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running and gybing


Al Stead

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Hello all,

Yesterday I had an opportunity to do something that I hadn't thought about before.  I got to run straight down wind and get a pretty good push.  I didn't want to get overpowered by a sudden gust, so I ran with the main sail pulled in pretty tight to de power it and allow me to let it out and in if the wind died a bit without using two hands to gather up the sheet.  This seemed to work pretty well.  I didn't feel out of control at any time, even when hit by a pretty good gust. 

My problem is what do you do when you have to turn across the wind?  I was running about 10 degrees to port of the wind, but needed to turn to 90 degrees port in order to get back to the landing.  My thought was that if I tried that, I had no where to go with the main sail if I had to do it in a blow.  I couldn't think of an alternative, so I did it and things got out of hand pretty fast.  I let go of everything and instantly rounded up into the stiff wind, which wasn't too bad, but I was faced with the same problem again only going the other way.  I gathered up the reins and brought her all the way around again during a short lull, and went for it again.  By that time I was hiding behind an island and was able to bring down the main and get the oars out.  With the sails down, I was able to make excellent time back to the dock, but ended  up missing it and sitting on a submerged rock.  Oh well.  There has to be a protocol for making this type of turn.  Help!

One other thing.  I have been using 5 minute epoxy for some of the smaller bits of building the boat and I like a lot.  Is it appropriate to use for small repairs below the water line?

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If you are very close to running dead down wind then sailing with the main in most of the way is actually more likely to be the cause of problems than sheeting out where the sail belongs.  Should you get a wind shift across the stern you will end up in a flying gybe (a gybe that was not intended and is hence out of control).

Gybing, like anything else in sailing needs to be practiced.  Doing so in light winds and then later heavier ones is the way to learn.  In really heavy winds you can always choose to do a 270 degree turn to port, tacking over in the process, to end up in what would have been a 90 degree turn to starboard and avoid gybing all together.

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In those conditions given a choice I do what my sailing instructor called a "chicken gybe".  In other words, round up into the wind, tack, and then come off on the other side.  On a good day it doesn't take much sea-room and it's certainly safer in stronger winds.

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I don't know if that is what I actually did.  I did a 360 turn involving the letting go, and ended up heading the right way when I was done.  My weekender seems to tack really well.  Even in a breath of wind, she will come about without any hesitation.  Or maybe my expectations are way low.  Anyway, I have done a number of 360's while messing around with trying to get things squared away.  The sailing book I have been reading is pretty dense, so I bought a simpler one.  I think I have a better handle on what to do next, but we'll see. 

Al

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I have been following this discussion with great interest. When you mentioned a book that is quite "dense" and getting a simpler one, it made me think of "Sailing for Dummies." That book has the clearest explanations of sailing principals that I have seen. We like it so much, we leave a copy on our boat that we bareboat charter to others (Hopefully, they use it).

We highly recommend it to everyone that asks for a simple, concise, description of elements of sailing.

Steve

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