FWIW. For me, sailing the boat flatter with an eye toward more neutral helm is the key for control in heavy air. It's not so much about wind speed, but how the boat feels (yeah, I'm an old dinghy sailor, so I sail by feel.)
Given:
a. the hull shape of our 27s, particularly with the vertical transom with the outboard hung rudder, where heel doesn't increase waterline length to any significant degree, and thus speed,
b. the fact that the hull is cored, and 40% of the total displacement is in the keel,
c. The mast is relatively far forward, leading to serious weather helm in winds greater than about 15 kts,
...seems to me that the boat will sail fastest, and with the most control, when she is on her feet and as flat as possible. Whenever I am fully canvassed with my 150% genny, once my angle of heel is greater than 15-20% on a close reach/beat, the weather helm starts to become really significant. At that point, I drop the traveller to leeward, and flatten the main as much as possible, and try to get the head to twist off. After that, shorten the mainsail to move the CE forward and align it better with the CLR, thus reducing weather helm and getting closer to neutral helm (but not neutral, since the "feel" disappears). Rolling up the genny somewhat, followed by a second reef in the main are my next steps. Also, my leeward shrouds are just snug, but not tight. If I had a working backstay adjuster, I'd honk down on it (but I don't).
My $0.02.
Dave S.
s/v Clio
1987 S2 27, hull #80
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--- In s227classassociation@..., Rick <rperret@...> wrote:
Dave.
Sounds great. Nothing like the personal satisfaction of doing the work yourself. Plus nothing like getting up close and personal with your diesel engine. I'll post some pictures of the new raw water intake job I did this spring.
Your comment re good winds is true here - in fact I think it's been windy here in Connecticut since October...this past week we had great wind and I wanted to get some discussion going on heavier air techniques - especially when singlehanded.
Last Wed nights beer can series saw great wind, i was singlehanded racing. Winds during the race were 12-14 knots, gusting to 19-20 at times. Because I was alone I had full main - a fairly nice Kevlar north main and my older Dacron Doyle 150 genny which I furled such that the clew was abeam the shrouds - I figure it was equivalent to a 75-80% jib I had the jib cars at about the middle of the middle main cabin portlight. The backstay was cranked down hard, lots of outhaul and Cunningham so the main was pretty flat.
While on a beat at 12-14kts the boat was heeling about 20-22 degrees with the leased inner shroud swaying a total of 1 inch (1/2 inch) left right. The outer was swaying maybe 1/2 inch total. Helm seemed balanced so I was pleased. (traveler was about 8-10 inches to leeward). When I hit a 16-19 knot gust I probably heeled 30 degrees and she wanted to round up of course had about a 20 degree pull on the helm to keep her from rounding up. Good news is the boat was real responsive- I also dropped the traveller down to about 4 inches from the cockpit coming, I have the "racing layout, to keep her on her feet. I easily was hitting 5.7-6.2 knots thru the water when the wind picked up on a close reach.
Race went fine but I didn't do well on last leg..
What are your experiences of keeping speed and control when ghe wind goes north of 15? It seems that at 12 knots you can keep the boat with full main and genny at good speed and control when you have 2-3 people on the rail. Singlehanded, the limit seems to be 10-11 knots before the boat starts to get past 20 degrees of heel and you get lots of weather helm which slows you down. Another s2 27 owner told me that the boat is really mainsail driven due to the mast location and CLR of keel, so a big a$$ genny doesn't buy you much.
My only other heavier air experience is when 3 of us went out in 15-18 knots gusting to 23-24. Main was reefeed and had about 35% genny out- boat was fine except in gusts where it needed a heck of a lot of helm to correct - that surprised me as I thought the boat would handle it better..
What are your experiences in heavier air and best practice techniques?
Thanks.
Rick
On Jul 5, 2010, at 9:27 PM, "uswa174" <uswa174@...> wrote:
Success! I purchased a new 10 ft stop cable from Torresen's ($24), and installed it today. The new one works perfectly. I removed the old cable (which comes inside a sheath), starting at the engine side, then I reversed the process for installing the new one.
After removing the numerous cable clips in the lazarette and engine compartment, I removed the old cable (with sheath) by pulling it into the cockpit through the hole in the Yanmar B-panel. The pull/push knob is held in place by a large nut inside the lazarette, so after inserting the new cable through the hole in the panel, I slipped the new nut on the cable and slid it up the entire length, then I secured it on the inside of the panel. The rest of the process was simply to follow the path of the old cable, and secure it with the old clips. Finally, the wire inside the sheath was secured to the fuel cutoff lever on the front left of the engine.
The old cable was truly seized inside the sheath, and I couldn't budge it even after I removed it. All in all, it was $24 well spent. Now that I have done it once, I could repeat the job in about fifteen minutes, although it took me about an hour today. Also, to do this job, it helps to be a contortionist, because I was in and out of the port lazarette about fifteen times. ;)
Thanks for the advice.
Dave S.
s/v Clio
1987 S2 27, hull #80
PS. Had a wonderful sail on Saturday. Perfect conditions: steady south breeze (offshore) at 13-15 kts, just whitecapping, with little half foot rollers.
--- In s227classassociation@..., "uswa174" <uswa174@> wrote:
Thanks for the responses. I'll go with the 10 ft length, and put a big loop in it. I'll report back to the group on how it works.
I hope everyone has an opportunity to get out sailing over the long Fourth of July weekend.
Dave S.
s/v Clio
1987 S2 27, hull #80
--- In s227classassociation@..., "uswa174" <uswa174@> wrote:
The stop cable for my Yanmar 1GM10 is frozen/rusted in the sleeve, so I need to replace it. Does anyone know what the length of the cable should be? For purchase on-line, there seems to be only three lengths available: 18", 10 ft, or 12 ft. The 18" cable is clearly too short, but 10 ft is too long (or is it?) Any and all comment appreciated.
Dave S.
s/v Clio
1987 S2 27, hull #80
PS. The group is pretty quiet lately...everybody must be out sailing, and with no problems or questions.
