Pecos45

What's the hardest part of sailing for everyone? After I typed that I realized my HARDEST thing is making myself quit and go home at the end of the day.

But closely following on this is my next hardest thing.......<[:-]> sailing a straight line.

There I said it. Does this sound stupid to anyone but me? I can sail up wind, downwind, no wind, crosswind...either way. I can chase the ducks and shave the dock......but going perfectly straight drives me crazy.[&:]

How do you do it???

When there is a pretty good crosswind, do I have to ride the rudder? And the gusts sometimes make the boat jink this way or that.

In my mind I see my boat out there cutting all these graceful moves like a figure skater. But when I open my eyes, sometimes it looks more like I'm sailing a course designed to confound submarines.

In 2,500 words or less, can some kind soul tell me the secret of the STRAIGHT LINE.[:@]

LtDoc

Pecos45,
"the secret of the STRAIGHT LINE"... Depends on the wind, sail set, and rudder control. Basically how competent you are. Is it always possible? Uh, not really, but sometimes - lol. Do I sail in a straight line sometimes? Yes. Always when I want to? Uh, no! But, with enough practice it isn't impossible. Good luck!
- 'Doc

Larry Ludwig

The need for straight line sailing, with minimum or no rudder input is the desire of every racing skipper.

This is created by balancing the forces on your boat (not adjusting the rudder trim on your transmitter)

Mast position, Mast Rake, Sail shape and position and type and trim, along with ballast and hull shape wind and water all affect
the boat. Depending on the type of boat you can balance to where the boat appears to be on rails heading to the weather mark
or looks more like a Tuna with an itch.

The more stable the boat is to start with, the more likely you will achieve the results you desire... consequently balancing a boat
that is less stable is considerably more work, and will usually not achieve the same results in as wide of environment.

If you sailed with the same boat and sails, in the same wind and wave conditions each and every time, you would be able to nail it down rather quickly. The first two you can control, but after that it gets harder. Learning to recognize wind and water conditions
and setting up your boat accordingly is one reason that you see the same names appearing at the top of the finishing order in Regattas year after year. The same way a pro bowler has to adjust as the lane changes, the skipper has to adjust as the various factors affecting the boat change.

The best way... IMHO to learn these things is with a !QUOT!pace horse!QUOT! Start two boats together, and only make adjustments to the one, until it is clearly faster and handling better. Then you can try to catch up the 2nd boat, and hopefully improve upon it. Taking notes is a grand idea, for things tried and rejected as well as accepted. Reading !QUOT!tuning tips!QUOT! for your boat is wonderful source of information and will leap frog you weeks ahead in the process if you are starting from scratch... simply because of the number of variables that need to be dealt with.

You will probably find, that sailing a straight line is easier going to weather.. and with quite a few boats.. particularly development class boats such as IOM, M, 10R, those with deep fin/bulb keel setups, that they can be tuned to go to the weather mark completely hands off and track a laser straight line. One of the reasons for this is because as the boat heels, the hull doesn't change it's shape in the water. A displacement hull will have significant overhang, and as she heels will completely change the profile in the water, and therefore... change the way that the boat handles. This doesn't mean that they can't track as straight.. it is just harder to pin point those settings.

Furthermore, you will probably find that sailing before the wind to be more of a challenge tracking a straight line, and once again common sense reminds is that you are probably traveling at a more rapid pace, therefore your rudder is more efficient and the boat requires less input from YOU to affect the heading. If you are still mashing around on the transmitter... you will have the itchy tuna syndrome going again... and this becomes more likely as the winds increase velocity.

Going over your boat looking for all the inequalities is fundamental as simple things such as the main letting out short and the jib going full travel (and vice-versa) can drastically unbalance your boat. This can be caused by winch setup, or improper rigging etc. The boat may be sailing perfectly well to weather but just the length of your sheets and the amount of travel provided to the two sails can cause the wheels to come off the wagon.

Please understand that this is a large over simplification of many many variables and conditions that affect your boat and the way that it sails.... which is why sailboat racing has been around for such a long time and holds so much interest. Better skippers that learned more and experienced more benefited from others and pass it along as well. This is why I tell guys all the time that want to buy a better boat... that if they took the money they were going to spend, and spent the time instead... practicing and tuning their boat they would become faster than if they had the best boat ever made. There is much more speed in the preparation and setup of the boat than there is the manufacturer.

ICE929RR

Nice report Larry...

My Voyager sails very good in a straight line, but if it pick a stronger gust of wind... it turns way away from the wind... there is a reason for this, but I am still very "noob" about seting up a sailboat.

Regards,

ICE

wismerhell

choosing the boat

pompebled

Very funny Wis.... (but true).

Luis, the reason your boat turns away from the wind has to do with the changes the previous owner has made to the rig.
This, and the mast being where it is, makes the larger jib responsible for this behaviour.

If you take that in account for your new sail set, and make a smaller jib (or make a few sizes), this problem is solvable, as the balance of the boat will be better.

My Voyager tends to go into the wind in a gust.

And, as Wis said, the hullshape does it's work when the boat heels, as your mast is taller, this effect will be more pronounced.

Regards, Jan.

Pecos45

Thanks guys for the good answers. And thank you, Larry, for taking the time to put it all down in black and white for me...even if you're the devil who sails so straight and makes me realize how inept I am. I've been wanting to ask you this question every time we sail together but you are always too busy trying to convince the onlookers your boat has no motor.

Anyway, I was hoping someone would tell me all I had to do was tighten a screw or buy a bigger servo or paint my boat a different color. Obviously nothing so easy. Looks like anyway I slice it there is no shortcut to becoming a great sailor. A guy just has to learn his boat and what he's doing. No magic pill or formula.

The good news is this sport is so much fun I don't mind. Just wish I had more time to do it.

Thanks again, all. Maybe someday I'll get there.

wismerhell

in addition to Larry's great comment:
http://www.onemetre.net/Technicl/Balance/Tune.htm