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SAILING TIPS Mike Huston


Picture 1 Twist about right for windward sailing.


Trimming the Jib Controlling Draft and Twist


This month, as most of you set off on your sailing


vacation, we’ll review trimming the jib, so you can get the most out of these light, summer winds. These basics apply to all jibs – a 90% jib or a 150% genoa. Let’s start with the tools we have to work with:


• Jib Sheet – attached to the clew of the jib and used to control almost all aspects of the jib’s set; including draft, twist and angle to the wind. • Jib Sheet Car – usually a fairlead on a track that the sheet runs through on its way from the clew to the winch. Moving the car changes the angle or direction of pull and thereby plays a large role in controlling twist and draft. • Telltales on the luff of the jib – used to indicate wind flow over the sail. As you can see, there are fewer tools for us to work with, which, unfortunately, makes the adjustments more complicated. Therefore, I’m going to break these rules into two sections; the first on how to set the angle to the wind and the second for controlling twist and draft. As with the main sail rules, these apply in light to moderate winds.


Picture 2 Top twisted off (car moved back).


Angle to the Wind: This is the basic control of the sail needed to successfully sail all points.


• To Windward – The jib should be sheeted in tight, usually this is limited by the sail coming up against a spreader or shroud, but if not, the amount of draft at the foot will become the limiting factor (flatter for heavy air and deeper for light air). Then steer the boat to keep the telltales both streaming. • Close Reach to Beam Reach – Set your boat’s course and adjust the sheets to again keep the telltales streaming. • Broad Reach – The telltales will not help in setting the jib much beyond a beam reach; therefore another method must be used. A good approximation is to pretend there is a boom between the tack and the clew of the jib and trim the sail so this boom is perpendicular to the apparent wind (this is the same rule used for the main on this heading, so this pretend boom should also be parallel to the main’s boom). On a deep reach the main sail will block the wind so the jib will not fly at all. When this happens it is usually faster to do one of two things; come up some so the jib fills or fall off to a run and fly wing-on-wing. Usually a combination of both works well, coming up for a while until you can jibe and run directly toward your destination (or visa versa).


48° NORTH, AUGUST 2011 PAGE 50


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