Broad reaching with hull up and you get a gust. What are your options other than bearing off to prevent capsize. Was out this weekend with new boat set up and couldn't hold direction downwind for falling off in gusts. When picking layline for "C" mark do you compensate for falling off in headers? I played off the main traveler a little but it had little effect. Didn't let it out far. Want to hold my line and continue flying the chute with out flipping, help!!

You shouldn't be broad reaching into C - C is usually downwind so bearing away actually moves you closer to C. You can only carry a kite so high. To try and go higher, ease the tack line on the kite up to 10", downhaul HARD on the main, and let the traveler way out - to the end stop if required (temporarily - this is not fast...it's usually faster to drop the kite at this point).

Jake,
Don't want to go higher just straighter. Was in the local lake and wind was changing as you crossed into open water. Felt like it was always moving around in front of the boat. We would be flying along just fine, the wind would accelerate, move forward, and next thing I know I'm forced to fall off hard to prevent capsize. Sometimes it felt like I was falling off 90 degrees or so. I'm new to spins so these may be basics to you. I might be doing it right and don't know it.

90 degrees is severe. We can usually keep to a straight line by trimming the mainsheet or the traveller (which depends on windstrength and how strong your mast is). Driving fast downwind with the spi is not just about going as high as you can. The idea is to build virtual wind and drive off down towards C mark with the virtual wind. Watching the Tornado pros do this is just awesome! 10 degrees lower and faster than the rest <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> When driving off you need a good feel for the wind and compensate main-trim or course early to keep the windward hull stable. Practice is the only way to go to develop the feel for your boat under different conditions.

Every once in a while I overstand the leeward mark. I always want to fly the chute so I travel out. I will travel out to the corner if need be, it seems to work just fine. Even doing that, you will have to pay attention to the direction you are driving. You still need to be able to drive down if it gets to be too much. When there is a slight lull try sailing as high as you can for that time to get your distance back. This is not a recommended practice just a way to correct for mistakes. If you cannot keep the boat pointing to the mark it is better to fly the kite until you would be on a very close reach to the mark before dropping it. To drop a kite early makes for slow sailing.

Later,
Dan

Whats up Dan,
I have the Tiger main on the boat finally. Think my diamonds were too loose or not enough downhaul as the luff of the sail seemed to be backwinding going to weather. Had a hard time keeping the tell-tales happy, if the back was flat the front wasn't and vice-versa. Maybe the shorter jib is giving the problems. I'm going to put some tell-tales on the lower section of the main before next outing. The boat felt strong. Lack of waves may be giving me the impression of faster speed, will be back in the ocean next week. The spin is something that I obviously need more time with. Hope to follow and learn at next weekends regatta. Any books on spin sailing you would reccomend, anything about squaretops?

Were your boards up or down when you were having the problems with the gusts? In those conditions you should pull them up about half way, to keep the hull from popping up on you, also you were trapped out, right? If you can fly the hull you should be out on the wire downwind. That will help keep you from zig zagging around the course.

Can you provide add'l clarification on why you recommend this?

Your boards, as they flow through the water, provide lift in the opposite direction of the sail pressure to give resistance to the boat moving sideways. The center of the lift provided by the boards will be located roughly in the middle of the exposed board below the hull. If 4' of your board is extended below the water, the center of force is about 2' below the bottom of the boat. This gives it more leverage and means the boat is tipping over a lower center of force. If you extend your boards only 2' below the boat, the force is only 1' below the bottom and providing less tripping leverage.

The tradeoff is that you get less lift with less board in the water - however, there may be times when you don't care so much about lift from board...especially when sailing downwind. Downwind, you want just enough board in the water to keep the boat tracking in a straight line - sideways isn't fast.

Also keep in mind that this is a pretty oversimplified explanation - but is generally accurate.

With the boards all the way down, the low hull has a deeper center of resistance and it will lift the windward hull much sooner than if you pull the boards up a bit. You can experiment and see for yourself, it works both upwind and down. If you are overpowered and constantly fighting to keep the windward hull at the right height, pull the leeward board up a little until you can control it. It depends on how long your boat's boards are, as to how much you pull them up, so you have to keep pulling until it's under control. When it gets really wild downwind, I pull them way up, that really calms the boat down and let's you gain control in a gusty situation.

If you look closely at pictures of Inter 20's going upwind in strong winds, you will usually see they have pulled their boards up about 6" as they have very deep boards and don't need that much in high wind.

The reverse works downwind in light air, that is, if you want to go downwind on one hull (and who doesn't?) but it's really light air, be sure your leeward board is all the way down and sit well inboard, (like those A Cat sailors) send your crew "down below" to the front of the low hull to trim the kite from there, and you can usually fly a hull with the help of the spinnaker, downwind in light air. The fun part is trying to keep it ballanced just right!

In heavy wind you will probably want two on the wire, boards half way up and be ready to bear off in the gusts, a footstrap at the back will keep you from getting slingshot around the bow when you stuff the low bow on the bear away. Oh, and hold on to your crew...

Remember, at first you want to go deep from A directly to C mark, but if you got too deep and need to get up, two on the wire with boards up a bit will allow you to reach up a little higher. Or, go deep and fast, dump the chute, reach in to the mark at high speed, T bone the guys coming down on you, all the while yelling "Leward Boat, Get up!"

Both boards down. 3 total on boat, 1 on wire, 1 on wing and me on tramp. Based on the noises from the rudders we were moving 15-20. Apparent wind was throwing me off, couldn't decide where it was coming from at times. I didn't release spin or main, just fell off to correct. Please describe proper technique or point me to some good reading, I have Cat racing for the 90s but the spin section is very small, squaretop section small also. I have soo much to learn!!!

What type of boat is this? I only ask to know what type of boards and spinnaker you have.

Simplyfied kite instructions.

1. Keep main sheeted "firmly" at all times or you'll break your mast.

2. Generally speaking keep the traveller central and play the tiller (pull away to de-power)

3. If trying to maintain height, play traveller.

4. In shifty conditions do a bit of both. steering all over the place is very inefficient.

5. Have just enough board down to stop you going sideways. A cat hull going fwds through the water has a lot less drag than one going sideways.

I'm actually getting better at this due to massive hours on Tacticat. I am a bit concerned that Tacticat is developing an overly aggressive skipper that will translate these virtual skills to those in a real regatta with real boats that cost real money to repair! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

This is much easier:
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...48&an=0&page=0#Post81948

Thanks Jake. The old Hobie 18 (as opposed to the Tiger) had fairly short, wide boards to begin with and were pretty good heavy wind boats. Did you ever see the video they did of the three guys sailing it in Hawaii? That was wild!

Anyway, with racks and double traps, you should be able to sail that in pretty big wind, downwind, and it should be pretty stable too, especially when you pull the boards half way up. Not much chance of recovery once you put the bows under though, so try to avoid that! Keep your weight to the back if you are going to go deep downwind. But it is hard to learn spinnaker trim in shifty, gusty lake type wind. Try it on a day when the wind is more stable and the apparant wind won't move around on you so much.

Also, be sure to put some 12" casette tape streamers on your pole bridal wires and up on the shrouds so you can see what is going on with the aparant wind. I have found Brittany Spears or Clay Aiken tapes sound best when used for this purpose. If you were going 15-20 downwind, the apparant wind should have been ahead of beam reaching.

Thanks Timbo and Jake,
It makes more sense to me as you guys explain. Wind did feel higher than beam reach when rolling. Knew it was behind me when I took off. Obviously need to practice. Will work more on flying it for long periods and trying all suggested options and see how she reacts. Have no wind indicators on the boat currently, will change that. It would be helpful to visually see the wind move forward while maintaining heading. Thanks again!