Light Wind

   for the outhaul, the flatter the water the tighter i pull it on. never to the stage where you get creases along the foot of the sail (except in traditional classes with bolt ropes along the booms). in the rougher stuff if im underpowered then i can let the outhaul off so its up to 4/5" off at the deepest point.
i tried loads of downhaul in light in the 300 and it puts huge creses running down the luff of the sail which made it really hard to read. i then let some off, pulled on a little kicker and let the downhaul slightly less until the creases down the luff just went. this seemed fast but i couldnt compare it to other 300 so hard to say for sure. this may be one of the things which only really works in the 300 as its a boat where normal sailing techniques often dont work.

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tmoore Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 01 Nov 07 Location: Wales Online Status: Offline Posts: 880	Post Options Post Reply Quote tmoore Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Light Wind Posted: 23 Sep 08 at 5:20pm
	for the outhaul, the flatter the water the tighter i pull it on. never to the stage where you get creases along the foot of the sail (except in traditional classes with bolt ropes along the booms). in the rougher stuff if im underpowered then i can let the outhaul off so its up to 4/5" off at the deepest point. i tried loads of downhaul in light in the 300 and it puts huge creses running down the luff of the sail which made it really hard to read. i then let some off, pulled on a little kicker and let the downhaul slightly less until the creases down the luff just went. this seemed fast but i couldnt compare it to other 300 so hard to say for sure. this may be one of the things which only really works in the 300 as its a boat where normal sailing techniques often dont work.
	Landlocked in Africa RS300 - 410 Firefly F517 - Nutshell Micro Magic RC yacht - Eclipse

feva sailor Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Posting king Joined: 03 Sep 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 186	Post Options Post Reply Quote feva sailor Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Sep 08 at 3:57pm
	with the downhaul/cunningam they say to pull on it gradually. id say in no wind at all full on the cunninam but if theres a puff just pull it so there are a few small creases in it, if there is a small gust but not enough for the crew to sit on the windward gunwhale id say a few more creases. in medium winds (when the crew and helm is sitting but not hicking much) id have it lose. in heavy winds back on again

Lukepiewalker Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 May 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1341	Post Options Post Reply Quote Lukepiewalker Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 23 Sep 08 at 7:01am
	Depends if the water is flat or lumpy as well, generally would ease it a bit if lumpy, crack it in if flat. Wouldn't have the downhaul on at all myself.
	Ex-Finn GBR533 "Pie Hard" Ex-National 12 3253 "Seawitch" Ex-National 12 2961 "Curved Air" Ex-Mirror 59096 "Voodoo Chile"

redback Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 16 Mar 04 Location: Tunbridge Wells Online Status: Offline Posts: 1502	Post Options Post Reply Quote redback Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 20 Sep 08 at 5:03pm
	Just a little note for beginners. The pressure developed by the sails is approximately to the square of the wind speed. So the difference between light and just a little more can be enormous. For instance 3knots is a drift but 6knots is 4 times as much power and so the sail setting would ideally be completely different. The trouble is when its light its also very variable so you are not going to be able to adjust for perfection and even if you could you'd gain a lot more by looking out of the boat and picking a good shift.

feva sailor Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Posting king Joined: 03 Sep 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 186	Post Options Post Reply Quote feva sailor Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 20 Sep 08 at 3:19pm
	in light winds ihave the outhaul and downhaul on tight to flatten the sail compleatley. also if its boring ligt winds i do stuff like walking around the forestay and so on did it on the feva today, got the bow right at the water level and the transom like a ft off the water it actually worked quite well but heel it and it turns. in general, if its light winds make it as easy as possible for the ind to flow over the sails. (ie, no bumps and an open leech)

JimC Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6661	Post Options Post Reply Quote JimC Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 19 Sep 08 at 10:43pm
	It depends how very light the wind is, and also how your sail is cut. If the wind is really really light it won't manage to get round a full sail properly so you try and flatten it off a bit, but that's sub flag flapping coditions really.

JonnyW Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Newbie Joined: 19 Sep 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote JonnyW Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 19 Sep 08 at 9:57pm
	In light wind I understand that the kicker should be loose but different sailors offer different opinions on outhaul adjustment should it be tight or should it be loose?