New to sailing again

[Sjmhstevenson]

Had not sailed in twenty years, bought a 96 Hunter 26' water ballast. Took ASA101, spent summer getting use to it. On vacation rented a Catalina 24'. While sailing in the lake at too heavy a heel for all my sails up (sorry just learning again) turned the wheel trying to lose wind and speed, boat would not turn at all. What caused this? I had to use the motor to get control of the boat and change course, What else did I do wrong?

[Don C L]

Hmmm very curious. A Catalina 25 (I presume that is what you meant?) has a transom hung rudder, no wheel. Well whichever boat you had, my first thought was that you had a broken steering cable or quadrant. But if it only happened when you were heeling you could be heeled over so far the rudder could be stalling, losing effectiveness from being lifted so high and close to the surface. When it happens the only way to steer is to relieve the pressure, let the sheets out so the boat will fall back and get the rudder back in the water.

[Sjmhstevenson]

Thank you for the information. I know it had a wheel and believe you were right when you said that the rudder must have been out of the water. I thank you for this information and have been reading up more on how much heel is good and I now know I had too much sail up. I will learn from this and more time on the water. Thank you.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Sjmhstevenson

Thank you for the information. I know it had a wheel and believe you were right when you said that the rudder must have been out of the water. I thank you for this information and have been reading up more on how much heel is good and I now know I had too much sail up. I will learn from this and more time on the water. Thank you.

No worries! Go and let her heel! It's fun! My boat loves to heel but the rudder is pretty deep. But you'll lose the ability to steer well in almost any boat when heeled over too far.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Welcome to CF, and elated you've fallen for the sport obsession again !

You might find a quick release of your sheets the best option to stand a smaller boat back up and get your rudder digging...

[Dave22q]

In a car the first thing you do to slow down is let up on the gas. In a boat it's steer more up wind or ease the sheets. Assuming you had a reason for your heading, I would ease the sheets first.

[danhunt]

When i was new to sailing, not that long ago, I had no idea how to deal with the increased weather helm as the wind and heel increased. Once I had full rudder away from weather and could not turn down wind to head home. Since the heel was pretty extreme and letting it turn up wind would have meant momentarily heeling even further I kept my foot on the wheel and slowly eased the main, which eased the weather helm allowing me steerage to leeward. I no longer sail with heavy weather helm, Adjustments to the main can fine tune the feel of the helm very quickly. Obviously having the right amount of sail for the conditions is the first step, but when lazy and the wind picks up, I can just let the main out enough to to dump some the wind and right the boat but keep up a good clip until reefing is a must.

[jkindredpdx]

Keep your mainsheet handy and and to let it out to spill wind when heeled more than you like. Also allow the bow to swing into the wind. Steer off the wind to gain speed. If you have a swing keel, make sure it is down...