#TACK AND CLEW PLUS#

I hold the previously sheeted one and watch the sail until the wind starts to blow on its reverse side. When sailing the W17 alone, I start the turn and then slacken the main before facing forward and grabbing the TWO jib-sheets, one in each hand.

The sail to really concentrate on is the jib. At this point, I’d say, ‘slacken & forget it’ until you are really on the new tack. The mainsheet needs to be eased out a little (say 1.5m of line) by the time you are head-to-wind – otherwise, the mainsail will be trying to stop the turn to the new tack. Once the boat starts to turn, then the tiller can be moved over more aggressively, though preferably not over 40 degrees. This means that the initial rudder motion needs to be gentle, or otherwise, it acts too much like a brake. It’s important to get head-to-wind with still some forward motion, otherwise the rudder becomes useless as you pass through the eye of the wind. (**Racing dinghies often use this technique as when the crew come over to the high side and bring the boat up vertical, they briefly create extra pressure on the sails and that accelerates them forward on the new tack). As different boat designs have different turning abilities, it’s just another thing to experiment with.

That ama will then stay down after the turn as it will now be to leeward but one needs good ‘entry speed’ as the turn is sharper. When tacking, I think there’s an argument for having the ‘windward ama down’**, as it’s then on the inside of the turn and has less distance to go. But let’s discuss how we might get around this.įirst, with a trimaran, it’s important to keep the boat heeled so that you have ‘only 2 hulls’ in the water.

#TACK AND CLEW PLUS#

The relative increase in windage of 2 or 3 hulls does not help, plus having at least two ‘ long & slim’ hulls in the water that both really want to go straight. Tacking is often a challenge with a multihull. Tips on Sailing a Small Trimaran Part 2 Tacking, Sail adjustments, WingMasts, Mikelin and more

Tack and clew