Why doesn't my new sail point as well as the old one?

[Keith Bartlett]

Hi folks. My old sail, (2002 vintage) is showing its age, but since I have had my new sail ( last year) I have noticed in club racing with other 15s that I can point noticeably higher with the old sail, possibly by as much as 5 degrees, compared to when I sail with the new one. As far as I can tell, things like batten tension are pretty similar, though the new sail is much much stiffer, so maybe the batten tension is less??. The old sail goes block to block, but with the new one it is much harder to achieve this.

So, first of all, why should this be?, and what can i do to rectify the pointing problem. I know I can always rake the mast back one notch, but Is this the only solution?.

Cheers

Keith FREDDIE 1962

[Bob Carter]

Keith,
I seem to recall I noticed a similar effect. It is probably due to the old sail being a bit more stretchy and therefore can be flattened more than the new sail. Try giving it more downhaul (have you got the 3:1 set-up?). Otherwise the thing to do is to accept the effect and sail a little freer (and faster) with the new sail.
I recommend more practice, especially at our traveller events
Cheers
Bob

[George Love]

Hi Keith,
I would echo Bob's comments. When I first sailed in my new boat (Grafham TT in March), Steve Sawford gave me a tip of not trying to point too high until the new sail was 'bedded in' - very good advice. I did notice that upwind I had to sail more off the wind to keep the boat moving even with a 3:1 downhaul tight on and couldn't point as high as the others. After this first outing, I took the boat out several times in some big wind and gave it a good 'ragging'. This seems to have the desired effect inasmuch as at Thorpe Bay last weekend it was pointing fine, certainly as good as if not better than other boats and easily better than Kevin Kirby's new boat which was having its first outing and where he was experiencing the same lack of pointing with a brand new sail straight out of the bag. As for mast rake, I set the new boat up in exactly the same configuration as my previous boat and it just seems to work fine. Stick with it, give it a good workout and it'll probably fix.
Hope to see you at Pwllheli

[Kevin Parvin]

I've just returned from Abersoch dinghy week and had the same experience with a new sail. As stated giving the sail a good beating on windy days improved the situation. A good shakedown for the Nationals at the end of the month.

I'll post my thoughts about Abersoch dinghy week as a separate message but managed 3rd place out of 22, my best performance, helped by the breezy conditions all week.

Kevin
1615

[George Love]

Nice one, Kevin
Any chance of an exclusive article on Abersoch for the next edition of the magazine? Here's hoping......
See you at Pwllheli

[Keith Bartlett]

Hi folks, and many thanks to those who have given their advice on my problem with the new sail. In a strange kind of way, its good to know that others have encountered the same issue. So I will be taking it all to heart and will give the new sail a good stretching in Sunday's racing at ODC, where a F4 is forecast.

For those of you who are following ODC's quest for a new club site, I can report that we have now applied for Planning Permission for a new site a few hundred metres to the East of the current site. There is, however, plenty of local opposition to the proposed site, so its not going to be smooth progress. I'll keep folk updated if and when we make more progress.

Cheers Keith FREDDIE1962