File - Canadian Wayfarer Association

2.11 Safe sailing
This paragraph has twice appeared as an article in the Whiffle, but I feel that it is worth
posting since it can remind all of us about a few essentials! Until Tim France and Don Davis
invited me to speak at a Guelph Seminar, I had always considered that I was mostly coaching the
few that race. For my talk with day sailors and cruisers, I re-discovered some basics and a few
little tricks that I have picked up over my forty plus years of sailing and racing. In my
experience, these are every bit as useful to those who simply sail, as they are vital to the
racers.
This paragraph will deal with these main topics:
• the why and how of setting your sails properly (setting the sails);
• the why and how of correct sail and boat trim (correct trim)
• a few special tricks (miscellaneous manouvres)
2.11.1 Setting the sails
There are three main benefits of doing a proper job of setting your sails:
1 You get better performance
2 longer life from your sails
3 best of all, you look as though you know what you're doing!
The genoa/jib:
We hoist this first. It is smaller and easier to deal with while the main is still down. It is
essential to good upwind performance to have the jib halyard up tight enough so that the
leeward shroud does not hang loose when you sail close-hauled. If there is too little jib halyard
tension, the jib luff develops a hook that makes it impossible to point well.
Most racing Wayfarers use a tensioning device such as a "Magic Box" or a Highfield lever and a
halyard that is stainless steel wire (3mm) between the head of the sail and the place where it
hooks onto the tensioning device. N.B. Beware of over-tensioning the jib halyard as this may
flatten your jib luff entry in a way that narrows your "groove" to the point where performance
suffers drastically as well. The rule of thumb is: Tension the halyard until the leeward shroud is
just on the edge of losing its slack while you are sailing close-hauled. If you find that your jib
luff tickers are too jumpy, i.e. they indicate you are luffing and stalled (too far off the wind) at
virtually the same time, your jib luff entry is too flat and you must reduce jib halyard tension
until the problem with the tickers is resolved (in very bouncy conditions this may mean a slack
lee shroud!) Without the aid of a mechanical advantage, it is difficult to get adequate tension,
but you can get closer by having someone hang over the bow off the forestay (to pull the mast
forward) while the other crew member hoists and cleats as tightly as possible. But be a bit
cautious on this - I bent a CL16 mast once, using that method. Other needs for the jib are good
cleats and soft braid jib sheets that will cleat well and be kind to your hands.
The mainsail
Unless you have a main that is much smaller than the rules allow, you should hoist your main
virtually to the top of your mast (to the "black band" if you race!) This sounds simple but can
easily become impossible, unless you remove any forces that may cause the main to get stuck as
you hoist. On W3854, we always do the following as we hoist the main:
1 hold the boat head to wind with the centreboard fully raised to allow the boat to stay
head to wind easily;
2 take the boom off the goose-neck which on “Shades” is fixed at black band level;
3 make sure that both boom vang (kicker) and mainsheet are quite slack;
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