Hi All,

Sailing in a regatta this weekend, and winds looking light at 4-6 knots. I'm on the Nacra 4.5 and figured I'll be sailing with a very loose rig. Any other tips/tricks?

Cheers,

Johno

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1335 XTSea Nacra 5.8 NA
605 Nacra 4.5
Cleveland Yacht Club
Brisbane, AU
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Not sure what the advantage of running a very loose rig would be. It’s not a bad idea to loosen the rig a little bit so that the mast can rotate freely, but making the rig very loose is probably not a great idea.

Anyway, rig tension is not going to make or break your regatta. Doing well in light wind really depends on several other fundamental skills such as - Getting a good, clear air start on the line. Minimizing movement on the boat, and being gentle with the tiller and sheets. Maintaining flow over your sails at all times and never letting the sails stall (better to be under sheeted than over sheeted). Keeping your head out of the boat, looking for patches of stronger breeze or favorable shifts.

sm

You'll want to get your weight well forward to get the leeward bow deep so you can point better. Combine that with sitting amidships to induce heel. If you're by yourself, you'll probably wind up sitting by the mast.

I'm assuming the 4.5 is boomless and boomless mains have their own set of problems when it comes to good sail shape. Presumably there's a clew plate with a series of holes for attaching the mainsheet. The rear holes will give decidedly more camber for light air. Unfortunately, the shape of the upper half of the main will not be optimal. Conventional thinking is that the angle of the mainsheet should be pointed at the center of effort on the main. This is okay most of the time, but you may find in light air doing this will cause the bottom of the sail to be too flat. I have seen some people use a camber control line which is nothing more than a piece of 3/16ths tied off at the tack and the clew. Somewhere along its length have a 2 to 1 fiddle block with a built-in jam cleat. The idea is you can have your mainsheet at the optimum place on the clew plate and still be able to have a perfect curve on the bottom panel of the main.

Mast rotation works differently with boomless. Won't be much of an issue in light air, but in windier conditions a mast rotation device that induces rotation might be helpful to allow the mast to bend more. I would find this to be a pain however because you have to re-set it with every tack.

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Bill Townsend
G-Cat 5.0
Sarasota
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hi-lighting keeping weight forward and minimize movements. When the wind is less than 5, keep the sheets soft and air flowing around sails. You will be adjusting both sails constantly; jib first, then main. I only pay attention to a tell tale that is on the leech about 1/3 way down. Keep this one flying and everything else will fall into place. If you have a way to control mast rotation, do it. Try to keep the mast from bouncing with waves. And, if you can use an over-rotator to induce rotation, that will help. I did something similar to what ShortyFox suggested on pulling the clew forward on my 5.8, but I went to the bottom of the mast so I didn't have to readjust every tack. I would recommend placing your mainsheet about mid adjustment on the clew. Use a thinner batten on the bottom if you can. The stock battens will keep the sail too flat for

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Scott

Prindle Fleet 2
TCDYC

Prindle 18-2 Mod "FrankenKitty"
Tornado Classic "Fast Furniture"
Prindle 19 "Mr. Wiggly"
Nacra 5.8 "De ja vu"
Nacra 5.0
Nacra 5.8
Tornadoes (Reg White)
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Quote

Use a thinner batten on the bottom if you can.

This reminds me of something I forgot to mention. If you're using fiberglass battens, you may want to take the upper two or three and using an electric sander improve the taper. The shorter battens are usually too stiff and thinning them down a little where the tapered area starts might help the sail shape up top especially in light air. Bend the batten frequently to check as you go and try to get the deepest part of that curve no more than 40% aft.

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Bill Townsend
G-Cat 5.0
Sarasota
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Thanks for all of the advice, was a good weekend! Was hugging the mast/front hull most of the weekend, but it did get up to 8-10 knots, which was nice.

shortyfox

I have seen some people use a camber control line which is nothing more than a piece of 3/16ths tied off at the tack and the clew. Somewhere along its length have a 2 to 1 fiddle block with a built-in jam cleat. The idea is you can have your mainsheet at the optimum place on the clew plate and still be able to have a perfect curve on the bottom panel of the main.

Saw a boat with this setup on the weekend. Wonder if a Clamcleat Aero Base in place of a 2 to 1 fiddle block would do the job, can't see why not.

I don't have a mast rotator on my 4.5 but some other do.

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1335 XTSea Nacra 5.8 NA
605 Nacra 4.5
Cleveland Yacht Club
Brisbane, AU
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shoprtyfox

This reminds me of something I forgot to mention. If you're using fiberglass battens, you may want to take the upper two or three and using an electric sander improve the taper. The shorter battens are usually too stiff and thinning them down a little where the tapered area starts might help the sail shape up top especially in light air. Bend the batten frequently to check as you go and try to get the deepest part of that curve no more than 40% aft.

+1

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Sheet In!
Bob
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Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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