My wife and have now sailed our Prindle few times, and are still having problems tacking (we tack just fine in a Sunfish, but that's all we had sailed until now).



We just got a few books, and we're trying to decide whether to learn the roll tack first, or the more conventional tack as described in Catamaran Sailing: from start to finish. The roll tack seems a little more complex, but not completely unreasonable. Is this something we can get a handle on relatively quickly, or should we stick with traditional tacking for now?



Jonathan

Sort of like learning the snow plow first and then learning to parallel ski.

Personally, I would learn the roll tack first and do the right way and not develop bad habits. Biggest problem I have in teaching my seminars is trying to get sailors to unlearn bad habits.

The old way had folks backwinding the jibs. That just stops the boat and makes it back up. You will forever be taking close to 30 seconds to tack from high speed to high speed and that equates to around a boat length per second.

Sailing the jib through (as in the roll tack) allows the boat to keep moving and develops more power through the turn. And the tacks can executed in less that 4 seconds. Big difference.

It is not even very complicated. Good way to learn the cat is getting Total Boat Handling Video here on this site. It covers the roll tack in a generic way, among other important facets of cat sailing. For more in depth stuff the other videos are also available, including the Roll Tack Video.

Have fun and Good Luck,

Rick

Thanks for the advice - this is probably what we will do. We ordered the Upwind Sailing video, which should arrive shortly.



By the way, what is the history of the roll-tack? Who discovered it, when, and how?



Jonathan

Months ago Ed Norris gave me some great tips on cat tacking (tougher on cats without boards). Use the search function to find his posts. Good luck! It's all about being smooth and maintaining momentum.

May I suggest that when you get your video, not only look at how Rick and others properly do a roll tack but also look at the examples of how not to do a tack. You may observe something that you are doing wrong . There are some real good examples how to kill a tack on the 'upwind' video. Try and get your crew to watch it as well so she understands how to handle the jib during the tack (then have her talk to my wife and convince her she needs to watch the same video).



Good luck.



bob Klein

novice sailor.

It seems to have started by accident. the roll tack was not being done when we first started Sailing Seminars in 1989 but in the tons of video we took we noticed that once in a while the skipper would not move to the new side as fast as most and it would be a better tack.

So, we had folks just try keeping the weight on the corner and found it worked. Sailing the jib through the turn was also discovered through video work.

Rick

A modified roll tack works well on the H20, but in moderately light wind it is helpfull to leave the jib cleated until just past center. Forward momentum is maintained as long as you don't give it hard tiller until the very end of the forward progress.

Eric mentions that tacking is harder on cats without boards, something which I have heard from several people. How much tougher is it? For instance, when Rick says a roll tack can be done in 4 seconds, will we be able to tack that quickly in our Prindle 16? I don't want us to be too frustrated with ourselves if we can't do it faster than is reasonable for the boat...



Jonathan

...and don't worry about 4 secs 'till you start racing; at which time you'll either be in a class, against other P16's, or in a handicapped fleet of many boats, and whatever limitations your boat might have will be factored in.



Meanwhile, do like Rick says, Roll-tack from the beginning. You'll find your pleasure sailing more pleasurable. Oh, not having boards isn't too problematical, when you get your weight aft, elevating the bows, your boat will just pivot "on its heels".



Question for the experts out there: Spent the day in 20-30mph on a H16. We were carefull to not let it pop a wheelie during tacking. Do P16's pop wheelies in heavy-air tacking? Might be a factor in your heavy air roll tack.....

My wife and I were out for about 4 hours today in very light air, and we did a lot of roll tacks without difficulty, only once having to resort to backwinding.



I made up a set of notes from Rick White's Catamaran Racing for the 90s, pulling several descriptions together and trying to be explicit about what is done when, memorized them, and told my wife what to do when. It really wasn't that hard.



By the way, here are my notes - please let me know if I got anything wrong, and if it benefits anyone else, that's great.



Roll Tack



1. Start tack from close haul, with mainsheet in tight. Don’t tack from a reach! Skipper says “prepare to tack”.

Crew says “ready” (or “wait”).

2. Skipper says “tacking” or “hard alee” and steers into the wind, starting gently, applying increasing pressure to half the throw, and moving aft. Once the turn is started, keep turn going until on new tack.

Crew moves aft with skipper after the turn starts.

3. Crew takes up slack from the lazy sheet, uncleats the burdened sheet. This must be done before the jib backwinds, or it will be difficult to uncleat the burdened sheet.

4. As boat goes through head-to wind, Skipper releases 2 feet of sheet.

5. When the wind catches the back side of the jib, Crew eases the burdened sheet and pulls on the lazy sheet, watching the telltales and keeping them flowing, letting the boat “turn underneath the sail.”

6. Main goes over. (If the air is too light, the crew pushes it over after going through the eye of the wind).

7. Crew crosses to the forward diagonal side, pulling the jib sheet along (by now, 6 to 8 feet of sheet has been fed).

Crew trims the jib.

8. Once on the new tack, skipper moves directly across facing aft, flipping the tiller over, then moves forward to the main beam, accelerating on a close reach and sheeting in.



Thanks, folks!



Jonathan