Making And Testing Sailing Chicago Rigs

By Carolyn Murray


I went over some nautical terms associated with rigging and raising the mainsail. In this nautical beginner, we are going to discuss how to sail from day one, this being the first day. Hopefully, the wind is only at 5 or 6 knots, which makes it easy to maintain control of the sailboat, especially when this is your first time at the helm. Have a look at the following article taking us through the subject the first time to sailing chicago.

Should a new sailboat builder simply purchase rigging and sails? You know, it depends. Some plans, such as Chris Ostlinder's A18T trimaran, tend to be "high-tech."You can read about the A18T on the Duckworks website. These plans call for fittings and have stressed on things that are similar to what you see on Hobie Cats and things.

There is a big difference between low-tech sails and high-tech sails. High-tech sails are harder for the homebuilder to do than low-tech sails. But you can get good performance out of low-tech sails. With faster (Trimaran) sailboats, such as the A18T, you would use a high-tech seafaring rig. If you want to squeeze performance, you've got to go higher-tech, and it's more complicated and more expensive.

Fold Your Sails to Sustain Life: Stuff a sail in a bag underway makes perfect sense. But once you get in, pull it out and do it right. Use the flaking method. Start at the foot, reach up and pull down a fold. Continue this all the way to the head. On high-tech Mylar sails, roll the sail up like a sausage from foot to head. Folding or rolling helps keep the delicate coating on the sail surface intact.

Just keep in mind that seafaring downwind is much faster and easier than tacking! It's a good reminder to be aware of the time and allow plenty of time to get back to your original destination. Your next task is to trim the mainsail to the wind by using the boom block. The boom block is a sailing term that is a set of pulleys that are attached to the end of the boom and allows you to position the boom in various angles.

Running or reaching is the sailing term for traveling downwind and depending on the angle of the mainsail about the wind, determines if you are running or reaching. If running, the position of the mainsail is approximately 90 degrees to the center line of the hull. However, if you are reaching, then the mainsail is at an angle less than 90 degrees about the wind.

Look at the patches at the head, tack, clew, and reef points. Mark worn areas with a pencil. Take the sail to your sail maker (or sew it yourself), and it will reward you with a trouble-free performance next seafaring season. Use beeswax or light, waterproof lubricant to slick the slots in your mast and sailboat boom.

Next, you'll need to turn or come about. There are essentially two ways to accomplish this, by tacking or turning upwind is one way, or you can jibe or turn downwind which is faster than a tack turn. The reason being is that in a jibe turn you have the wind behind you pushing the sailboat through the turn, as opposed to a turning into the wind in a tack turn.




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