Cruising in low wind/3: what to do upwind in 5/9 knots

Low wind conditions are difficult to interpret already in racing; in cruising, perhaps, they are even more so, because boats are generally heavier and it is too easy to turn on the engine to reach the desired destination in the shortest possible time. People often underestimate the possibility of achieving interesting performance with their boat even in poor wind conditions.Instead, in recent years, types of sails have sprung up that can be very suitable for cruising as well, and which, accompanied by a few small tricks that cost little effort, can change the face of your cruise. Before beginning the analysis of boat handling in the various gaits, a small but very important and always valid premise is necessary: a boat, in low wind conditions, needs to receive as much power as possible from its sails, which alone can enable the boat to juggle well in the breezes!

SAIL UPWIND WITH 5/9 KNOTS
LA RANDA
Certainly upwind is the most challenging condition, because the boat in cruising trim has more difficulty in reaching high speeds. it is clear that a cruising boat most often assumes a mainsail that is not too light with adequate fabric weight to withstand the grip of one or more reefing hands. This does not detract from the fact that the mainsail can, with proper adjustments, have a profile suitable for light wind conditions. The optimal profile for these conditions is achieved when the maximum depth of the sail is positioned in the center and when the sail has a fat and powerful profile especially in the entry and center, but also in the exit. In the next column we analyze how to act on the various mainsail adjustments (cunningham, halyard, base, backstay, sheet tension and mainsail carriage) to achieve a profile as close as possible to the one just described and bring the sail to its maximum power.

THE FAT AND POWERFUL MAINSAIL PROFILE

The mainsail profile with little wind involves maximum sail depth positioned in the center, a fat and powerful profile especially in the entry and center, but also in the exit.

CUNNINGHAM AND HALYARD

Once the halyard and cunningham are let go, the mainsail grease retracts arriving at the above position. it is necessary to keep in mind that the halyard acts on the top of the sail while the cunningham on the bottom.

BASE AND BACKSTAY
Once you leave the base it increases the maximum depth of the sail especially in the lower and middle part of the mainsail. The image above shows how the profile of the mainsail changes with the base capped (in red) compared to when the base is left (in black). Dropping the backstay, on the other hand, decreases the pre-flexion of the mast and thus gives more power to the mainsail.

SHEET AND TROLLEY
If the mainsail sheet is too caulked, the leech will close too much and the boat speed will decrease significantly. Therefore, it will be necessary to have the necessary sheet tension to flutter the high threads placed on the leech at least 60/70% of the time. Mainsail carriage: the boom should be in the center, and this means that the mainsail carriage, not having too much tension on the sheet, will have to be brought slightly upwind; this adjustment helps the boat to have a greater bowline tendency.

GENOA
The genoa (or jib that is) must also give the boat as much power as possible. The only difference is that a headsail hardly ever reaches its maximum depth at 50 percent as in the case of the mainsail. In fact, it is actually not even advisable. Again, to achieve such a profile, we act on the adjustments we have at our disposal: the point of sheet, the halyard, the catenary (the curve of the forestay determined by the soft backstay) and the tension of the sheet. Once the profile of the sails has been arranged, it is clear that the running of the boat also takes on considerable importance. On a cruising boat, which very often sails with considerably more weight than normal, it is useless to try to sail upwind at the narrowest possible angle to the wind-the boat would surely be too slow. Better a few degrees more but significantly faster.

GRASS0 AND POWERFUL GENOA PROFILE
The genoa ( or jib that is) must also give the boat as much power as possible. The headsail must therefore be powerful enough in the inlet and have a sail outlet that is not too flat and open. This leads to having the maximum sail depth placed at 40-50%.

SHEET POINT.
With the sheet point toward the bow, the sheet pull is more vertical and more directed towardthe leech, which consequently tends to be closed and less warped.

HALYARD
Like the cunningham and mainsail halyard,the headsail halyard alsohelps to retract or advance the position of the sail’s maximum depth.

CATENARY AND SHEET
The catenary, that is, the curve of the forestay determined by the low tension of the backstay, contributes to increasing the depth and power of the headsail. Caution: having so much catenary causes the sail fat to shift toward the bow, so it will be necessary to retract the maximum depth and bring it to the correct position, leaving the halyard a little. Sheet tension must be weak to allow the sail to breathe.

OUR EXPERT
Roberto Spata started racing dinghies. He approached offshore sailing by racing on any type of boat and winning, to date, 17 Italian, 6 European and 5 World Championships. In 2003, he founded New Wind, a technical consulting and service company aimed at both shipowners and major Italian shipyards. www.nwind.it.