Great! Thanks very much for this. So if I'm understanding, in lighter air, reduce jib halyard tension lightly to increase the sag in the headstay, coming on a bit harder as the wind builds to decrease sag and start to flatten the sail.
That is correct
Sheet in close to the shrouds, and don't worry too much about backwinding the main. Apply a bit of cunningham to tighten the luff of the main.
That is correct - you'll need to start depowering the main (make it flatter and draft forward). Another strategy is to get twist on the main (traveler up, loose leech). Usually better when you need to power through chop.
At what point is the slot between main and jib too small, where we would be sacrificing too much speed for pointing ability? The main gets real weird looking with the 150 sheeted in as close as possible, which is why we were leaving it out further, but sacrificing quite a few degrees in pointing.
The best way to do this is get another boat to tune with you and try different settings to maximize your VMG. Even though the boat may be slower, you may actually be doing better closure rate to the windward mark.
For the telltales on the leech of the jib, if they are not streaming up top, I would move the jib car forward, correct?
Correct
Any tricks for moving the jib car under load? Our last race was lighter air, so I had a dedicated crew member take a seat on the sheet while we adjusted the car. Otherwise, would I just luff up while we adjust it quickly? We've been playing with the lazy side while on the other tack to try to get it positioned, but the more I read, the more I realize that this is a key point of continual adjustment throughout the race, especially as uphaul and backstay tensions change.
On a J/30 you really cant adjust real easy under load. You should mark the track with numbers the same on each side so you may reproduce the settings easily. I used a Brother label maker. Much better than counting screw holes.
Our more successful races were sailed in 25+ knots of wind, with just the blade jib on, and I got a good feel for her under this sail plan and in the heavier air, but our usual is 12-15knots through the rest of the summer, and I've dropped from 3 or 4th in our class, to dead last the past two races.
The blade is your friend when the wind is up and you will point significantly better using it in those conditions.
![[Linked Image]](https://j30.us/ubbthreads/gallery//vs-avatar.jpg){kind=avatar}
