... an interesting variety of mainsail leech shapes: even at this distance, we can see here that our leading boat Tony has the top of his main twisting off too far, and the fact that the aft end of his boom is angled upwards is the other clue that leads to the inescapable conclusion that Tony needs more downward pull on his main leech which he can achieve by sheeting his main in harder or by adding vang tension, the way Richard (10423) has obviously done. Why is it obvious? Richard's boom is out off the corner of his transom, yet he has perfect leech tension, and the only way you'll get that in this breeze is by adding some boom vang tension. Commodore Dick (l) has a very pretty curve in his leech that brings to mind pictures of old-time classic sailboats.
Unfortunately, this may look good, but will leave him well short of being able to achieve optimum upwind performance: not only does the loose main leech reduce potential distance made good to windward, but also Dick's main will be fuller and more powerful than it would be if he added quite a bit more vang tension. This would not only tighten the leech but also bend the mast and thus flatten/depower his mainsail. And that's what he'll need, especially sailing solo, once he clears the channel and begins to sail truly close-hauled in this breeze which is leaving even those of us sailing two-up somewhat overpowered. André, meanwhile, is doing the best he can, considering his "pre-bent" mast. He has reduced his leech twist with lots of vang tension, and falls short of perfect trim only because his already bent mast simply can't "fight" against the vang tension hard enough to truly tension his mainsail leech to perfection.

Another view of our assorted mainsail shapes. Hans and I, meanwhile, were easily kept in our position astern of the others until  we passed the last of the channel markers and hardened up to close-hauled. At that point, we cranked on lots of vang, usually eased our main a few inches off the corner of the transom and pinched up enough to sail with a partial luff of both main and jib in order to keep The Nutshell from heeling so much that we would begin to feel excessive weather helm. The other adjustment we made was to add some main cunningham tension which brought the position of maximum mainsail draft back forward to mid-mainsail after the added vang tension had bent the mast and flattened the forward half of the mainsail. In these conditions, the friction of the wind blowing aft across the main at a good clip will further push the cloth and thus the position of max. draft well aft even in a brand new mainsail, let alone in a worn-out old mainsail like ours that has softened after 13 years of hard use. Since having the max. draft aft near the leech does nothing but increase your tendency to heel, it is well worth making the effort to add some main cunningham when beating in any kind of a breeze. With the above sail settings, Hans and I made significantly better progress to windward than the other four boats, even though we never once hiked out, remaining instead, comfortably perched on the high side while enjoying our Beck's beer. We even had a port beer and a starboard beer, living in the bailer cut-outs of the floorboards when not being pressed into service.

next page