File - Canadian Wayfarer Association

The golden rule for setting the Wayfarer mainsail is that the sail will be set correctly if the aft
15 cm (6”) or so of the top batten and the last two feet of the boom are parallel. As everything
else is subservient to this essential condition, the sailors have to organize mast bend as well as
sheet, vang and foot tension to suit. The sail should therefore be set up to have the proper
shape in middle wind conditions with rig variations built in to enable to sail to adjust to lighter
and heavier winds.
Force 2 -3 (4 - 10 knots) is about the optimum. It is in those conditions that most crews will be
sitting to windward without being over- or under-powered, and the sail should be at its fullest in
these conditions. As the wind rises, the sail has to be flattened - or more correctly, feathered -
to reduce the heeling force. As the wind drops, the sail has to be flattened again, albeit in a
different way, for the weak, slow moving air tires as it flows over the sail. The way to flatten
the sail in either condition is to make it wider by bending the mast. This drags fullness from the
body of the sail. Obviously, this flattening must not be done too early so that the sail loses
power and the crew have to sit in, or too late so that the boat heels over and slows down. In
simple terms, if you are having to spill wind earlier than other boats with similar crew weights,
and if you are very, very fast off the wind, yet very slow to windward, then your mast is
probably not bending enough. If, on the other hand, you are not sitting out as early, or are going
very slowly off the wind, then your mast is likely bending too much. The aim has to be to get
both helm and crew sitting out as soon as is possible, whilst delaying by as much as possible, the
moment when the helm has to start feathering the mainsail.
In force 2-3 (5-10 knots), a mast rake of 715 à 717,5 cm (23’5½” to 23’6½”) is recommended.
This is measured (onshore) in the straight line from the masthead black band to the centre of
the main sheet traveller (its lower forward edge). There should also be 150 à 160 kg (330-350lb)
of rig tension on the windward shroud 17 .
As the wind increases, the rake will need to be increased (i.e. distance between black band and
traveller shortened!) to make it easier to keep the boat tramping fast. This technique has been
incredibly successful in the Olympic classes, and is now being increasingly used in all classes. The
reasons for its success are rather obscure, but could include opening the slot between genoa and
mainsail, making the leech of the remain more open, and making the leech of the main more
vertical. Whatever the reason, it works - particularly for light weight crews. Care has obviously
to be taken not to overdo things, because on the Wayfarer, increased rake has to be pre-set by
moving the lower end of your shrouds down 1-2 holes in your shroud plates. The trouble is of
course, that if the wind drops and you have extra rake, you will go more slowly.
To sum up, if the wind is going to be strong, reducing the distance from black band to traveller
by 2-4” can help enormously. Rig tension should also be increased to something like 157,5 à 162,5
17 Al Schönborn’s note: The mast needs to be pinged into its pre-bend position before this
measurement is taken - see paragraph on pre-bend later in this part of the article. On W3854,
we simply measure the rake by :
1 hoisting the jib and tensioning the rig for medium winds
1 pinging the mast, if necessary
1 attaching the main halyard shackle to the end of a tape measure and then pulling up the
main halyard until it is in the position where the top of the main would just reach the
black band – on our boat, this is hook #3 on the halyard rack
1 stretch tape measure to forward underside edge of centre of traveller (or its equivalent)
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