sail setting

Posted by timothyslane (timothyslane@…>)

hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake down
cruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some comments
would be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!

  1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears to
    fall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul and
    kicker but no success.

  2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not as
    good as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you managing
    to tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80 degrees.

Speak to you soon

Tim

Posted by Norm Friberg (nfriberg@…>)

Timothy,

Regarding point 1, your sails may be tired- stretched out.
On point 2, I think 80 degrees is pretty good!

Norm Friberg

----- Original Message -----
From: timothyslane
To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 2:55 PM
Subject: [freedomyachts2003] sail setting


hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake downcruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some commentswould be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears tofall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul andkicker but no success.2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not asgood as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you managingto tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80 degrees.Speak to you soonTim

Posted by Michael G Katz (mgkatz@…>)

Tim
I’ve sailed my F-38 for 3 seasons. I have a Doyle Stack-Pak and original 15 year old sails. I am no racer, but I have chartered more than 25 different boats over the years, and day sailed on a few more. When cruising I’ve always been happy sailing 45-50 off the wind rather than pinching up and losing perhaps 1-1.5 knots. This is especially true on the F-38, because tacking is so easy. So 40 degrees doesn’t seem bad to me.

I recently had the occasion to sail with a very experienced racing sailor on my boat. He gave me a clinic, in which he emphasized the following:

Always look to the second from the top batten, draw an imaginary line from where the batten meets the mast to where the batten meets the leech, and align that imaginary line with the angle of the boom.
To accomplish that, you may need to ease the traveller outboard (even up-wind), and use the boom vang as the primary trimming tool once the boom gets to end of traveller. Really haul in hard on the vang to flatten the sail and take out the “twist.”
Look at your VMG when sailing to windward to assess how well you are doing, not simply overall boat speed.
In 13-15 knots of wind (with 3 foot chop) we were sailing 37 true off the wind with 4.2 VMG, which he felt was excellent.

Michael Katz

----- Original Message -----
From: timothyslane
To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 12:55 PM
Subject: [freedomyachts2003] sail setting


hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake downcruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some commentswould be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears tofall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul andkicker but no success.2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not asgood as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you managingto tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80 degrees.Speak to you soonTim

Posted by svfantasy@… (svfantasy@…)
Congratulations on your new to you boat! I’m also on SF Bay. You did not mention whether or not you had full battens. I’m not sure what you mean when you say the battens on the main do not keep it flat. Battens are used to support the roach of the sail, whether full batten or partial. If your leech falls off, you can try tightening the leech line a little, but not so tight the leech curls to windward. I do not know how its rigged, but tightening the vang and traveler positioning can help also. It may be the sail has stretched, if so take it to your sailmaker for repairs. Good luck.
Jay Glen
Freedom 40 CK “Fantasy”
SF Bay
----- Original Message -----From: timothyslane To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.comSubject: [freedomyachts2003] sail settingDate: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:55:01 -0000

hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake downcruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some commentswould be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears tofall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul andkicker but no success.2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not asgood as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you managingto tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80 degrees.Speak to you soonTim

Posted by andre laviolette (andrelaviolette@…>)
How true. 40 degrees off the apparent wind is excellent in cruising. Let us not forget that for the long haul offshore, one may not be able or wish to be so uncomfortable. Pointing high has its merits but the hull must be able to resist the leeway incured while pointing so high. Merely pointing high is not a merit in itself, the fact that speed made good to winward is the composite product of boat speed and the TRUE sailing course. Often, it pays to ease off a little and foot. Depending on boat, sailing less than directly down wind works to our advantage also.Michael G Katz <mgkatz@…> wrote: Tim I’ve sailed my F-38 for 3 seasons. I have a Doyle Stack-Pak and original 15 year old sails. I am no racer, but I have chartered more than 25 different boats over the years, and day sailed on a few more. When cruising I’ve always been happy sailing 45-50 off the wind rather than pinching up and losing perhaps 1-1.5 knots. This is especially true on the F-38, because tacking is so easy. So 40 degrees doesn’t seem bad to me. I recently had the occasion to sail with a very experienced racing sailor on my boat. He gave me a clinic, in which he emphasized the following: Always look to the second from the top batten, draw an imaginary line from where the batten meets the mast to where the batten meets the leech, and align that imaginary line with the angle of the boom. To accomplish that, you may need to ease the traveller outboard (even up-wind), and use the boom vang as the primary trimming tool once the boom gets to end of traveller. Really haul in hard on the vang to flatten the sail and take out the “twist.” Look at your VMG when sailing to windward to assess how well you are doing, not simply overall boat speed. In 13-15 knots of wind (with 3 foot chop) we were sailing 37 true off the wind with 4.2 VMG, which he felt was excellent. Michael Katz ----- Original Message ----- From: timothyslane To: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 12:55 PM Subject: [freedomyachts2003] sail setting hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake
downcruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some commentswould be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears tofall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul andkicker but no success.2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not asgood as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you managingto tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80 degrees.Speak to you soonTim
The best gets better. See why everyone is raving about the All-new Yahoo! Mail.

Posted by Charlie L. (clivaday@…>)

Are your battens adjustable? If so add more tension to your battens
to give your sail a rounded shape rather than a flat shape.


— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “timothyslane”
<timothyslane@…> wrote:

hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake
down
cruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some
comments
would be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!

  1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears to
    fall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul and
    kicker but no success.

  2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not as
    good as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you
    managing
    to tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80
    degrees.

Speak to you soon

Tim

Posted by ketchman47 (katch47@…>)

Tim:

Check first that the battens are in correctly- usually there is
a flexible end that goes in the pocket first (so it is near the mast)
and a stiffer end that is aft at the leach- this keeps the leach from
falling off. Some battens are equal thickness/stiffness all the way
through- if this is the case speak to your sailmaker for solutions.
My experience racing my F36 is that your impression is that you
are not pointing well but unless you are against a full-race boat
(that is a grand prix racer or a level racer) you do well and it
doesn’t seem that most regular cruising boats outpoint you. It also
depends on conditions- are you pounding into a chop? If so that will
have a negative effect on pointing angle. Particularly if you have
just started to sail the boat you need some time to get to know it.
Also, once you get the leach under control that will help- on a
conventional sloop the jib gives you speed, the main helps you point-
on a freedom we have 2 mains!
Let me know how it works out. Lenny

Posted by michel.capel (michel.capel@…>)

Tim:

Somewhere on this board there is a letter from Steve Haarstick, the
renowned Freedom sailmaker, about how to trim a Freedom sail. Check
it out; you’ll find it useful.

Good luck
Michel


— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “timothyslane”
<timothyslane@…> wrote:

hello all, i’ve just bought a f-38 in san francisco. On the shake
down
cruise i’ve noticed a couple of points about the sails. Some
comments
would be appreciated but I have tried the obvious!

  1. The battens on the main do not keep it flat. The leach appears
    to
    fall away to leeward. I’ve tried tensioning the halyard, outhaul
    and
    kicker but no success.

  2. Sailing up the coast I seemed to be tacking very well but not as
    good as traditional sloop rigs. Out of interest what are you
    managing
    to tack through? For the record I was tacking through about 80
    degrees.

Speak to you soon

Tim