My experience with a Std rig is that if I keep the boat at less than 15 deg then everything is happy and my wife who is petite is quite able to hold the tiller and keep us on course. If the boat gets to 20 deg it starts to get ugly. The boat wants to round up quite sharply and it is not enjoyable any longer.
I have taken to putting in a reef at about 12 to 15 knots that and the 100% head sail are a good combination up to maybe 20 knots. If I left the dock with the 150 on the furler then I might put in a second reef just to avoid sailing with multiple turns on the furler but above 18 knots it gets uncomfortable. In gusty conditions with 25 knot plus gusts it is quite uncomfortable even with two or three turns on the furler and the 100% headsail. I know these are the conditions that Dr Judy sails in on SFO Bay but I believe she has a smaller headsail (that is no doubt in much better shape than mine) and a well trained eye to read the water and the wind. Mark Tamblyn 1976 C27 "Josephine" Gloucester Pont VA ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Yesterdays sail -- 2 fingers on tiller Judy ... I have tried and tried to get my '86 tall rig to balance ... "two fingers on the tiller" as you put it. Right now, the mast is straight up and down, which is about six inches further forward than I was told to start. At anything past 10 degrees heel angle, I'm holding on, and past 15 degress heel angle I'm starting to fight rounding up. At .20 degress, all efficiency is gone and I'm dragging a tiller through the water. Bottom is clean, and I don't know what else to do. Ideas? Tom "Judith Blumhorst, DC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: [email protected] 07/18/2008 05:08 PM Please respond to [email protected] To [email protected] cc Subject Re: catalina27-talk: Yesterdays sail Hi all, I sail in 20-25-30 knots all the time. Got a tall rig with that giant foretriangle, and roller furler. Rear traveller and tiller. Most of the time, I've got a 95% jib on. That's roughly equivalent to a 110% on a regular rig. She's fine with that from about 10 to 35 knots with the 95% jib. As the wind builds and if it's gusty (which it always is here), we twist off the jib and mainsail first if it's gusty, then 1st reef, then take a 2nd reef. Her rig is tuned so that I can control her with just 2 fingers on the tiller. Putting a lot of twist in both the jib and the mainsail and playing the traveller takes care of heeling in the gusts most of the time. Like Paul A says, when it's gusty and there's chop, you want to shape the sails for acceleration, not speed. I loosen the halyard/cunningham to put a rounded entry in the mainsail so they have a wider range of angle of attack without stalling, and they accelerate faster. For the off-season in the winter (winds from 0-15), we use a 135% on a roller furler. That's equivalent to a 150% on a regular rig. We typically furl going up wind in anything over 12-15 knots, and maybe let it out going downwind. Sometimes we've got it up in higher winds and let it out all the way going downwind. It's a hoot going downwind in 20 knots on swells, and there's a danger of broaching -- but it's exhilerating . but I wouldn't want to try beating upwind with it! We don't race. We double hand. We're lazy, but pretty fast. Judy B
