High fast line and sails in harmony

Discussions on the characteristics of the EC12. Yes, it handles different than most R/C Sailboats

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High fast line and sails in harmony

Postby s vernon » Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:10 am

This is written for people who feel like their buddy is having an easier time of it sailing in races; for people who have been doing this for a while but realize they have not figured out how to make their boat sail fast and easy,with the boat trying to sail itself upwind on a high fast line. I know it is over-simplified, but it is already too long.

I think this is one hurtle to get over for a mid-pack guy like myself to make the boat be a better racing boat. This is not going to tell you how to tune your boat, it is just how to make sure that you get the most out of a well tuned boat.

I think it is best to try this process in a 4 to 6 mph wind. You do not want to be frustrated and mislead by big lulls in the wind.

To start you want to set the boat as best you can for a 4 to 6 mph wind - your standard setup or for a new boat maybe put the mast at 25.5 straight up or slight aft rake and hook the jib at 7 3/8. Sheet the main at about 5 degrees and the jib at about 12 degrees, launch the boat and start the process. Re-trim the jib so that it luffs just a fraction of a second before the main as you head up slightly from closehauled. This is what I call “sails in harmony”. Make sure the helm is the same on both tacks – not perfect, just the same using radio rudder fine trim.

If you have weather helm then bring the boat in and move the rig forward slightly. If you have lee helm move it aft slightly. One thing I find is that the boat can have weather helm or lee helm with the sails not in harmony, but if I put the sails in harmony through jib trim, sometimes the helm magically becomes perfect or more near perfect.

What you are trying to hone in on is to watch the boat wanting to sail itself on a high fast line at the same time that the main and jib are in harmony. It is important to trim the main to about 5 degrees and you should find that the jib will want to be at about 12 degrees, but the important thing is that you find the tuning settings where you get the feeling that the boat is going fast in the conditions and is behaving very well – easy steering – not much need for steering corrections to keep it from heading itself up – the boat wanting to sail itself on a high fast line.

Along the way the boat might feel like it is on rails. It might just go real good wherever you point it. That is not what you are looking for. And it might seem like it is going fast and even pointing well and feel like it is steering itself in the wind fluctuations, but if you steer it up slightly the jib does not luff and the boat is willing to keep sailing fast on that higher line. Again - not what you are looking for.

Bob Sterne covers this much better than I have and he tells you the entire tuning process in many pages, written for an M class but mostly applicable to an EC-12. This is maybe just the final steps of “How to Sail Fast” which can be seen online.

That is it in a few words. The value of this is that you will now be racing using a boat that sails high and fast and is easy to control. When you switch boats with your buddy, Jack, he might say to you, “I don’t see how you ever lose a race sailing this boat.”

Comments? Corrections? I am just trying to be helpful and shorten the learning curve. Just trying to share something where it took about 12 years out of 20 years of EC-12 racing for the light to finally go on.

One problem with what I have written is that you might be badly tuned, so this is not going to be the magic bullet. It is just sort of the last step.
Scott
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Re: High fast line and sails in harmony

Postby s vernon » Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:33 am

I apologize for maybe feeling overly happy about this, but it amazes me.

Yesterday I sailed/raced the yellow 1778 boat in wind of about 6 to 12 and found it had lee helm when going to weather with the jib luffing well before the main. I sheeted in the jib trim and as I tweaked it this way and that it was obvious that the helm was much better when the jib and main were very close to simultaneously beginning to luff - mostly it was on rails - and there was one spot where the jib would luff just a fraction of a seond before the main and the boat had pretty much perfect helm - not on rails but almost and with a slight desire to head up now and then.
Scott
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