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Date Posted: - Friday - 10/27/06 - 5:53pm
Author: Randall, Murre, M31
Subject: Sailing strategy, close hauled

I feel I've made a discovery, of sorts.

I am often dissatisfied with the ketch rig when CLOSE HAULED under full sail in moderate winds because the main powerfully back drafts the mizzen, cancelling out any positive effect the latter might have. That is, the boat heals over more with the mizzen up but doesn’t seem to go any faster. And with all the “braking” on the mizzen, the boat FEELS weird, out of balance, out of her own flow. So, in moderate winds when beating home I almost always douse the mizzen and sail like a sloop. This is OK, but usually leaves me underpowered and a tad frustrated as. That said, it seems a common strategy as I often see it employed in other ketches on the bay.

Moderate wind here means, say 7 – 12 knots. Maybe. I don’t have a wind gage. Another way to look at it would be that with all sail flying, moderate wind means you heal nicely, but the rail can’t even hear the water talking, much less dip its toe in.

I say moderate because in very light stuff there doesn’t seem enough wind to create any kind of slot effect, so put everything up. And in heavier wind backdrafting (or spilling, depending on your point of view) doesn’t seem to make much difference as there’s still plenty of wind to push the boat at her best.

The discovery was this: if I reef the mizzen (only the mizzen) in moderate wind , it flattens the sail quite a bit and essentially pulls its belly out of the way of the draft from the main. The effect is palpable. There’s a little boost in speed, less weather helm, and the boat just feels slipperier. She’s still underpowered a little (I could fly a full mizzen if it were flat as a board) but less so than with no mizzen at all.

I’d installed a jiffy reef in the mizzen when we got the boat back in 2001, but had never used it, opting instead to drop the mizzen when CLOSE HAULED and as the wind piped up and then reefing the jib and main in succession as wind rises. I just happened to be looking in Moitessier’s THE LONG WAY the other day and noticed that his strategy for reducing sail on Joshua was to reef all three sails down and down, but leaving all three up as long as possible.

Which makes a ton of sense now … I just hadn’t tried it before.

RR

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Replies:

[> close hauled ketch -- Kathy Campbell SHADOW M32-#3, - Saturday - 10/28/06 - 11:58am

Hi close hauled,
Soon as SHADOW is back in the water, I'll try that same strategy. From ANGELES LIGHT, Los Angeles harbor, it's a close hauled trek all the way to Santa Catalina Island, especially trying to get to the West End and the Isthmus. All the high pointing sloops thrash our ketch,cept in rough weather.Thanks for the post. I also have some strategy I want to try in a close hauled situation and will share this too, when SHADOW's back in commission.
Yours truly, Kathy Campbell


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[> How is Shadow? -- Randall, Murre, M31, - Saturday - 10/28/06 - 12:53pm


Hey Kathy! Nice to hear from you.

How is Shadow comin? You folks been doing a lot of work this summer. Hope all's progressing well. Any pictures?

Fair Winds,

RR


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