[Rhodes22-list] Pointing

[Steve]

In 10-15 mph wind, the trick to a 175% headsail is in
the tacking.  Tack thru, fall off to closehaul, then
head up as you grind in the genny.  Make the genny
flat.  The genny track car is key here.  Headstay must
be tight & strouds adjusted properly.  Once you get
the headstay flat & trim right; leave it alone.  Don't
dump any wind from the headsail in a puff.  Play the
traveler in the puffs and keep the headsail pulling at
all time.  

The Rhodes will ride the edge of the wind if your boat
is set properly.

I now have the Schafer snapfurl furler.  But when I
had the GB furler, there was a trick I use to tighten
the luff.  I use the screw at the top as the base
screw.  But at the bottom, I did NOT use the screw.  I
use a rope and based on the wind speed, I could
tighten the luff.  I tied it to the eye where the
screw was suppose to go, lead it down to the base of
the furler (mine had a hole in the round flat base at
the outside and inside closer to the tube) I ran the
rope luff line to the inside one and tied it off. 
Used some white electric tape to rape around the line
several times to make it solid & tight.  At the 15 mph
wind range, I made the luff very tight.  Loosen it for
lower wind speeds.
Steve


--- Peter Thorn <pthorn at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> Lew and other Rhodies,
> 
> I'd like to add a few comments.  My R22 renovation
> project is just getting underway, and I do not have
> a lot of R22 experience yet, and it's been more than
> 20 years since I sailed on my father's 76 R22.
> 
> However, I am an avid small boat racer and have lots
> of dinghy racing experience (current USSA SAYRA
> Tanzer 16 Circuit Champion, MADS Champion, CSC
> Legacy Bell Champion, twice past T-16 National
> Champion).  My Starwind 19 keel/cb cruising boat is
> somewhat similar to an R22, and I have two years
> experience with making it go fast.  Lastly, I truly
> despise a boat that will not point, and am fairly
> obsessed with making sure my 84 R22 will point
> reasonably well when she is done.
> 
> Most boats will not point their best in either heavy
> air or light air, so my comments are limited to
> smooth water and moderate air (10-15) - a/k/a
> perfect sailing conditions.  
> 
> Large Headsails and Sheeting Angle-  For those R22s
> with very large overlapping headsails (150 and
> above), I think it will be difficult to obtain
> maximum pointing (the most the boat is capable of)
> when the large headsail is fully deployed.  The
> sheeting angle is to the rail - great for speed but
> too wide an angle to be close winded.   When furled
> past 1/3  (i.e. from a 150 to less than a 100), to
> allow running the sheet to inboard tracks or to the
> cabin top, such large sails suffer by losing much of
> their sail shape and do not have their maximum draft
> far enough aft.  It's a jury rig at best for
> pointing.  Further, with such a furled monster
> there's a fairly large column of sailcloth rolled up
> at the luff, making conditions worse for the flow to
> attach to the leeward luff of the sail, if on the
> tack with the furled roll facing to leeward.  A 110
> blade headsail, tacked to the cabin top at a 12-15
> degree sheeting angle would be much more effective
> close to the wind in these condition, I would think.
> 
> 
> Has anyone tried a "cutter rig" on an R22, with a
> tack point just aft of the roller furler?  Furl the
> big genny and hoist a 110 (or less) headsail 8-10"
> aft of it with a wire luff, tightened by a halyard
> winch to 300# or so?  Fine entry, good uncompromised
> sail shape - should point. 
> 
> Or, how about Stan's self-tacking headsail - I'll
> bet that will point!  Would anybody with one of
> those care to comment about it?
> 
> >From Dr. Stuart Walker's "Advanced Racing Tactics",
> Chapter 12, "Shifting Gears", the basics of sail
> trim for pointing in moderate air:
> 
> JIB-
> jib leads lateral                 inboard
> jib lead fore and aft          aft (twist aloft)
> jib sheet tension               marked (close
> hauled)
> jib luff tension                  minimal           
>                                     
> 
> MAIN-
> boom sheeting angle        midline
> draft                                decreased 
> (outhaul tight)
> draft position                   aft (Cunningham
> tight)                          
> twist (mainsheet)            very little twist
> (mainsheet tight, traveler centerline)
> 
> Walker remarks that ideal windward performance is a
> combination of pointing, speed and leeway. You can't
> point unless moving fast to begin with.  Some
> inexperienced sailors "pinch" into the wind and
> travel so slowly over the bottom that lift from the
> underwater fins begins to stall and then they make
> large amounts of leeway.  Since it is very difficult
> to detect leeway while helming a moving boat, the
> pinching novice skipper thinks he's pointing really
> high. Actually, his bow is "pointing" high, but the
> boat is making so much leeway that it isn't really
> sailing in that direction.  So, start by bearing off
> at first to develop speed, then slowly head up into
> a close-hauled heading.  As speed wanes, bear off.
> As speed builds, head up.  Use very minute
> adjustments.  "Leeway and speed are opposite faces
> of the same coin"- Walker.
> 
> To maximize lift, the centerboard should be down -
> but it does not have to be "all the way down".  A
> big advantage of a keel/cb boat like the R22 is
> fore/aft cb adjustment -- weather helm can be
> precisely trimmed.  A little weather helm is good,
> because it causes the rudder to provide some amount
> of lift.  Too much weather helm can be removed by
> lifting the board aft slightly, moving Center of
> Lateral Resistance aft.  
> 
> Heel angle is important too.  The many underwater
> fins heeled past 15-20 degrees begin to lose lift. 
> Sometimes you can shorten sail, sail the boat
> flatter and point much higher.  
> 
> I hope these comments help. 
> 
> Peter Thorn
> S/V Phoenix 
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
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www.rhodes22.org/list


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