it once you have the rubber bands in there. I hung a series of calibration weights from a length of my sidestay material and marked tensions up to 10 lbs.
I really don’t use it much any more. Now that I have a good idea of the mast bend I want, I tend to be able to hit that without exact tensions on all the rigging. I judge my rig tensions now on the sound they make when I pluck them like a guitar string.
Generally, I run things very tight on my boat. I run 8 lbs of tension in my lower sidestays . This produces a very high pithced guitar twang when plucked. I use about 3 lbs on my upper sidestays which give me about a middle C. My backstay will run with anywhere from 0.5 lb to 2 lbs depending on the conditions. I generally judge this based on the forstay sag and jib toppinglift tensions. Plucking the backstay gives me a low tone.
Will Gorgen
I think boat set up is half art and half science. The wind condidtions always change right after you make an adjustment for the given wind condition. I like to go with loose sails in light air, and tight sails in heavy air. Forget terminology, just think how much “Belly” in the sails or how little. Tightening strings usually flattens the sails.
What else can I say?
good luck
Hi AndrewV
These pages are aimed at the IOM, but might be helpful for your needs.
http://www.onemetre.net/Technicl/Rig/Rig.htm
http://www.onemetre.net/Opinion/Roughset/Roughset.htm
Lester Gilbert
http://www.iomclass.org/
http://www.onemetre.net/