What steps and in what order do you take them to de-power your rig? I have seen a number of suggestions, but here is the order that I think is most prevalent:

1. Downhaul
2. Outhaul
3. Mast rotation
3. Sheet in main
4. Travel out
5. Boards up 6" or more

I know this depends on sailor weight, etc, but at what wind speed do you begin the sequence?

http://www.ahpc.com.au/Brett_SupportViper.htm

I'd look here first.

Good information, especially concerning wind speed. I assume it all traslates to the Blade?

I don't see why it wouldn't... The rig is pretty much the same, the only differences are the hulls and some of the rigging.

I'm sure some of it will translate differently because of weight and the shape of the sails, but shouldn't be so much that you couldn't use that as some type of a guide....


Let's put it this way, if I had a Blade, I would use it.


Of course, what do I know..I'm just as new to this as you.

Mike

I forgot one thing...


don't forget you can use your diamond wire tension as a depowering mechanism.....That is of course you are max downhauled and rotated in and everything else....


Mike

I'm sure they translate to the Blade too. As everything in sailing also here you have different ways of trim with the same result, but the page is a good base to start from.

If you are new to trimming, I would advise not to try and have everything right from the first time.

I mean start with putting the mastrotation in a fixed position (pointing at the rearbeam when it's windy, pointing at the daggerboard casing when it's not) and don't touch it anymore during sailing.

Then start to use the downhaul. A good rule here is that you should be able to cope with gusts/lulls with only an armlength of mainsheet (standard purchase). If not you should adjust it.

Concerning the main, I almost always sheet in as hard as I can (except when in light to moderate winds -> 1 trapping max, where you need to ease just a little to get the tell tales flowing).
I never let the traveller out (sailing 2-up). Normally the sail should flatten enough.

And I only pull the boards up in heavy seas or very gusty wheater. Otherwise I don't have the feeling it makes much difference.

And although Matt doesn't have a trimsheet on his site, he has always answerred me if I had specific questions concerning the Blade.

Except for outhaul, that's the exact sequence I go through. I pretty much set the outhaul and forget it. Unless the wind really dies then I'll loosen it up a bit, but even then the way I understand it is with a uni rig you still want the foot of the sail fairly tight.
#6 would be get my skinny butt back to the beach.

I've set my outhaul and tied it. It is set to be tight when I have max downhaul on. I only changed it whan I changed miansails and the foot is shorter.

Thanks to all,

I forgot to mention that I have only had this issues holding the boat down when sailing uni (which is most of the time) and unlike Karl, I do not have a skinny butt.

Matt has been helpful and responded quickly to my questions. I have just bombarded him with questions over the past several months and wanted to seek out others to give him a break and get the views of others.

TEH,

I'm used to sailing 2-up and I also have issues holding the boat down 1-up. Partly this is because my mast and spreader settings are for 2-up configuration.
What I have also learned already is that you can point quite a lot higher then with the jib up (and if you point higher you have less lift ofcourse). I only point well 1-up if I have an A-cat to compare my heading with, otherwise I'm way too low... :-)

Gill

My two cents regarding the Viper tuning guide: i would suggest that the main sheeting tension may be dependent on the cut of the sail, the leach and how open or not it is. Also, does the Viper have the same set up on the mast anti rotater as the Taipan? If so it is referenced to the boom instead of the tramp like the American Blade has it, therefor the adjustments are different for different main sheet settings.

on the viper, I find that raising the extremely long F18 sized daggerboards to make a significant difference in depowering and I will normally raise it before easing off traveller

I saw this morning that there is now a tuning guide on the Falconmarine site for the Falcon. I would assmume it fits the Blade relatively close also. The square top wing mast guides (F18 and F16) all read pretty similar for general settings.

www.falconmarinellc.com

Ckuang,
probably that is good advice. I was in a big blow Sunday and it was quite a while after i pulled the daggars half up before i realized that the hull wasn't flying. Then i started bringing the traveler in, for the sake of speed.
Is your Viper set up with a system for pulling the boards up from the oppsit hull?

Hi Will, there's a line that connects my two centreboards together that run across the tramp. Pulling on this will allow me to pull up my centreboard from the windward side, although that being said, I normally set the centreboard between races. It would not be something I would adjust constantly from the wire. I think of the centreboard as more of a rough adjustment and downhaul as the fine adjustment