Light Air Set Up Guide (0-6): Mainsail Trim: The boats need all the power that you can find. Pull the traveler up to about 2” from the windward seats. Ease the mainsheet until the boom is on the centerline. Ease your outhaul so that shelf opens up about half way. Sighting up from the boom the top batten will be twisted off to leeward or opened about 5°. Make sure the boom vang is loose and backstay is at the top of the “Y”. The top batten telltale will flying about 60% of the time with the lower telltales flowing all the time.
Jib Trim: In light air keep the jib sheet eased almost to the toe rail, and again, keep an eye on the top leach telltale. Also watch for slight scallops between the jib hanks. The lack of luff tension should help keep the draft aft and help pointing. With the backstay off, the headstay sag should give you a wide grove to steer to.As the wind strength increases, add to the halyard tension so you see only slight wrinkles. Keep in mind, the increased halyard tension will also tighten the leach, so you may need to ease the sheet as you change the halyard. |
Light-Medium Set Up Guide (6-10): By now we should have the traveler about 2” high or on the centerline. Apply enough mainsheet to keep the top batten parallel to the boom and the top telltale will be flying only about 15% of the time. Also by this time we may be pulling on some backstay. This will open up the leach and add some twist. We will have to constantly change the sheet tension as we change the backstay tension. At this wind speed we will start to vang sheet the mainsail. What this means is that we are going to use the boom vang to take the place of the traveler. Once the mainsail is trimmed apply enough vang tension to equal the mainsheet. As the wind increases the vang tension will increase so that when the mainsheet is eased the boom doesn’t raise up and get too much twist. Too much twist in this condition will hurt your pointing.
Jib Trim: . Sheet tension is now critical to pointing. Too little, and the top opens up and your pointing hurts, too much and the helm starts to feel neutral. To find your maximum trim setting, slowly trim the jib as you are sailing upwind. As the jib trim increases, the helmsman will feel the helm go dead or neutral. Toward the top end of this wind range you will start to move the jib lead back about ½” to ¾”. This will open up the leach, and start the depowering process. |
Medium-Heavy Air Set Up Guide (10-20 True): Mainsail Trim We are now starting to play the backstay and full on vang sheeting. The vang has now become the traveler. Be careful not to overtrim the main. With about ½ backstay on and the main trimmed in the boom will now be about 8” below centerline. Play the backstay aggressively in the puffs to prevent the boat from heeling and getting excessive weather helm. Remember that as you pull the backstay on the mainsail, the leach opens up so you will have to adjust mainsheet tension to keep the same top batten angle.
Jib Trim: We are now starting to depower the jib. Move the jib leads aft another ½”, and increase halyard tension so the luff is smooth. As we start to move in to the middle to upper ranges of this section, we will have the backstay on about ¼ to about ½. This will tighten the headstay, and make the jib flatter. The jib trimmer and the helmsman must work together and trim and ease in unison. When the puff hits, the helmsman will slowly ease the mainsheet to keep the boat flat. This may cause the mainsail to backwind, or the entire sail to luff. When this happens, the jib trimmer should ease the jib out between 1” to 3”, or until the mainsail starts working again. Easing the jib sheet will twist off the leach, and open up the slot between the Main and Jib. As the puff ends, we can power up the sails again by trimming it back in. |