I have purchased both Don's sail trim charts and his Sail Trim User's Guide. I've re-read the guide many times - very helpful. I'm still trying to figure out the sail charts, but they contain tons of helpful information.
Bob Mann --- In [email protected], "Phil Agur" <pja...@...> wrote: > > Generally the internet is a poor sailing coach. Adding to the problem of > making a Catalina fly is the fact that she is a mast head rig. That does > mean a masthead rig is slow it's just different and the sail trim focus is a > 180° shift from a fractional rig. > > > > The sail maker sites and the internet is flooded with tuning and trim guides > for the fractional rig but everything they say has to really taken with a > grain of salt and almost universally ignored beyond very general comments > when you are sailing a masthead rig. > > > > Primarily fractional rig sail trim focuses on the mainsail flow being > boosted by the jib while a masthead rig is headsail power augmented by the > mainsail. When you treat is wrong it still goes but it can't point and runs > slow. > > > > I've tried to impress this on my brother an IP38 owner but he has read too > many traditional boating magazines which have him permanently wired wrong. > The standing joke is I try not to tell him how to sail his boat anymore but > he eventually catches me glancing toward soothing that's trimmed wrong and > he'll say, "What?" We do the "no it's nothing" banter a couple of times and > then we negotiate a bet based on speed increase I can make on his boat by > trimming the sails. I can usually nail a knot without question and I taken > her more than 2 knots beyond what he thought was hull speed. If you read > traditional boating magazines they will convince there is one simplified > hull speed formula that always applies, there is not. What we all accept has > hull speed is based on a common heavy traditional boat construction. That > same hull speed formula can be expanded to include displacement and tailored > to a C27 and all of a sudden you're dogging it. > > > > On a side note the newest technology on-board when Pyewacket II broke > Merlin's 20-year-old Transpacific Yacht Race record was a computerized nag > program the announced when they were dogging it. They shaved a full day off > because the computer kept track of how good they'd done under the same > conditions in the past and told them when they were failing short of what > they had actually achieved not an artificial design number. > > > > In part, this is why one-design racing is so effective at teaching how to > trim a boat. As soon as one skipper finds an edge under a particular set of > conditions everyone strives for the new understanding of what works. > > > > My brother was never going to do that so instead I gave him a set of Don > Guillette's Sail Trim Charts. See http://www.sailtrimproducts.com/index.html > > > > > I'm not sure he ever got it but he went to Mexico and back while having a > great time. I on the other hand used mine while in a one-design fleet and > jumped from mid pack to beating our local national champion over about six > month period. > > > > I think it's a very handy reference and it sure beats using waiting for a > forum reply. > > > > Phil Agur > <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> s/v Wing Tip > C270 LE #184 MMSI 366901790 >
