sail trim

Posted by Rees Midgley (rmidgley@…>)

Our 36/38 Freedom sloop has a tall (55 feet) mast and a short,
partial, self-tacking jib with a camber spar. Can anybody offer
advice on sail trim?

I would think that the lack of stays running to the top of the mast
would mean that advice for other makes, like tightening the vang to
flatten a sail, would have less meaning for our Freedom since the top
of the mast is free to bend without causing the center of the mast to
bend in an opposite direction.

The manual says “If you ease the sheet slightly, you will note the
top battens fall off slightly. The sail now has ‘twist’ - that is,
it is operating in several vertical planes. This kind of trim is
useful for moderate breezes with choppy seas.” I think I understand
the twist, but is this to reduce or gain power?

And it says that one just has to experiment with the traveler. Can
anyone provide or point to more helpful information?

  • Rees

Posted by Lorman, Alvin J. (ajlorman@…>)


Rees:

There have been several discussions of sail trim on the forum. You can search the archives.

Al Lorman
F30 Ab Initio

-----Original Message-----From: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com [mailto:freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rees MidgleySent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:38 PMTo: freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.comSubject: [freedomyachts2003] sail trimOur 36/38 Freedom sloop has a tall (55 feet) mast and a short, partial, self-tacking jib with a camber spar. Can anybody offer advice on sail trim?I would think that the lack of stays running to the top of the mast would mean that advice for other makes, like tightening the vang to flatten a sail, would have less meaning for our Freedom since the top of the mast is free to bend without causing the center of the mast to bend in an opposite direction.The manual says “If you ease the sheet slightly, you will note the top battens fall off slightly. The sail now has ‘twist’ - that is, it is operating in several vertical planes. This kind of trim is useful for moderate breezes with choppy seas.” I think I understand the twist, but is this to reduce or gain power?And it says that one just has to experiment with the traveler. Can anyone provide or point to more helpful information? - Rees

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

Rees, in the 70’s, Canadian Champion (I think) Bruce Kirby wrote a
handy booklet called ‘Sailing a Laser’. It discusses all trimming
options of the Laser for all courses and all wave and wind
situations. It’s very useful for everyone sailing a cat (with or
without jib) because the priciples and trimming options are very
comparable. Perhaps you can still buy it second hand. I learned a
lot from it.

To answer your question directly: twist is to reduce power in the
sail. You open the leech, letting go of the wind in the top part of
your sail.
The traveller: you use it to control the bend of the masttop. The
more the mast is bent backwards (by tightening the sheet and vang)
the more you de-power the top of the sail. The traveller is used to
create leverage for the sheet, so you let the traveller out to the
ends to be able to get a straight down pull on the sheet. In light
winds, you don’t wat twist (no bachwards bend of the mast) so you
let the traveller stay amidships and the boom vang half-tight. In
this way a pull of the sheet will never create a downward force on
the boom end, but just an inward pull. Boom end down = mast bend =
twist in top of sail = de-powering.

Hope this helps.

Michel



— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, Rees Midgley
<rmidgley@…> wrote:

Our 36/38 Freedom sloop has a tall (55 feet) mast and a short,
partial, self-tacking jib with a camber spar. Can anybody offer
advice on sail trim?

I would think that the lack of stays running to the top of the
mast
would mean that advice for other makes, like tightening the vang
to
flatten a sail, would have less meaning for our Freedom since the
top
of the mast is free to bend without causing the center of the mast
to
bend in an opposite direction.

The manual says “If you ease the sheet slightly, you will note
the
top battens fall off slightly. The sail now has ‘twist’ - that
is,
it is operating in several vertical planes. This kind of trim is
useful for moderate breezes with choppy seas.” I think I
understand
the twist, but is this to reduce or gain power?

And it says that one just has to experiment with the traveler.
Can
anyone provide or point to more helpful information?

- Rees