Tacking the genoa: Timing and "taking cues" before action makes a big difference. Our cockpit gets pretty crowded w two genoa grinders and a mainsheet trimmer crossing to opposite sides of the cockpit. We found it best to setup before the manuever; the main trimmer moves first to the low side before the trimmers come off the rail or we start turning. Mainsheet moves from the highside to the low adjusting his traveller, setting the car for the next tack. The trimmers come off the rail and take slack out of the lazy sheet and check for two wraps on the winch. The grinder for the new tack places his foot against the toe rail (highside) and faces forward so his chest is centered over the primary winch, and he places a winch handle in the winch if there is none. Helm starts the turn. The boat heels slightly more at first, then stands upright threw the turn. The boat passes head to wind. The trimmer releases the active sheet when it is 30% backwinded, and makes sure his line runs free. He waits for the wind to blow the sail to the other side of the mast before hauling w extra long pulls on the new sheet. If you have boat speed you can slow the turn so most of the sheet is handled by the trimmer tailing. The grinder starts grinding and brings in the last few feet of sheet, while the boat rolls to leeward. He winches the sail in, then moves to the rail. The trimmer makes a quick adjustment, cleats the line and heads to the rail (The foot against the toerail helps the trimmer easily maintain balance through the transition as he has a nice three point stance; one foot in the cockpit, one foot against the toe rail and hi shands on the winch.) I like my crew to watch the sail and take cues from it. When done right, it goes nicely and I can focus on turning between waves and tactics regarding the competition.
The traveller on our boat is located just in front of the pedestal and we setup the main shape and play the traveller constantly upwind. When falling off, we drop the traveller first and ease the mainsheet second. This allows the boat to turn downwind while powering her forward. Before tacking I have to lock the crosshauls on both sides as I disabled the windward sheeting car. Other helpful tips: Get your boat trimmed and sailing fast and mark your halyards and sheets with a sharpie pen where the line crosses the drum of the winch. Add marks as needed. Mark the boom outhaul, genoa car positions, etc, to help crew repeat good settings. Try to establish cues for each crew, so they learn what to do when. Try different things and repeat what works best. Practice 10 tacks before the next race. If you have time, rotate crew and practice 10 more tacks so each person sees what the other guy has to deal with. Lube everything prior to going sailing; McLube sail tracks main and headsail, flush w water all turning blocks, wash and scrub the deck to provide the best footing, keep winches working well, lube snap schackles, halyard shackles, etc. Chuck Resolute 1990 C&C 34R Broad Creek, Magothy River, Md ----- Original Message ----- From: "CNC boat owners, cnc-list" <[email protected]> To: "CNC boat owners, cnc-list" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 3:51:47 PM Subject: Stus-List Tacking the genoa I agree with the prior comments on coordinating the turn with the trimmers, our boats carry lots of cloth and you have to winch everything with any significant wind once they get filled-in. As for the traveler, I adjust it all the time (I "pre-move it" before / while tacking or winch most of the time) and close hauled it is definitely Windward and up to about half way between the center and the end of the track. Then, you basically crank the winch on the Main until the boom is lined with the middle of the dodger (This is Close hauled of course). As for winching everything, why do you think they put 3 cabin top self tailing winches on our boats? (This smart A$$ answer was from my 30 years experience rigger who actually sailed my boat all over the Caribbean with a prior owner.. ) He was at my boat a week ago delivering new running rigging and I asked the very same question. I did a lot of testing with the traveler and pulling it in is like stepping on the gas.. The Knot meter agrees. PM me on email if you want the polars graph for the34+. I have a nice "Expanded" version of it. -Francois Rivard 1990 34+ "Take Five" Lake Lanier, Georgia. _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album Email address: [email protected] To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
_______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album Email address: [email protected] To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go bottom of page at: http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com
