Nacra 5.0 Main going to weather

Hi, Harold,

I Sail a 95 N5.0. Mine has the clew holes in the main, but no jib travelor. Try making an 'In-haul"! I love mine, and it's a cheap substitute for a clew travelor. You just make a loop of line passing through your tack hole and your forwardmost clew hole. Then always hook the main blocks up far forward. Tighten the inhaul off the wind, and slightly when in reaching light air.

You're using a soft rig, thanks to those spreaders, so your main bends off to leeward in the roach, or middle-hight. If you're still not accelerating right in light air, check if your diamonds are too loose - - I don't know the setting for the soft rig, but I've heard that your two hands should be able to just press the wires simultaneously onto the mast, about a foot'nahalf up from the bottoms of the wires.

I've heard a blown jib will 'hook' air onto the main.

I can only guess, but I do think the clew holes affect flatness quite a good ways up your sail.

Light air and chop - - = Full Sails. Some sailors say that really light air will delaminate on sails which are too full. Anyway, tighten your diamonds some, ease downhaul some to position of max fullness. (Lie under sail on tramp, on beach, boat facing as if going to weather. look up and play w/dhaul to find fat spot - mark it on mast) Set your clew up for fuller sails. Ease the jib slightly, soften the sheet a hair, and don't try to point as high - - you just can't do that efficiently on a 5.0 in light air and chop. The tighter wires will open your slot, and 'full - ize' your main; the other fullness settings will add to this... keep in mind the admonishment about 'too full' being sometimes a cause of delamination (fluttering tells on the leeward leach, and on the windward luff) when this happens, flatten until you can almost get both to flutter.

.. some fluttering in the windward luff is likely, with a soft rig in particular, due to mast-sail transition. A fluttering luff-windward telltale is far less costly then any fluttering leeward tell.

Rick White (In

Catamaran Racing: For the Nineties

available on this site - - it's awesome) and Michael Fragele (In the

Catamaran Tuning Guide

also on this site, also awesome) both recommend 4 tells on each side of your main. Luff tells are a foot aft of the bolt rope, one located one panel up from the foot; one located just above the shackle on the mast where your stays connect [hound]. Leech tells go one foot forward of the leach, at about the same hights, his diagram has 'em an inch or two above the hights of the luff tells. Put the tells on one side an inch above the ones on the other, so you can tell 'em apart. Do this uniformly, and use your sail numbers as a guide, for which side's tells belong higher.

Sail Fast!

Ed Norris

Here's a related question for readers of this forum? What are the signs that you look for to determine whether or not it is time to replace your jib?

Kevin Rose

N6.0na #215

kevin@paddleways.com

Thanks for the info. We had 20 knots and flat water today what a blast, at least until we went butt over teekettle on a very broad reach, and dug the bows. I haven't played with the diamonds at all,, but can touch them about 18 inches up on the mast. I've rear and re read the books on this, but a boomless rig and skeg hulls truly create a unique situation. Tomorrows race forecast for 25+ kts. and very large rollers so I won't have any light air problems,but will try the suggestons out asap. Anyone have a picture of this makeshift in haul\outhaul rope and how this works.

too much sun...

Harold

I raced a 1981 5.O all of last year, at first with the original sails and later with a Pryde sail from Asia. The old sail was really flat and had very stiff fibreglass battens, and like you say, it liked a lot of air. I had the same straight spreader, and while the diamond wire was loose, I don't think I could touch the mast with it 18

up. Maybe 12

. I ran the mainsheet rigged to the second hole from the back of the clewplate most of the time, trying to force a little bit of shape into the bottom half of the sail. Going to the back hole produced the draggy feeling that you are describing, similar to overtightening the battens on the new sail, and having the leech hook so much that the boat would not go to weather unless the traveller was dropped at least 6". I don't think the main is backwinding so much as the leech is hooking and actually dragging. I never found the last hole to be useful for anything except downwind work.

On the jib leads: Running the blocks forward tightens the leech of the jib and closes the slot. I read somewhere that you can afford to do this only in extremely flat water when the air is light. I'd try running the leads back at least a bit to let more air through and to twist the top of the jib. Flat sails make horsepower (top speed) but deep/twisted ones make torque (acceleration/wave-blasting power.) Avoid sheeting the jib hard to let it take a little shape, or run the leads quite far back and do sheet in so that the bottom of the jib can make you a little speed while the top makes power. Drive off for boatspeed.

Mast rake: Straight up, unless you are trying to depower. At 360#, this will be almost never.

Hopefully this will be helpful. If you have any other questions, I'll happily try to address them. I would have emailed you directly, but I feel like this may be of general interest.

sail fast

AT

Nacra 5.5u +chute

I don't know the early signs, but when the #$% thing starts to sound like a playing card slapping against the spokes of a kids bicycle, *it's time* (assuming you haven't changed anything about the rig)