Tackling the Fear Factor

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by seasidesis

I kept putting the lines on the winches backwards,

You are not alone! ......after many years of being a so called...professional... I still give the winch a quick little turn with my hand to remember which way to wrap it.

We have all been there at the start and each little victory within yourself is the true journey.

Fair winds!

[imagine2frolic]

Going back to the title of the original post....THE FEAR FACTOR. After a while my greatest fear was not being able to get out on the boat. No matter what the weather. Some of my fondest memories is sailing S.F. Bay while it was raining, and cold. Most of the time there was only a couple of boats out instead of hundreds. Made for a relaxed day!

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by seasidesis

I kept putting the lines on the winches backwards.

Some of the sailing schools actually put arrows on the pads by the winchs in order to remind people about the correct way to put the lines on.

[clausont]

Fantastic! Great job! Keep at it - you made the first giant step
I still remember my first time out by myself with no help - complete with shaking hands and jelly knees
I still have to check the winches myself sometimes to keep from wrapping the lines backwards
Oh, but then I'm no expert either
Great job!
It takes real courage to take the boat out without help for the first time.

[gonesail]

give the wench a turn before you put a line on it. go slow especially in the harbor. check the weather before heading out. piece of cake.

[swabbmob]

SIS,
Great stories - the really cool part is that you will be having these successes for many years to come. I still feel exhilirated when we finally get tied up to the dock. I think back over everything we did on our sail - reef the sails, mess with the wind vane, anchor, get to shore in the dinghy without the motor quitting, and finally getting back into the slip without running over someone.

You have already done the hardest thing, and that is have the courage to go out without the safety of your usual sailing team. Best wishes to you!

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by gonesail

give the wench a turn before you put a line on it. go slow especially in the harbor.

Whilst I would love to follow your advise to "give the wench a turn" I am pretty sure that the originator of this thread would not be so inclined

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by seasidesis

The traveller was stuck. It's as old as the boat, but the main seemed to be just right. I guess, the guys I've been sailing with move traveller around a lot which made me think I should be experimenting too. Much safer to keep it secured tightly in the center.

Sis - Take your time learning advanced sheeting - It takes years to master and I admit I am a complete noob.

I had a great opportunity a few weeks ago to sail with one of our islands better sailors. I observed a great deal while, travelers, halyards, outhauls, cunninghams, vangs, downhauls etc. were tweaked at various points of sail.

At beer call the first night we were chatting and I told the skipper the reason I was sailing with him was to learn "sail shaping" and then I proceeded to ask him about it. He basically said, "I don't think about it any more. It's all instinct." I didn't press him further because he was buying the beer but the next day I did ask at various times while we were sailing what he was doing.

I guess a fundamental "swing thought" is this. Downwind and light airs = loose. Upwind and heavy airs = tight.

In specific use of the traveler, don't sweat it. Keep it centered for now but think about this.

As the boom nears the center of the boat the main sheet is pulling "down" more than towards the windward side. Pulling "down" on the boom tightens the aft end of the sail and takes out twist (i.e. flattens the leech) - In light airs you like a more curved shape to "hold" more air. The vang does the same thing but that is the control preferred for controlling twist. In heavy airs (tight) you want the vang tight, which pulls the boom down and takes twist out of the leech.

In normal to light airs you'd like the boom in the middle of the boat without taking to much twist out of the leech. Moving the traveler to the high side improves the angle at which the main sheet is pulling.

So you will see in light to medium airs the mainsheet is not used much when beating to windward. You want to be close to the wind all the way up the course so what you will see is the traveler on the high side and after a tack the traveler moved to the new high side to keep the boom in the middle of the boat.

As the winds strengthen the first adjustment is usually to let the traveler out a bit and move the boom to leeward to take some power off. Then the mainsheet will be used if necessary.

Other controls on the main that are all important include the backstay, the outhaul, the cunningham and the vang. These controls work in combo to get every last tweak from the wind, usually for racing. However, for daysailing keep it simple.

The important thought for day sailing is the swing thoughts above.

Sorry to be long winded but this stuff is fascinating to me...