When is it too much heeling?

Posted by Nhat Khong (nhatkhong1@…>)

Hello all,

Since owning my Freedom 36’ a year ago, I have been pushing her and
myself to perform at her best. I have heeled the boat to where the
water is a foot below the toerail on the lee side. It does makes be
nervous but at the same time fills me with adrenaline. It’s great
fun… but is it dangerous?

What is the heeling threshold where we might risk capsize? How far
have your Freedom heeled? Any interesting stories? I’d love to hear
your facts and opinions and stories.

Thanks,
-Nhat
Evening Sky (1987 36’ Sloop)

Posted by Jay Glen (svfantasy@…>)
Nhat,Don’t worry, you can (theoretically) pull the top of your mast down to the water surface and she will immediately right herself when you let go. That is how they are designed, however, you can heel her over to the point that she will not be sailing at her best, and weatherhelm will be significant. Every boat has her own angle of heel, depending upon her design, at which she will sail at her fastest and with just the right amount of weatherhelm. Narrow beamed boats typically sail more on their “ear” (heeled way over) while more beamy boats sail flatter. Many novice sailors sail with too much sail up for the wind conditions. This causes excessive heeling and a lot of weatherhelm. Reefing the sails will ease both and make sailing much more comfortable, not to mention easing the stress on the boat itself.
Having the rail a foot above the water does not seem excessive for your boat to me. My Freedom 40 Cat-Ketch often has her rail under water when the wind pipes up. I hope I helped you with your question.
On 9/29/07, Nhat Khong <nhatkhong1@…> wrote:




Hello all,

Since owning my Freedom 36’ a year ago, I have been pushing her and
myself to perform at her best. I have heeled the boat to where the
water is a foot below the toerail on the lee side. It does makes be
nervous but at the same time fills me with adrenaline. It’s great
fun… but is it dangerous?

What is the heeling threshold where we might risk capsize? How far
have your Freedom heeled? Any interesting stories? I’d love to hear
your facts and opinions and stories.

Thanks,
-Nhat
Evening Sky (1987 36’ Sloop)




– Jay Glen ki6jtks/v FantasyFreedom 40 Cat-KetchSan Francisco Bay Area

Posted by vtaiariol (borelmfg@…>)

— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “Nhat Khong”
<nhatkhong1@…> wrote:

Hello all,

Since owning my Freedom 36’ a year ago, I have been pushing her and
myself to perform at her best. I have heeled the boat to where the
water is a foot below the toerail on the lee side. It does makes
be
nervous but at the same time fills me with adrenaline. It’s great
fun… but is it dangerous?

What is the heeling threshold where we might risk capsize? How far
have your Freedom heeled? Any interesting stories? I’d love to
hear
your facts and opinions and stories.

Thanks,
-Nhat
Evening Sky (1987 36’ Sloop)

If you want cheap trills, then I guess heeling over that far is fun
to you. For best performace that is way to much. I found the boat
(F36) performed best when heeling angle of less that 15Deg. Over
that the boat would go slower. In high winds drop the traveler, lots
of tension on outhaul and main halyard to get the mail sail as flat
as possible. You will go much faster without all of the heel angle.
Have fun.

Regards,

Van

Posted by JoanJohn@… (JoanJohn@…)


And reef - any time you are consistently putting in more than 10-15 degrees of rudder or heeling more than about 15 degrees and don’t want to fight the tiller. A little heeling is good because it increases your waterline = more speed.

John
F45CCSee what’s new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage.

Posted by Thomas Wales (twales@…>)

Hi Nhat,
My F32 seems to settle into a groove at about 15 degrees of
heel when the wind pipes up (up to 20 kts). To keep it at that
level, I adjust the traveler down till we’re comfortable. I find
that the boat will round up when a puff hits, preventing further
heeling. With the big main, there is quite a bit of weather helm in
windy conditions.
I feel very safe in this boat on windy days.
Good luck,
TW
Anoush Koon
Pemaquid, ME



At 04:45 PM 9/29/2007, you wrote:

Hello all,

Since owning my Freedom 36’ a year ago, I have been pushing her and
myself to perform at her best. I have heeled the boat to where the
water is a foot below the toerail on the lee side. It does makes be
nervous but at the same time fills me with adrenaline. It’s great
fun… but is it dangerous?

What is the heeling threshold where we might risk capsize? How far
have your Freedom heeled? Any interesting stories? I’d love to hear
your facts and opinions and stories.

Thanks,
-Nhat
Evening Sky (1987 36’ Sloop)

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10:20 AM

Posted by Nhat Khong (nhatkhong1@…>)

Thank you all that responded. You have addessed my concerns of capsizing as well
and how to get the boat to perform. I will deinitely be trying to discover where
that heeling groove on my boat is and make use of the traveler more frequently.

Thanks!
-Nhat