Mast Rake and Lee helm

I have to much lee helm when the Spin is up and I am going to have to shorten my forestay so I can rake may mast more upright.

Has anyone else done this?

Blade 718
Phoenix Az
Stephen

That will make it worse!

Moving the mast back will create more weather helm.

However, you will always have some lee helm when sailing down wind with the kite.

What is the boat like sailing up wind?

I balance my boats so that I have a little weather helm UPWIND and then live with the slight lee helm down wind.

agree completely..

Even with the rudders all the way in I have a little to much weather helm. I do mainly long distance racing and all of my previous boats (P16, P19, H20) were trimmed to neutral helm.

My H20 was always sailed downwind with only one rudder down. Has anyone tried this with the Spin up? I need to experiment more.

Are the rudders moving in the stocks ?

Sounds like something else is wrong here; if the rudders are adjusted all the way forward then maybe something else is out of kilter.

I am using swift cord for the rudders so there is not much stretch when I pull them down hard.

I did have my shrouds uneven (right hole 4/left hole 3)from the last time I sailed last year. It was to gusty to get them even safely at the time and I didn't think it would make a big difference. I seem to remember my helm was much easier last year.

That might cause the problem.

If you say it was OK last year, then it's going to be something that has changed this year.

I would not recommend sailing with only one rudder because sometimes you need the added rudder control. The rudders on my Taipan are small enough that I've spun out when using only one rudder.

When your rig is properly tuned, you will still have some lee helm downwind. The reason is that when you hoist the kite you add a tremendous amount of pull in front of the center of lateral resistance. There is just no way around it. But the amount of lee helm downwind and weather helm upwind should manifest as just a gentle but steady pull/push on the tiller--it should not require heavy pushing downwind and heavy pulling upwind. If if does, something is outta whack.

I am a big fan of trying to have things as neutral as possible (finger tip driving is nice). Being able to drop the tiller for a second or 2 upwind to double hand the main is sweet. However, I would actually like to have a touch more lee helm downwind. It gets scary if there is a little weather helm downwind. Especially sailing solo <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

That's a good point--a bit of lee helm WILL help prevent swimming.

How far down are your boards when flying the kite? How far off are you cracking your main traveler? Try changing these before you adjust rake forward.

Lee

My first thought is: Is the main powered up enough? I can "steer" the boat by playing the traveler with a fairly tight main sheet.

My second thought: Make sure the rudders are not getting "caught" and are fully down (but this would also cause helm issues upwind).

The first weekend I had my boat I was having a lot of weather helm, Matt simply retied the knots that end up in the rudders so that they did not interfere with getting the rudder all the way down. I felt like such a ^%^$#& neophyte (which I am). It just goes to show that if somehting is that BAD compared to last time, it is something outside the setup.