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You'd think so. But, I find shifting crew weight around in a blow really doesn't much offset the heel of the Ty. Perhaps it's the narrow beam and/or the inability to actually hike out on the rail, so you don't get much leverage with all the weight inboard near the centerline. I've always found the boat to be pretty resistant to crew position, in heavy air.
Thanks for all the helpful ideas, especially Winthrop's suggestion to have the sail cut down (why didn't I think of that?). And I'll take the range of opinions on reefing to heart. Reefing seems to be partly an objective response to the laws of physics and partly a matter of personal comfort and preference.
But I'm not sure I understand the point about the gooseneck and the boom. Once I have the sail cut to the right size, isn't the point where the boom attaches to the mast going to be determined by the length of the sail luff? In other words isn't the sail height the determining factor and the boom level just the result? What am I missing?
I found that my Typhoon heels to about 6 inches of dipping the rail in 12 to 15 knots of breeze. just remember that we just got about a foot of freeboard, so that's not bad.
My Ty sits lower in the water because of all the junk I have aboard and a 250 pound skipper.
i have an extra five hundred pounds on board and me at 225 pds and have under two feet of freeboard.
when i got my typhoon it was flooded with water from bow to stern and had one foot of freeboard.
i see why you are siting to low in the water.
you will get more speed out of your boat, if you take sum of the weight out... i did.
allot of people carry to much on board that we don't all was use.
sorry, i think you could sail allot faster...
winthrop
Neil Mietz wrote:I found that my Typhoon heels to about 6 inches of dipping the rail in 12 to 15 knots of breeze. just remember that we just got about a foot of freeboard, so that's not bad.
My Ty sits lower in the water because of all the junk I have aboard and a 250 pound skipper.
Paul-Yes it is true that the luff length will determine the position of the gooseneck at he mast. My boat came rigged originally with the downhaul attached to the gooseneck. But once the boom position is noted with the correct luff, the gooseneck can be held in place with a trackstop. Then you can control luff tension with a Cunningham. This is also better than using the main halyard to tighten the luff. And it's also helpful to have the gooseneck position fixed when lowering the main halyard for reefing.
Mike
The main is just worn out.
When I first got my Ty it had incredible weather helm in any breeze above 8 knots. I tried reefing, luff and foot tension, hiking and all sorts of other things, but the affliction stayed with us till the new sails arrived. The boat stood back upright (about 10-15 degrees in a 15 knot breeze) and the weather helm dropped to mild finger pressure.
10 years later, I buy a beater Ensign. Exact same thing. The old mains were awful to fair, and caused excess weather helm. The new race main, totaly maxed out for performance, dropped the weather helm to almost nothing.
A few years ago on this board this was the first thing anybody recommended for excess weather helm. Try the archives.
It's my opinion that the sail size is a very minor factor in your situation.
Do you know anyone you can borrow a good Ty main from for a 1/2 hour sail?
i agree with most posts, our Typhoon know what side I am on at all times (270 lbs)!
higher wind flatter sails less weahter helm as always. I need the downhau as well as outhalll to help flatten so no set boom height!
also adjust traveler to leeward a bit to spill some air before letting sheet go to get it to luff a bit, and id done make sure truly in just the luff first, let that jib slot do that for ya.
But.....
my main questions is why did furling the jib help the weather helm? This is the only thing does not mathc with all the comments and may lead to a different cure.
One thing left unsaid in this discussion of heeling and sail trim is the working jib. That little piece of stained and forgotten laundry that sheets inside the lowers does wonders for the Ty when the wind pipes up. She heels less, points higher, tacks quicker, has less weather helm, and goes faster in the 15 kt range.
Keep in mind that much of the tug on the tiller is induced by heeling the boat.
Changing the fore-aft rake of the mast by adjusting the fore and back stays does help with weather helm, but it changes the tracking and tacking characteristics that feel just right in the Ty.
So, in addition to getting new sails (euphoria!) consider dropping the Genoa before putting in the reef... let me know if this is all too obvious.
And one not so obvious thought for the beginners among us:
Baggy, full sails are more powerful than flat sails, or sail made flatter by pulling strings at the corners. So full shapes and big sails are what you want up to the point where heeling and weather helm are robbing you of speed and tracking ability. The trick then becomes reducing power to maintain control and maintain a pleasant pink color in the knuckles; flatter sails, smaller sails, reefing, and eventually, heaving to, which the Ty does magnificently.
What a great boat. ( And Winthrop is a force of nature!)
all i would add to that is put three sets of reefing points in your main, so you can stay out in stiffer winds...
winthrop
cellodane wrote:One thing left unsaid in this discussion of heeling and sail trim is the working jib. That little piece of stained and forgotten laundry that sheets inside the lowers does wonders for the Ty when the wind pipes up. She heels less, points higher, tacks quicker, has less weather helm, and goes faster in the 15 kt range.
Keep in mind that much of the tug on the tiller is induced by heeling the boat.
Changing the fore-aft rake of the mast by adjusting the fore and back stays does help with weather helm, but it changes the tracking and tacking characteristics that feel just right in the Ty.
So, in addition to getting new sails (euphoria!) consider dropping the Genoa before putting in the reef... let me know if this is all too obvious.
And one not so obvious thought for the beginners among us:
Baggy, full sails are more powerful than flat sails, or sail made flatter by pulling strings at the corners. So full shapes and big sails are what you want up to the point where heeling and weather helm are robbing you of speed and tracking ability. The trick then becomes reducing power to maintain control and maintain a pleasant pink color in the knuckles; flatter sails, smaller sails, reefing, and eventually, heaving to, which the Ty does magnificently.
What a great boat. ( And Winthrop is a force of nature!)
My sailmaker educated me on the effects of having a shruken bolt rope. Seems most older sails suffer from over fullness as a result of the bolt rope having shrunk and causing more body in the sail as a result. When I took him Seraph's main with the desire to 'depower' it by flattening, he looked at the bolt rope, declared that it had shrunk. He then simply took out the stitching holding it to the luff, stretched the luff out straight and re-sewed. It made a big big difference in the wat Seraph sails. Take a look at your luff and see if it's puckered. If it is it's because the bolt rope has shrunk.
