Gusty Sailing with Alison and Stuart
Posted at 12:23pm on 1st September, 2010 • No comments yet
I headed out with Alison, Stuart and their son Callum for a day of sail training. With the wind blowing at 15knots gusting up to 25 knots we had the perfect conditions to learn how to control our boat in more challenging conditions.
When you become over powered especially when sailing close hauled you can instantly reduce the heel on your boat by pinching or heading slightly to close to the wind. Not an easy skill but great fun to practice. Both Alison and Stuart did brilliantly at this.
Another option is to de-power the main, by letting out the main sheet.
As both of these options leave you with a flapping sails this can only ever be a short term solution.
These are the sail controls you have when cruising;
- Sheet
- Halyard
- kicker or Vang
- Outhaul
When over powered your first course of action is to use these controls and wind them all tight, this will flatten the sail your sail, reducing the power in the sail and leave you with a more handle-able boat.
If after flattening your sail you are still over powered then you then will have to reef or shorten sail.
After showing this information practically to the guys we then worked at a sailing exercise increasing our understanding of the wind and tide and using them to our advantage. This allowed us to feel more comfortable in the conditions, which made our sailing happier and more enjoyable.
That wasn’t the end of the day we spent more time learning lots of tricks to pick up mooring buoys and some parking drills for Alison.
But great to sail with you both and I look forward to the next time.