Was sailing earlier this week on the boat, lighter air (maybe 5 knots) and had the spin up with the rachets off. WEll a little puff hit, nothing over 8 knots if that, and I felt all the power in the spin. Damn. Well I have been out in 10 or so knots with the spin up and the rachets on, not to bad but I got to thinking in a good breeze that beast is gonna be hard to trim in. Now maybe i just need to hit the gym more (do they test for steriods in the F16 races?) but was wondering if any one has made some modifications to the standard blade setup to make this easier especially when solo?

Also in the light stuff noticed that if the main is centerd and I am trying to move forward the tiller extentsion is limited in movement by the mainsheet blocks. Let the traveler down maybe an inch and then I am able to sit but the mast and have normal steering. So what is more important centering the traveler that last little inch or sitting as farforward and leward as possible.

thanks for the help.

One arming the spin is a lot of work! You get used to it over time. But, as the wind picks up, you probably need to sail a little deeper.

In light air it is easy to over sheet. Be sure that is not happening. On my boat, if I ease the main sheet, the traveler drops down just a tad.

At 220 lbs., I try to move forward as much as the air will permit. I think weight distribution should be a priority.

I hope other, better, sailors will offer advice.

btw- I was advised by a sailor on another boat that I was probably sailing too high under spin this past weekend. It's exhilirating, but like all things, you can over do it.

Jody,

I hate to say this but on 80 % of the F16's I've seen thus far the spi sheeting angle is too horizontal. This will make it appear that alot of tension is on the spi sheet, when that much is not necessary.

If the spi sheeting angle is too horizontal then you are pulling really hard on the sheet to prevent the luff from curling up. Having to the correct sheeting angle requires alot less sheeting tension to get the same results.

I need to see pics with the spi flying to determine whether the sheeting is off or not. Maybe you can also tell whether the full of the spi is tight (instead of loosely curved) when sailing.


With respect to tiller extension and light wind upwind sailing. The solution is simple.

When sailing two-up then place your crew on the leeward hull and far forward, the skipper can now sit back a little further and have unobstructed steering. When singlehanding you don't want the main traveller perfectly centred anyway. For some reason the superwing rig doesn't like that. Travel down about 1 or 2 inches and the rig will be happy and you as well as now there not be anything obstructing your tiller extension.

Wouter

Jody, what size are your spin blocks?

I upgraded mine to 55mm Harken Carbo rachmatics and sheeting in is much easier.

they are the standard size that came with the boat,will look this evening to see the size. thanks

I find that letting the trav down a couple inches- even in lightish stuff- helps with speed somewhat. I could be wrong but it seems like it does.
The Harken 57mm rachets do help I think. The stock I believe is 2 40mm rachets which aren't rachematics. I changed to the 57mm rachematics at the shroud and still have the 40 mm rachet at the front beam. During a distance type race you can turn on the rachet on the 40mm if necessary. If you get those then you don't need another rachet on each side. I think I will try the ronstan orbit rachematic blocks next time.

Yeah what Patrick said 57mm is what I meant. I have the same exact setup as Patrick, only difference is mine was done way before his so in essence he has the same setup that I have.

you can see my blocks in the pic i posted in the "blade mods" thread at the bottom showing my downhaul. The "shroud" block is actually on a eyestrap forward on where your probably is because the Ullman spins need a different sheeting angle (Matt had it changed this way on the boat when i got it). My Glaser spin seems to behave better with the rachets at the strap nearer to the shrouds (however, I still need to work on the new spin set up).

BTW, Robi... I can only aspire to your level at this point!