Sail Balance when Running

The goal with sail balance is to have your sails steer the boat, and the rudder simply help hold the course. 

In balanced sails will pull the yacht hard upwind or down, meaning that if the sails are not set to the course, your rudder will have to fight them the whole way there. 

When running, it feels pretty tempting to ease the mainsail all the way out. This will present the most sail area to the wind, pushing you downwind, but it also does something unwanted.  

The mainsail will become a large area of sail to one side of the boat, and will try to act as a lever arm, pushing the boat to turn in the opposite direction. If the main is on the port side, the boat will try to turn to starboard. If the main is to starboard, the boat will twist to port. 

This problem is called weather helm, and usually corrected by easing the main, or reducing its area. Since the main has been eased as much as possible at this point, the only option left is to reduce its area.  

As the main comes down, the desire for the yacht to veer upwind will minimize and the downwind pull of the headsail will keep the yacht right on course.  

Yes, this yacht could go faster if it were also flying the mainsail, but it would have to work on keeping the helm straight as it traveled. Sometimes, slowing down and reducing sail area will make the entire journey easier and more pleasant. 

Next time you are setting your sails, consider which direction you want to go and set the sails that would be most advantageous in reaching that goal, strike any sail that will make your life harder and enjoy your voyage! 

Heaving To (For Convenience)

There are many reasons to heave to, usually all related to stopping the boat to fix something that has gone wrong.  

It could be that the weather has become too powerful to safely navigate, or that your gear broke and you need to stop and tend to repairs. It could also be that someone fell overboard and you need to recover them! 

All of these situations involve something that is not good happening, and heaving to to let you fix it.  

There is one pleasant reason to heave to: because you want to. 

If you are granted a weather window to leave an inlet but are faced with an upwind destination, you could either tack forever and work like a dog; or heave to and wait for the right winds. 

Heaving to will pretty much stop you in the water, making you slowly slip sideways through the sea. This means that you will move slower than if you ran, or lay a hull (which would be the equivalent of running under bare poles). 

Heaving to also keeps your sails ready should you drift into something and need to get away from it. If you were laying a hull, you would need to hoist the sails and set them, whereas heaving to would only require that you set the sails. 

Once the weather you want comes around, you will then scoot right along without having to work very hard. This will put you further along and makeup for the day you sat waiting still in the water. 

Storm Sailplan

Storm sails are small and very strong sails that are flown in high winds. While the sails themselves are very strong, there is another aspect of the sails that adds to the survival of the storm without damage to the yacht: where the sails fly. 

When a mast breaks during a storm, it almost always breaks off at the first spreader. This means that the spar above the spreader will buckle and break, leaving you with a shortened mast and a broken rig.

What you can learn from this disaster is that the section of the spar above the spreaders is not as strong as the section below the spreaders. It is not a matter of strength of the spar being weaker above the spreader as the spar is the same size and strength over its entire length, its a matter of how the rigging is setup. 

The lowers, which attach below the first spreader do not need a spreader to reach the mast at a good angle (minimum angle for the stay to approach the mast is 12 degrees) without any guidance. The run from chainplate to mast is the ideal angle. The run from chainplate to cap shroud is not as lucky, and the angle would be very small. This is why a spreader is needed to hold the stay outboard, so that it can then turn in towards the mast at an angle of no less than 12 degrees. 

The mast is only supported at a few points on a yacht, and these points are the areas where the stays attach. Your first unsupported length is from the deck to the first spreader. The second unsupported length is from the first spreader to the next set of stays. On a single spreader rig, the next supported section is the mast head. On a multiple spreader rig, it is the next spreader. 

The strongest unsupported section of the spar is the first section, from deck to spreader. Therefore, when loads are high and failure occurs, it occurs above this point, causing the mast to buckle at the first spreader. 

So, flying full sail in a storm is not only bad because you are applying too much strain to the sails, rigging, and yacht, but also because you are applying strain in the wrong areas. Full sail means that the mast is being loaded all the way to the top! The loads it will be subjected to are mind boggling! 

Reefing not only reduces the sail area to decrease the force on the yacht, but it also lowers the sail area, concentrating the loads to the first unsupported section of the spar. Storm sails take this one step further and concentrate the loads entirely to the first unsupported section. 

When you setup your trysail, the tack needs to be set so that it is higher than the stack height of the mainsail. This will allow it to flow easily on either tack. While you might feel inclined to simply add a longer tack pennant to clear the mainsail, it is important not to raise the trysail too high. 

The head of the trysail should end up in the area of the first spreaders, that way the loads are concentrated in the first unsupported span. Yes, the loads during a storm will be strong, but the strongest section of the spar is being loaded and the rest of the mast is simply along for the ride. 

Once the winds calm down, you can raise your full sail on your full spar, instead of trying to jury rig something with the stump of your mast that runs up to your first spreaders. 

Running in a Cold Front

Cold fronts are wonderful if you need to head against the prevailing winds. Their weather pattern will disrupt the normal flow of wind and allow you to make a windward passage on a run! Now, running in front of one of these systems presents an issue when it comes to balancing your sails. 

You want to be heading downwind, so leehelm will be ideal to help you steer. This means that you want to have a more headsail flying and less mainsail flying. This can be achieved by deeply reefing the mainsail and flying a full headsail. While this will work, it does incorporate the boom into the equation. There is another option that will provide you with a small mainsail and no boom: the trysail.

A trysail is a small storm sail that is flown in lieu of the mainsail. It is sheeted directly to the toe rail, so the boom is not involved in its rigging. When on a run, the sheet can be eased to the point where it almost touches the shrouds, allowing the sail to fill up nice and full without chafing on the rigging. 

Running always presents the fear of accidental jibes. With a boom, a lot of stress will be presented to the mainsheet, traveler, and gooseneck. Even a reefed sail will generate a lot of destructive force during an accidental jibe. A trysail will remove all of these fears  and allow you to sail on a run with peace of mind. 

The sheets of a trysail are rigged to the toe rail, giving them a wide lead back to the sail. Having such an angle leading to the tack of the sail will help prevent accidental jibes, as well as help hold the clew of the sail out towards the side of the boat when eased (just like a barber hauler on a headsail). If the sail does jibe accidentally, nothing really happens. 

The sail is eased and will simply flop over to the other side of the boat. If you do nothing, it will probably flop back over to where you had it set originally. As it does this, no stress or damage will occur, allowing you to relax as your precious sails and rigging will be spared from the flip flopping. 

You might feel that a trysail is a bit small to power your boat, but when properly trimmed for power in the face of a cold front, you will find it easy to achieve and maintain hull speed! This means that you will be able to sail along at full speed with a tiny sail and no headaches! 

Sails for Night Sailing

As the sun sets, you need to consider what sails you want to be flying as once it gets dark, sail changes become more complicated!

We like to fly our trysail and staysail overnight because if the weather pipes up, we are already reefed down as far as possible! We also like this sail plan because it is bothed balanced and low stress. Should the winds shift on us and cause us to jibe or luff, the sails are small and will not cause significant strain on the rigging.  

The staysail is easy to manage and can even be setup on a self tacker, allowing it to reside on the side of the bow that it wishes. The trysail does not involve the boom, so a nightime accidental jibe will not result in damage or strain on the traveler. 

These sails work great on beam and broad reaches, even a run (with a barber hauler for the staysail) but are not the best sailplan for beating.  A trysail is very small and low, with the center of effort focused near the mast. The staysail is a small jib and has its center of effort forward of the mast. The sails can be balanced for a windward course, but it will be a slow venture! 

If you are planning an overnight sail, consider planning it for a time when the wind will be at your backs and you can sail downwind with your tiny sails through the night without losing any speed. Otherwise, you will find your night time distance traveled to be miserably pathetic, which will prolong your time at sea as you make your passage.