LESSON 4: REACHING AND SAIL TRIM

SAILING OFF THE WIND

When sailing to any point on the clock between 2 and 10, the boat is not "close hauled". Sailing in most of these directions is called "reaching". Sailing for the 6 - directly downwind - is called "running". A general name for reaching and running is "sailing off the wind".

When sailing off the wind we should be able to hold a steady course using a fixed point far ahead or the compass as a guide. It is important, however, to pay attention to the shape and the set of the sails when reaching or running. When sailing off the wind, the sails themselves are adjusted for shifts in the wind direction. (When sailing close hauled steering adjusts for such shifts.)

When the boat sails in the direction of one of the numbers in the yellow area, it is reaching.

The lines provided for these adjustments are called "sheets". The main sheet connects the boom to the hull of the boat and it is adjusted from the cockpit at a location that is handy to the person steering the boat. The main sheet used to "trim" (pull in) and "ease" (let out) the sail to its most efficient angle. It is also important to release the mainsail quickly (to luff the mainsail) if a sudden gust of wind heels (tips) the boat too much. Adjustments to the jib are made with the jib sheet.

TELLTALE SIGNS WHEN SAILING OFF THE WIND

Adjustments of the sails with the sheets produce the same result as the adjustments made by steering when the boat is sailing close hauled. The sails are developing "lift" due to the wind streaming over both the concave and convex surfaces. We see the wind doing this by watching the telltales on both surfaces of the jib. They should be streaming back. We can see that neither the mainsail nor the jib is luffing and the telltales attached to the leech (the trailing edge of the mainsail) are also streaming.

When sailing efficiently off the wind, on either port or starboard tack, the helmsperson holds a steady course while the crew tends the sheets - adjusting the sails to keep the telltales streaming. If the leeward telltale (on the convex surface of the sail) is stalled (not streaming), let the jib out. If the windward telltale is not streaming or if the sail is luffing, pull the jib in. On the mainsail, the telltale on the leech indicates that the sail is set properly. The main sheet should be eased until the leech telltale streams, and trimmed when the mainsail begins to luff.



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