Galloway lessons from Marty

Hello Fleet 5, Sorry it's taken so long to forward lessons learned from sailing with Peter Galloway. My slowness is partly due to the fact that I've been trying to translate the concepts across various wind strengths and sea states but have had limited success. The most significant change I've made that does translate to various wind strengths is to keep the leeward tell tales on the jib glued to the sail. Before I'd too often allow them to flicker just slightly to make sure I kept speed or regained lost speed. When Peter was on board, anytime that leeward tell tale even fluttered slightly, he'd tell me to get it up. Of course riding closer to the edge of speed loss is tricky and being in the right gear become more critical. Another excellent lesson was the roll tacking stuff. Study the roll tacking video on Sonar.org if you haven't. It does take a lot of practice to get the whole crew in sinc but it really makes a difference that you'll feel immediately when you all get the rhythm right. One of the ingredients is when to stop the turn. I'd had a tendency to overtack to get better acceleration, but was, of course, giving up windward gains. Peter showed us that the turn should end just as the jib is filled (at power trim setting) and tell tales on both sides are streaming. This wouldn't give that same acceleration that I'd had before unless we employed the proper roll tacking technique. This is then followed by the final trim after speed is back up. Of course the pace of the whole roll tacking process changes with wind strength so, again, it takes practice with the crew to get that pace tuned in. With regard to sail trim in general, Peter put us in a lower power, higher point mode than I had before. If the breeze is on at all, the traveler is lower and the main sheet is tighter than I had it before. I'm steering higher but only slightly slower. Part of the reason the traveler is lower is because Peter increased my rake (now about 25' 11 5/8") I have to sail higher and have the traveler lower or my helm gets way too heavy. The boat is quieter going through the water than before but my VMG is better. Good luck applying this stuff. On our boat we continue to struggle but we're making progress. MF

Light Air trim from Marty/Shepstone

Hello Fleet 5I'd asked Steve for his perspective on the Mid winters. Some of his response touched on light air trim which prompted me to ask more questions on that. Steve, of course, was very generous in sharing his knowledge. Here's some exerps from that correspondence:
Steve: In the last race of the first day, the race started in about 3-4 knots of breeze. We loosened the uppers 4 turns, lengthened the headstay to just under 26’, and blocked the mast all the way to the front end of the partner. We sailed away from the fleet for about 7/8 of the first beat.
The end of the boom was about 6” below the centerline, so we had close to no mainsheet tension. Easing the uppers and blocking increased the headstay sag, but also flattened the main. The main is designed for some mast bend. With very little load on the rig and almost zero mainsheet tension, the mast is too straight. The main looked too flat down low from the blocking, so we eased the outhaul about 1-1/2” or 2”. We also moved the jib lead forward to power up the bottom of the jib. The water was somewhat lumpy, but not really nasty. We loosened the lowers and had about ¾” of sag to leeward at the spreaders. With the jib really powered up, you end up with lee helm unless you have enough mast rake. When you’re set up for the really light air and the breeze picks up, we found that you have to move quickly to change the blocks, so you can pull the headstay straighter without over flattening the main.
Marty: You mentioned easing the outhaul. Does anything aid you in determining the right depth, or is it intuitive?
Steve: The depth choice is intuitive, but based on years of experience in a variety of boats, especially by my teammates, who are more into sail shapes than I am.
Marty: Have you ever tried in-hauling the jib clew with the windward sheet?
Steve: We didn’t try in-hauling in Florida, but we did do it in the one race where it didn’t blow hard when we were in England. When we tried it, it worked well, good pointing and speed. Bill Lynn trims directly from the block on the jib track across the boat to a cleat. In England, we put a small hook onto the jib sheet. A loop of line with a clam cleat in it went through the hook and an eye on the cabin top. I’m thinking of experimenting this year rigging the jib sheet like Bill Lynn does in the lighter air and rigging it the normal way when there’s more breeze. That will give us two lead angles. It may not be as good as the adjustable system we had in England, but I’m a fan of simplifying things.
Spring is getting closer. See you soon