The below are snaps of my sails in 13/15 knots true so somewhere short of 20
apparent yesterday . Would you believe the 3 jib luff was tensioned until I turned to a beat. Could slack shrouds cause this as in three years I have not checked them Unfortunately not having a coachroof winch for the halyard it was impossible to tension short of going head the wind which was too dangerous for me solo and anyway I was enjoying the ride .In regard to the main I had dropped the traveller from centre with a tight mainsheet getting the leech telltails and lee telltail near the centre head all flying result in some backwinding on the luff.
I had very very slight weather helm with a fair degree of heel . Actually I'm amazed how well behaved she is even when I'm looking straight down at the water in gusts.
Any suggestions of what I've trimmed wrong or how to improve.
thanks

More halyard tension

you definitely need tighten the jib luff, either with tightening the jib halyard or perhaps try tightening the backstay. If you do not have a suitable winch you could rig a 3 or 5 to 1 purchase to tighten the halyard.

On the main I would either tighten the main halyard and / or start to tighten the cunningham to move the draft forward.

Looks like a nice day :)

Ilenart

Have you checked that the jib isnt too long for the forestay? You should be able to tension more than that.

Agree the above. Luff up and tighten the halyards. It will only take 10 seconds.

Thanks everyone. Might wack another winch on starboard coach roof for foresail
halyard and reposition some of those clutches

I had exactly that problem on the jib and it had stretched enough to top out the stay. Needed it trimmed down 150mm and now perfect. Was only 1 year old too. With the main check for same problem but otherwise more tension and crank on the Cunningham on the lower cringle shown.

You could set up a small 3 or 4 to 1 tackle at the tack of the jib.
pull it up higher with the halyard and tension it down at the tack.
Ive used this set up successfully on boats with no halyard winches. As long as the sail isnt too long on the luff, it works well.

Lots of good suggestions. I'm wondering if you still can't get luff tension perhaps the boltrope has shrunk a bit, how old is the sail?
You can unstitch it at the tack and load up the sail. The bolt rope should slip through a bit, then re-stitch. Same with the jib, my eyesight isn't good enough to see if there is a boltrope there but that would also cause the scallops you are getting.

leech line a little tight, some hooking in the middle third.

Select to expand quote

saltiest1 said..
I had exactly that problem on the jib and it had stretched enough to top out the stay. Needed it trimmed down 150mm and now perfect. Was only 1 year old too. With the main check for same problem but otherwise more tension and crank on the Cunningham on the lower cringle shown.

Hi saltiest1. Thanks for comments. I was aware the jib needed more tension but as I said decided not to luff up to manually tighten . Its pretty hard for a 77 yo to manually haul up that extra inch or so with sails flogging in a moderate wind, especially in the broardwater with limited manoeuvrability in a light boat .
As it is I need to start outboard to get forward motion otherwise she tends to fall away
I need a bigger boat! .
The A measurement is 7400 and the three year old jibs' luff was cut at 6600. I thought someone may have mentioned that the jib block looks too forward. I had cranked on the main halyard hard when turning to windward but obviously not hard enough . Frankly I forgot to use the cunningham . To me the main luff rope looks pretty tight yet there are horizontal crinkles just off the rope obviously because not tight enough.

The mainsail just needs some tension on the cunningham eye to open the leech. Hauling up the halyard will not be that effective because of the friction involved. Always tension the leech downwards.

Select to expand quote

Ramona said..
The mainsail just needs some tension on the cunningham eye to open the leech. Hauling up the halyard will not be that effective because of the friction involved. Always tension the leech downwards.

Yep, pulling down is a better way of getting luff tension.

Hiya BB,
the other benefit to more luff tension is you'll decrease the heel and lessen the weather helm as the draft moves forward.
Cheers,
SB

Select to expand quote

DrogueOne said..
Lots of good suggestions. I'm wondering if you still can't get luff tension perhaps the boltrope has shrunk a bit, how old is the sail?
You can unstitch it at the tack and load up the sail. The bolt rope should slip through a bit, then re-stitch. Same with the jib, my eyesight isn't good enough to see if there is a boltrope there but that would also cause the scallops you are getting.

leech line a little tight, some hooking in the middle third.

Hi Drogue,
sail is only 3-4 years old . I will have a look at the tension on leech line Thanks.

Select to expand quote

stray said..
You could set up a small 3 or 4 to 1 tackle at the tack of the jib.
pull it up higher with the halyard and tension it down at the tack.
Ive used this set up successfully on boats with no halyard winches. As long as the sail isnt too long on the luff, it works well.

That sounds a good idea except my cockpit floor already looks like a bowl of spaghetti when things get exciting but when I get old I'll rethink that idea.

Thanks Ramona, MB ,Shaggy. And here I have been blaming the cut of the sail for not being able to bring the draft forward enough and resorting to dropping the traveller. Even got a quote from Gary at UK for a tri. when all along its the nut behind the wheel.

definitely Halyard tension, a lot of the halyards (and sail a bit) will stretch when the increased load of upwind work comes onto them.
what looks fine running along will suddenly be nowhere near enough under the higher apparent wind load when you turn the corner!
You may need to over tension them a fair bit (not too much) before hand.
But pull on the tricky pig (Cunningham eye) and crank that jib halyard a bit. It is not great to have that load on the individual hanks on jib and slides on mainsail. tensioning spreads the load, makes the helm lighter and the sail shape better!

Hi BB, I agree with the general consensus here. One thing you could try also is to hoist both main and jib at the dock (without wind), get the tension about right for say the wind conditions you mentioned, then put marks on your halyards where they exit the clutch. Then when you next go out, hoist to those marks as a starting point, easier to slacken a bit if you have lighter conditions.

Select to expand quote

Galatea said..
definitely Halyard tension, a lot of the halyards (and sail a bit) will stretch when the increased load of upwind work comes onto them.
what looks fine running along will suddenly be nowhere near enough under the higher apparent wind load when you turn the corner!
You may need to over tension them a fair bit (not too much) before hand.
But pull on the tricky pig (Cunningham eye) and crank that jib halyard a bit. It is not great to have that load on the individual hanks on jib and slides on mainsail. tensioning spreads the load, makes the helm lighter and the sail shape better!

Whoa, You have just reminded me I still have not replaced the old main halyard I meant to . May as well do jib h as well . Thanks Galatea

Select to expand quote

2bish said..
Hi BB, I agree with the general consensus here. One thing you could try also is to hoist both main and jib at the dock (without wind), get the tension about right for say the wind conditions you mentioned, then put marks on your halyards where they exit the clutch. Then when you next go out, hoist to those marks as a starting point, easier to slacken a bit if you have lighter conditions.

100% will do

When I had my Farr6000, with the halyard tensions, nothing was to be added, however it was possible to do a Truckies Hitch [or two] and that provided the purchase. Had the added benefit of the fact that no one else could tell what tension I had or could get.

Good to see you are enjoying the boat BB and now the fun begins fine tuning! Isn't that why we all do this past time?
totally agree with all the comments, more luff tension on both sails. New non stretchy halyards will help minimise loose luff tension. I do find a Cunningham is much easier to adjust the draft/ saggy luff on the water, I think it is kinder on the sail too, as you don't need as much pull to get suitable tension. enjoy, Richard

Good to see you are enjoying the boat BB and now the fun begins fine tuning! Isn't that why we all do this past time?
totally agree with all the comments, more luff tension on both sails. New non stretchy halyards will help minimise loose luff tension. I do find a Cunningham is much easier to adjust the draft/ saggy luff on the water, I think it is kinder on the sail too, as you don't need as much pull to get suitable tension. enjoy, Richard

I don't touch the cunningham until I have at least 20 kn, just before the first reef. In moderate winds, to keep better sail shape I'd rather tension the main halyard so I don't destroy the bottom 1/3 of the main .(with the cunningham.)