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Topic: New Sails |
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Matt Harris |
Posted: 06-Aug-07 10:32 |
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My Dad is considering getting a new set of sails from wet + windy as another boat at the club has them and it puts to shame the ones that he has. Hwoever they have had many problems with them since they got them and aren't going any quicker than him with his old ones, infact they appear to be going slower and being on the wire a lot less. They have tried multiple different settings according to the guide from the website and have measured the boat etc to check that its not something simple.
I'm just wondering has anyone else found any problems getting power from the new sails? I've seen that some of the Buzz guys are complaining about not having the same power, is this a similar case with the Hydes or is there maybe something else that they should be looking at changing / checking? |
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Pete Lindley |
Posted: 06-Aug-07 10:48 |
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With the hydes you sail differently compared to the Sobstads. The hydes are flatter than the sobstads.
At the Felixstowe event, I too noticed that I was wiring reasonably hard with the Sobstads upwind (force 3 ish) and the hyde crews were not trapezing / semi trapezing. The hyde people were leading us round the course.
A BIG thing to note is that you do NOT need as much kicker with the hydes as you do the sobstads - whatever the wind strength. Yes the hyde main does look open and twisted off at the top, but that is how they work best. Just ensure that when you ease the main the boom does not go up - if it does go up, add a little more kicker.
Technique is slightly different with the hydes also. With the sobstads you grind it all in and feather the boat upwind whilst easing the main in the gusts to ensure the boat is flat. The hydes you can't just stick the boat up into the wind and expect to go quick. You have to firstly ensure the boat is flat and you are on the wind (jib telltales streaming well). Ignore the main so to speak in that so long as you are hiking and trapezing as hard as required and the boat is flat, then the main should be set to ensure you remain the same - even if in a force 6 the main is well off the quarter, so long as the above is being achieved then you will be fine. Once the above is being achieved, then you can work on feathering the boat upwind (pinching, easing away, pinching, easing away to re accelerate just as boat speed drops, then as speed increases again pinch back up....) Always ensuring the speed is on! If it drops off, bear away again a couple of degrees and ease the sails a TAD to get the speed back on.
Hope that helps you and everybody else...?
If and when I get mine - I shall be putting the above into action on the way to the start line at the nationals.
See you at the training day on the Friday.
Pete |
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Lloyd Walker |
Posted: 06-Aug-07 18:52 |
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Hi Matt Not wishing to blow our own trumpet but we have just won the Eurocup using the Hyde sails. I only mention this so that you do not feel you have bought a load of rubbish. All of what Pete says is true although everyone has their own slightly different technique. Richard Lewis can point very high with the new sails by healing the boat to windward and generating lift with the rudder. One thing I would say is have a good look at your mast. Is it straight? Some masts have got a lot of pre-bend in them with just the jib up and 300 lbs tension. If this is the case then move the spreaders further foward and use more swatcher. Two years ago we were using swept back spreaders, which is probabaly still the advise on the tuning guide, then last year we borrowed a boat with a less stiff mast and moved the spreaders foward and gained more height and speed upwind. This shows how the tuning guide is just that. It is a GUIDE NOT A RULE. Tune your boat to suit your weight and mast stiffness. Usually if you are under powered this will mean more swatcher less kicker spreaders more foward and don't forget the strop height is vitaly important. Hope this helps Lloyd.
ps. are you going to the nationals? |
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Lloyd Walker |
Posted: 06-Aug-07 18:54 |
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Now I have read your post again I see it is not you who has bought a new suit of sails but someone else at the club. I hope you pass the info on. |
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Colin Snook |
Posted: 09-Aug-07 00:12 |
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We are really struggling with the new sails. I have tried to do what i have read from Richard, Pete and Lloyd above but we are a lot slower at the moment. I resorted to going back to the sobstad grind and feather technique and that was a bit better, at least we pointed. I hope the training day will sort us out otherwise we will be going back to the vintage sobstads for the Nats. On the positive side they seem to make the boat feel much lighter and livelier when it blows. Unfortunately most of the racing has been f1 or f2.
Colin |
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Richard 553 |
Posted: 09-Aug-07 11:42 |
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Having sailing with the Hydes all of this season and not gone back to the Sobstads at all I believe the Hydes are faster, but you do have to change the way you sail slightly. As Lloyd has said, make sure you mast is straight with no pre bend, so with your jib up, tension on is your mast straight. If not you will need to adjust your spreaders. The mast will bend as you put up the mainsail due to the shape of the sail luff. The Sobstad sails are cut very full so we tend to pre bend the mast. You do not want to do this with the hydes. I have found that I had to let off the barber haulers a bit, 2 to 3 inches,let off the strops about 2 inches and sail with much less kicker.
I have found in very light winds I struggled and the temptation was to try and sail the boat the way you sailed it with the Sobstads. I have found the way the jib is set is very critical and we release it slightly to help the wind flow throught the slot, but watch the top of the slot does not open to much. The mainsail I have to be careful not to oversheet it. Look at the tell tails on the leach of the main, are they stalled?
Generally I find these sail more refined and I am concentrating more on getting the wind to flow across the sails rather than with the sobstads where the sail always seemed to be on the point of stalling. |
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