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Re: Weather Helm
#3471
03/23/04 10:57 AM
03/23/04 10:57 AM
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 493 Chicago, Il. USA
D. Bartley
Governor at Large
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Governor at Large
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 493
Chicago, Il. USA
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What sort of conditions, point of sail?
Lots of things, some of which may help:
- sail the boat flatter, less heel reduces helm
- Drop the traveler down, all the way to leeward if you have to
- Flatten the main... more backstay, outhaul
- use a smaller headsail
- Reduce mast rake (ease the shrouds, tighten the forestay, then bring your shrouds tighter)
- Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do. On a tight reach in a good breeze, a J/30 is a truck.
Dennis Bartley Planxty, s/n 23994 hull 205
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Re: Weather Helm
#3472
03/23/04 12:27 PM
03/23/04 12:27 PM
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3 San Pedro, CA, USA
Geoffrey Turk
OP
Forum Newbie
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OP
Forum Newbie
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3
San Pedro, CA, USA
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Originally posted by D. Bartley: What sort of conditions, point of sail?
Lots of things, some of which may help:
- sail the boat flatter, less heel reduces helm
- Drop the traveler down, all the way to leeward if you have to
- Flatten the main... more backstay, outhaul
- use a smaller headsail
- Reduce mast rake (ease the shrouds, tighten the forestay, then bring your shrouds tighter)
- Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do. On a tight reach in a good breeze, a J/30 is a truck.
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Re: Weather Helm
#3473
03/23/04 12:30 PM
03/23/04 12:30 PM
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3 San Pedro, CA, USA
Geoffrey Turk
OP
Forum Newbie
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OP
Forum Newbie
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3
San Pedro, CA, USA
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Thanks...Problem occurs going to weather in a breeze.Have tried other suggestions.Guess I'll go to truck driving school. Originally posted by D. Bartley: What sort of conditions, point of sail?
Lots of things, some of which may help:
- sail the boat flatter, less heel reduces helm
- Drop the traveler down, all the way to leeward if you have to
- Flatten the main... more backstay, outhaul
- use a smaller headsail
- Reduce mast rake (ease the shrouds, tighten the forestay, then bring your shrouds tighter)
- Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do. On a tight reach in a good breeze, a J/30 is a truck.
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Re: Weather Helm
#3476
03/24/04 10:21 AM
03/24/04 10:21 AM
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 159 grand rapids, mi
311 Temptation
Western Great Lakes District Governor
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Western Great Lakes District Governor
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 159
grand rapids, mi
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I have to admit it; I was pretty surprised at the "weight" of the helm when I first grabbed the tiller.
I can only guess at the causes such as:
* it's a pretty big rudder !
* it' s stern hung which may be a factor
* the chord length of the rudder is long, which means it's got more surface area to present to the direction of flow. A short chord modern rudder would be more efficient, and have a much lighter feel
* my sails are in rather decent shape, and I still have a relatively "heavy feel" regardless of wind strength
* the feel is similar with the spinnaker up too, in terms of "weight"
However, the upside is that you are not going to want to fight a lot of (slow) weather helm, so you will be trimmed at least close to the correct groove. In this regard, I really don't mind. Call it self-instructive.
Also, I don't think you could get away with being an extremely ham fisted racing helmsman. You only need to move that helm a wee bit (fractions of an inch primarily) for best effect. This is true on any boat, and it's just easier to do on the J/30 because this is the range of easy movement. If you move the helm excessively, you get penalized with arm fatigue, so you learn to make small fluid movements, which translates nicely to your helming skills on this and other boats.
But I was surprised at first. It's not what you might think. I do think the J/30 has a sweet natural wide groove that makes it pretty easy to go fast. Except when there is zero wind, 5 foot waves and current, my typical Lake Michigan racing conditions.
Dell
Dell Todd #311 Temptation Holland MI
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Re: Weather Helm
#3478
03/24/04 12:55 PM
03/24/04 12:55 PM
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 493 Chicago, Il. USA
D. Bartley
Governor at Large
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Governor at Large
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 493
Chicago, Il. USA
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hmmm... upwind in a breeze I generally have a rather light helm, even with max headstay length.
If you're already using a #3, make it as flat as possible. Tightening the uppers along with backstay on hard may help that.
Twist off the top of the #3 a bit by moving the jib car back.
As a previous poster suggested, old sails may be deeper or draft aft than you'd like, both of which contribute to heel, and therefore weather helm.
Dennis Bartley Planxty, s/n 23994 hull 205
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