Weather Helm? (Page 1 of 2)

Never  experienced weatherhelm like me old boat even in a F6; yes it will heel until you get the gunnel in the water but that's when it's most fun :-)

The Contessa doesn't have a problem with weather helm, UNLESS you're trying to pinch, or the rig isn't tuned properly. If the rig is tuned and sails trimmed properly, falling off a few degrees from maximum sheeting you can just about let go of the tiller.

Not reefing is not wise - (it can be fun of course!), but it not only overstresses the rig, but it is also a much slower way to sail than reefing. If your combing is consistently in the drink, you'll go much faster by tucking in a reef.

I reef whenever my toe rail hits the water.  Sometimes sooner if I desire less excitement.  You're right - no need to stress the boat and crew unnecessarily.  Up to a point, however, sailing a keelboat on her ear can be faster as a result of effectively lengthening the waterline.  For some reason, that the old timers were unable to divine, putting the toe rail under always seemed to slow 'em down.  They experimented with rounded, smooth toe rails and other nifty designs, but could not overcome the problem.  Also, as you heel over you show less sail area to the wind.

Thankyou for a remarkably reasoned reply.  I'm embarrassed to admit that, while I've looked at a number of photos of both, I wasn't clear on the relative sizes of the sails.  You're absolutely right though, on my FB the forestay hit the deck a couple of feet short of the stem.  Which says a lot about the size of the headsail on a 25' boat.
Jeff

Hello Virago Deb,
Thanks for your reply! - I am not sure what a levo-gage is but it probably isn't into big waves! I wonder if the "roaring 40's" were named after the men instead of the winds? ..... Sorry, couldn't help being sexist here- you know most sailors WERE men in the old days- and the best pirates were women! My sister gave me a tank top with the caption: "Women Who Behave Rarely Make History" -So are we misbehavin for wantin to go sailin?

I want one of those shirts!!!!  Sailing it is - lets go!

This is a divergence from the original topic if there ever was one but what the heck...

In all seriousness, I am often puzzled by the real and percieved differences between males and females, especially when it comes to physical risk taking.  In my professional life and my play time I do things that are largely mens' occupations, but there are also a few women.  We constantly swim against a current that does not encourage women, but we do the activities because we love them and a side effect of that is that it shows that we can; That there's no reason for us not to.  On the other hand, it's easy to lark over timid women, but we don't often point and laugh at timid men (no kick in the shins for Tubatooter there, just a general observation of different social norms).  It's a large and complicated topic but I'm not sure why - where do these perceptions, expectations and occasional truths come from?  It's a question that has challenged me my entire life (so far).

No claim to disenfranchisement made - it's more that I am baffled as to why humans need to categorize the people around them and then set behavioral expectations for those groups, including those in their own community.  What does this have to do with sailing?  This series of exchanges demonstrates that there are still gross generalizations made, people who will loudly proclaim their own agendas, those who are uncomfortable with disturbances to the peace, and those who are just trying to get on with a life as they choose to live it - even among sailors.

I just went thru this diversity train the other day on the problem with color jelly beans.  What we learned is that everyone has the strenghts and weakness but with us, we just have the fun of sailing in a boat we all enjoy talking about and love to show off our pictures of her.  This is the reason I enjoy this forum as we all have something to give to each other as we try and answer the many request for info to your problems in upgrading our boat, at least I have put in my share of request;-)  Just remember, our Contessa's does not care who its navigator or passengers are, as she is the captain who wants to keep on sailing into the rising or setting sun.  Cheers! ~jklee

Okay, not to belittle the point, but here is a little history; the fastest sailor around the world to date is Ellen MacArthur 2006, who also came in second in the 2001 Vendee Globe, won 2002 Route de Rhum and at age 19 solo around British Isles. Catherine Chabaud became the 1st woman to races in Vendee Globe in 1996 only 6 races after Robin Knox-Johnston did it in 1969.  Chojnowska-Liskiewicz was 1st woman to sail around the world sole 1976-8, though at the same time a grandmother, Ann Gash, did the same in a Folkboat from Australia 1975-77.  Ann Davison was first to solo Atlantic 1952-3.  Naomi James was 1st woman to circumnavigate world via Cape Horn in 272 days with only 2 stops (she had never spent more then a night on the water before this!) in 1977-78. Emma Richards was youngest solo sailor in 2003 Around Alone race and recieved from Queen the MBE metal for it along with Ellen MacArthur for her sailing following year (I believe).  Alice Otsuji Hager, 63, in 1984 solo - non-stop in International Folkboat from SF, Calif to Kagoshima in southern Japan in 78 days.  Florence Arthaud in 1990 won the Route du Rhum after being in this race every year since it started.  Kay Cottee was 1st solo around the world in 1988 in 189 days, beating Knox-Johnston time. in 1994-95, Lisa Clayton became the 1st British woman to solo - non-stop around the world in 285 day despite capsizing 7 times! Samatha Brewster 1996  in 67 foot steel cutter sailed  "the hard way" (west - east) 1970 around world in 247 beating Chay Blyth's 1970-71 record (sailed in original around world race) time by 45 days.  In 2006, Dolores Clover (mother of youngest kid to solo Atlantic in 2004) on Belmore, Contessa 32 also solo the Atlantic Ocean.  Then there is our famous Tania Aebi on the famous Varuna in 1985-87.  This is only a few of many women who have sailed the  7-seas and it shows that no one owns the sea no matter which side of the "x-y" gene side your on, unless you have big corporation backing you;-)  Still, even they have failed to survive the sea and for all of us that is the name of the game and telling your stories about it.  ~jklee

Did not mean to enrage any feminists. There is a book entitled " A Gentleman Never Sails to Weather" . I prefer to get out there and see which way seas and wind are directed before deciding on my destination.
Jiffy reefing on my mainsail has a hook on the forward boom to catch one of three cringles sewn into the forward (luff) of the mainsail. Lowering the main until one of the cringles can engage the hook on the luff and attaching an outhaul line at the rear of the main (leach) and pulling the back of the sail out and down only takes a minute if there are two working each end of the main. We just luff up, ease the main halyard low enough to catch the cringle on the hook and tighten the new outhaul and retighten the main halyard in a "jiffy".
Roller furling on the jib gives me the control over sail size I must have on a tippy boat.

I have a roller .I lose ten degrees going to weather reefed.I had my staysail altered to fit the furler as this sail is useful thru a wide wind range,and surprisingly close to the genoa in windard performance.Because it is such a chore to change I decide at anchor what sail to bend on.Reaching and running I fly my single luff spinaker all the time now,much better than the genoa,so there is afairly small range of conditions where I actually lose much performance.A storm jib is next ,as the rolled jib still sucks.