Sailing Tips, Preventative Maintenance, Tips & trick Sailing Tips Upwind You need to be able to use a lot of mainsheet tension as soon as you are on the wire, even a fair bit before the wire is required. It is important not to try to point too high (pinch). Set the mast rotation to point at the shroud until you are starting to get overpowered, then move it back towards the end of the rear beam. The Downhaul should be sufficient to take all creases out, and then a bit more if you are on the wire. If it's light, try more downhaul so you can sheet in hard without hooking the leech (have a look at the leech with your head by the mast, as you pull the downhaul, to see the effect.) As you get overpowered, more downhaul. If you are still overpowered, lift the boards 10-15 cms, then finally let the traveller off 5-10cms. Downwind Sheet the main in moderately tight and cleat it. Get the boards up (not too far) and let the mast rotation off. (Note it is better to let it off on the side you will want to pull it in on when you round the mark!). You need to work out a set routine for which suits you. When learning, it is a good idea to let the traveller off in average winds to about where the Genniker halyard goes through the tramp. You need a reasonable amount of sheet tension as the breeze gets stronger. To begin with, when the wind picks up, say F4/5, drop the traveller off the same again and keep going if it picks up further. As you get better, keep it close to the middle and maybe have a little more twist in the main (less sheet tension)-but be careful- the mast needs some support. If you're trapezing downwind, or reaching, have the main quite tight and traveller close to the middle. Cleating the main feels very odd but you have to do it, if you have a moment you can fiddle with the mainsheet tension but normally you have your hands full. If you're looking for more heel to help get the hull up, don't pull the boards up so far (only have the straight top bit sticking out). Outhaul Is it worth playing around with the outhaul? The consensus is to set it and then leave it alone. To set it do the following - with a "normal" amount of downhaul on, you can fit your fist sideways between the boom and sailie thumb end at the boom/ little finger end at the sail. Tape or tie up the tail so that the outhaul doesn t come uncleated. Releasing the downhaul As with any thing that is under load, when releasing the downhaul, try not to dump it violently. Instead, initially ease the pressure off. Kite To steer when hoisting/ dropping the spinnaker, it is best to steer with your bum! Kneel down and trap the tiller lightly between your bottom and the back of your ankles. Then you can steer (a bit) if you need to while hoisting/ dropping. Don t try a port tack (windward) hoist without bearing away deep enough - watch the kite on the front of the mast and the back to back block. 1 P a g e
Dropping the kite: put you knee on the sheet. Pull the genniker downhaul from the back of the boat so the sail collapses. Make sure the boat is pointing sufficiently downwind, particularly for a port side (windward) drop. Then flick off the cam cleat by pulling from in front of the block and the sail should come in nicely under control (in theory). Some people pull it down directly from the block at the rear beam. As it comes down, release the sheet from your knee. Listen to the admiring gasps from spectators as it disappears obediently into the chute!! Kite Bridle setup (Not X) Measuring from the bridle chain plate to the shackle:- 1285mm for the bridle and 1315 for the vertical restrainer line. These might both be on the long side, but it depends a bit on the kite. A brand new one might need a slightly different length from a well used one! I have found that the vertical thing is the most important. You can test if it is too long by easing your halyard and seeing if the kite sets better. Even a couple of cm of halyard can make all the difference to the effectiveness of your kite. You can also hoist the genneker and then try twisting the luff. If your hand goes more than 90 degrees then it is too loose/less than 90 degrees too tight. Drop the kite a couple of metres, fiddle with the vertical restrainer and then try again. This is best not done on a windy day!! A few millimetres shorter restrainer makes the kite luff a lot looser. Capsize and recovery When you capsize, try to avoid the boom as it can bend or break, especially if under load. I prefer a triple pike through the gap between the boom and tramp. Once the spray has settled, its time to get it up. If inverted: you have to get the boat into the wind. To do this stand or lay on the pointy end she will slowly swing around. Now stand on the leeward transom using the recovery line for balance. She will come up bows to the sky and then turn onto her side. Once on its side, if you had the kite up and it has collected a pocket of water you will have to address this first dependent on your weight. Then uncleat mainsheet and traveller. If you have not already done so, get the mast pointing into the wind. Pass the righting line over the top of the top hull. (This increases leverage and takes the strain off the rivets that secure the righting line). Then wrap the righting line around your trapeze hook and lean back. As soon as it starts coming up, the wind will take it the rest of the way. Grab the beam on the windward side to stop it flipping over. Scramble on board being careful not to puncture the hull with your trapeze hook. This is the hardest bit and requires upper body strength or a few less doughnuts. Tacking As with tacking any boat that only has a main sail, once the boat is through the wind it is important to ease a fair amount of mainsheet to allow to the boat to come off the wind. If its choppy, or your timing is wrong, ease a bit more. These boats take a long time to get out of 'irons'. Gybing This can be quite exciting - in a breeze you need to steer through it quite precisely and gently and make sure that you do not harden up too far. Always go in as fast as possible as the sail is under less load, I've assumed you are already back in from the wire... 1, If you have the traveller out: pull it back into the centre as the main then has less 2 P a g e
momentum 2, If not already there, stuff as much of the mainsheet under the back beam as possible. 3, Bear off 4, Let the kite go 5, Continue to bear off 6, Gybe, dump old sheet and grab new 7, Sheet kite in roughly right 8, Resume proper heading 9, Sheet kite 10, If suitable, back out on the wire If it s windy, make sure the traveller is centred. Make sure the main sheet is not loose and does not allow too much twist at the top of the main sail. This forces the mainsail to be less powerful as it 'goes over' and more importantly, just afterwards. If the wind is strong enough to make the gybe too lively for your technique\speed, slow the process down by going dead downwind before the sail goes over, and after the sail goes over. Then sort out your positioning and spinnaker sheets before heading up and powering away. If the boat flies high after the sail has gone over, keep the boat dead downwind and be ready to dump some traveller. 3 P a g e
Preventative Maintenance Trapeze camcleats Trapeze height adjustment is provided by camcleats attached to the eye on the bottom of the trapeze wire. If this part fails, it can cause a capsize. For those with older boats, it s worthwhile checking especially if you sail on the sea. We've got stainless steel, aluminium and bronze all close together so add sea water and galvanic corrosion will takes place. Look for signs of the hole in the camcleat becoming enlarged, pitted or bubbling around the hole. "Most at Gurnard have checked theirs and the older boats do show signs of corrosion so we are considering fitting a safety line between the trapeze swag eye and the camcleat. If it does break then the small piece of rope with hopefully stop a swim." The camcleat that is installed as standard has a countersunk hole which contributes to the problem. Camcleat model CL253 Trapeze and Vang camcleat looks a better option. Trampoline Lacing The lacing line used to tighten the rear end of the trampoline tends to chafe on the rear beam fittings. Check regularly and replace with 5mm line. Additionally, some use separate lines to secure the left and right sides of the trampoline so that if one fails, you still have some tension on the trampoline. Additionally, check the condition of the pole used within the trampoline. Some lightweight composite poles tend to break and need replacing with aluminium, stainless steel or a stronger composite alternative. Diamond wire mast seals If the mast gets too much water in it during a capsize, righting can become difficult. When de-rigging the boat, check the mast for water (listen for the sound of water rushing around). Visually check the adhesiveness, coverage and elasticity of the sealant. "While de-rigging at Instow, I noticed that as the sun shone on my mast (which had been rather cold having been in the sea then the rain), air was hissing out of the silicone sealant where the diamonds fix into the mast. It's worth remembering to re-seal it every few years." The sealant used is black Sikaflex 291. See Page 8 of the rigging manual for instruction on sealing the diamond wire attachments. Traveller Track Check that the rivets fixing the traveller track to the rear beam haven't become a little loose in places, allowing the track to move a bit. This is more likely at each end. When you think about the load it takes, it's not too surprising. The risk is that one day some rivets could pull out, resulting in a broken track. The track is a standard Harken part No. 2720 1.5 metres. If required, it will need to be re-riveted. If you do it, drill the old ones out carefully (you don't want to make the holes in the beam bigger). Put the new ones back in with plenty of Duralac jointing compound (sticky yellow stuff) to prevent corrosion. Only use Monel rivets. I used 5mm x 19mm. You'll need a good rivet gun to pull them. Take the car off before you start, but on an older boat the balls will not be captive so you need to catch them (and re-load after- fiddly) or run it onto a bit of track or the special blue Harken ball loader thing. Carbon Tiller Repairs Get aluminium tube (about 12mm- I got some from B&Q but that's a bit too small). 100-4 P a g e
150mm long. I wound 3 lots of tape around it to make it a push fit- one at either end and one at the middle. Cut the broken ends off square. Do a dry run of the whole thing with no resin to get the carbon tape the right length. Put thickened epoxy onto the alu (after roughening it with sandpaper/ cleaning with acetone first) in between the bands of tape. Push the alu tube into one half of the carbon, then the other half, keeping the middle at the join. Now (having wetted it out first using a credit card and un-thickened resin), wind 50mm carbon tape with a 50% overlap from some distance on one side of the joint, to the same distance the other side. I think I did 2 layers of this, with the second one a bit shorter length. Messy, so wear disposable gloves. Remove any excess resin and try to work as clean as possible. Then you can put plastic tape around the whole thing, or just at the ends, so the slippy, sticky carbon tape stays wound around. Make sure the carbon is in proper contact with the carbon tube, not "floating" in lots of resin. Taping the whole thing helps to compress it, but you have to be able to get the tape off after. Mainsail Any sailmaker will tell you to roll your mainsail from head to foot. This stops the actual rolling process to stretching the sail cloth on the luff of the sail. Its worth keeping an eye on the plastic batten protective patches where they rub on the shrouds. Diamond Wire Bottle Screw Mast Fixing In rare situations, the eye that is riveted to the front of the mast to allow attachment of the diamond wire bottle screw may pull out. The lower rivet is most likely to be affected. If required, two solutions are available; Loday White have produced a plate that incorporates the fixing that is riveted to the mast. The plate spreads the load. Pictures to follow. Spitfire style fixing (contributed by Olly Harris) Here is my fix for this problem. I just copied Keep the thing supported straight while it goes off overnight. Sand it down with wet and dry to make it smooth. Polish with fine wet and dry, then cutting paste to get the shine back if you want it to look smart. Carbon splinters in your hand aren't great. the Spitfire way- I assume they are done this way in the first place. I used a 20mm long allen socket head bolt with a plastic washer and normal washer and 5 P a g e
plenty of Duralac on the inside and out. I made some new plastic washers for the outside. I would have liked to bolt the upper hole too, but the fork attachment for the bottle screw prevents that. I put it in with an allen key very well taped to a stick (tent pole) and the bolt lightly taped to the allen key, so I could pull the tool out at the end. Mine was not particularly corroded and the eye was still well fixed, but the holes had enlarged a bit (inevitable). Hopefully this is now strong and I think this is how they should be assembled when new, unless the plate is used. Maybe this, and a photo of the LW plate solution, should go onto the "preventative maintenance" part of the website. The stainless plate is probably the best and strongest solution, but this one can be done with no special parts. But If it was very corroded, this would be no good and the plate would be needed. An even better way might be a piece of alu section on the inside, bolted through. The only issue is getting the mast foot out after undoing the two fixing screws. It is stuck with silicone so needs persuasion. Taking off the rotation plate and sliding a thin blade in to cut the sealant would have helped, but I managed to avoid that. It has to be well sealed in again afterwards. Beam strengthening Loday White have addressed an issue where cracks may appear around the holes for the outer fixing bolts in the front beam. Insert sleeves can be obtained and fitted to strengthen and spread the load in this area. New beams come with the inserts fitted as standard. 6 P a g e
Shadow Tips and tricks Bridle Wire Cover (X Only) To stop the spinnaker clew catching on the port bridle wire during drops, some Shadow X sailors are covering the wire with a 5mm clip on the shroud cover Spanner Bungie Putting a bungie from the end of the spanner to the gooseneck stops the mast rotation and downhaul lines catching around the spanner. Girlie Block Girly block most people now have an extra block on their mainsheet attached to a loop above the jammer. The loose end is then sent through the hole in the upper block and secured with a stopper knot or similar method Main Sheet Strop &Hook You want to be able to sheet in hard and have the sail fairly centred. The strop needs to be about 100-150mm, so the blocks can never be block to block: check it on the shore. Tie a short bowline so that the sail is held close to the boom. A modification some folk have done is to have a permanent loop tied on the sail (just big enough to pass over the end of the boom) with a short strop to a bowline with a shackle on it and that goes onto to the main block. This makes detaching the main block much easier when ashore. Trapeze Bungie Some people like to bring the trapeze bungees through blocks tied to the shroud plates which keep them out the way. Daggerboards Draw a line across your dagger boards at the point that they no longer protrude from the bottom of the boat. This saves costly mistakes when back ashore. 7 P a g e