Skip to main content

Sailing with BBBS: Sail Trim (12 Jul 20)


Reflections:
Objective of letting out sail more to find wind direction was met a little better today.

However today, I was still also having difficulty finding the right direction of wind. And I realised my challenge was more with not sheeting in enough (when close hauling). And probably need to get more familiar with the points of sail too to acquire the appropriate sail trim (which needs good judgement of wind direction to determine correct point of sail). 

Moreover, I was overly avoidant of entering the no-go zone, so I find that maybe my apparent available directions of sail were a bit more limited in my mind. 

There were many times when I was having difficulty with assessing whether it was the wind that was weak, or if I was in the no-go zone.

After the coach mentioned about the luff of the sail, I began to eye it more as well, and was looking up at my sail a lot more. I felt like I was still quite confused about the telltale, although I was trying to read them as well (my particular sail had telltales, yay).


I noticed the lack of control/rudder centring after completing a tack/gybe. Find it hard to spatially assess in my mind, without looking back at it, the position of the rudder. Moreover, when I try to switch hands in holding the tiller extension after a tack/gybe, I find that the rudder also ends up shifting.

I think I also had some difficulty with sailing straight and centring the rudder while my rudder hand is still behind my back (before I switched hands).



So I didn't really work on the "three things", cos I was really just trying to focus on: 1. Assessing wind direction correctly
2. Acquiring appropriate sail trim


Oh one more thing: because I also set for myself the goal of not capsizing today (I think I did pretty well as I only capsized once towards the end when I was getting a bit slower in reaction speed), I was a lot more cautious in sheet control and also trying to shift my weight around faster. There was once, though, where I forced myself to hang on to the sheet when the boat started heeling, and hiked out quite far all the way. That was like, first time ever. But I think I will try to hike first, and release sheet as a last resort. I've still got to work on releasing sheet swiftly but in more controlled gradual increments. Now I dump in rather large increments.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BBBS Sailing Reflections (Byte 6 and SB20 4) (12 Sep 2020)

Byte Pre-Sailing Reflections  Targets to achieve: Internal Affairs - Intra-Boat Management Execute smooth hand over hand sheeting in with improved rope positioning. Also tidy up ropes before doing a tack/gybe (make sure you are ready for tack/gybe before performing one) Practice main sheet tricks - stretch out length of rope and lay on knee prior to tack or gybe Hike out with thighs on boat gunwale Manage outhaul, downhaul and vang consciously to maintain good sail shape. Lift and lower daggerboard for different points of sail Manoeuvring Around Wind - Tacking & Gybing Turn by correct amount during tacking (slightly over-turn then head back to wind is fine). (Also do so by visualising current heading and new desired heading.) Tacking technique to be improved - changing hands and moving the tiller extension around forward. Keeping hands on main sheet instead of letting go.  When the wind shifts aft, point into the wind more rather than letting out the sail. Likewise when th...
Post a Comment
Read more

BBBS Keelboat Regatta Training Session 1 (22 Aug 2020) (SB20)

Item 1: Rigging Observation: Rigging boat was slow. Reflection: Unfamiliar with the procedures and the specific parts of the keelboat.  Sub Points: new parts of the boat for me: outstay (line at the back to control curve of mast for depowering the top of the sail) Head of mainsail connected to main halyard via shackle.  Item 2: Main Sail Control Sub points: - Learnt traveller tuning to keep boom centred. (traveller used as fine tuning after sheeting in on the main sheet)  - Keeping top leech telltale streaming out straight (unable to do that even after loosening outstay and sheeting out. Next thing to try: tuning the vang)  - Main sheet, outstay and traveller controlled by the same guy usually. Need to get accustomed to the ergonomics and movement within the cockpit. Sometimes might need to manage spinnaker also. Item 3: Spinnaker Observation:  I am very unfamiliar with the spinnaker as I have never used one before. I am also unfamiliar with the SB20...
Post a Comment
Read more

TQL: The Word "Salary"

Origin of Terms Series The "Today QiYun Learnt" Digest Alright, here's another fun fact for the day: The English word "salary" is derived from the Latin phrase salarium argentum , which means "salt money'. This was because salt was so valuable even in those times that it was also used as a currency, and was part of the payment made to soldiers in Rome.
Post a Comment
Read more