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The stability of our small sail boat depends largely upon the
weight of one or two people sailing in the boat as ballast and working
to balance the pressure of the wind on the sail. Without this additional
weight of people, the boat itself would not have the stability to support
the sail even in a very light breeze. The almost constant shifting of
your body position as you maneuver the boat is essential to skillful sailing.
| Watch to windward for the
dark patches where fresh puffs of wind darken the water with small
ripples. These give advance warning to the skipper of increased winds
soon to reach his boat. An alert skipper is always aware of what sort
of winds will strike his boat in the next few moments. The arthwartship
level or side to side trim of the boat particularly, (and the fore
and aft level to a lesser degree) has a very noticeable influence
on the steering and balance of our boat. |
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| If the boat tips down to leeward slightly, the boat will have the
desirable tendency to turn toward the wind, called WEATHER HELM.If
the boat is tipped more, this tendency increases to an undesirable
degree and excessive rudder angle must be used to keep the boat on
a straight course.The boat is said to have a HEAVY WEATHER HELM or
too much WEATHER HELM. Conversely, if one heels the boat to windward,
the boat has a tendency to turn away from the wind or create a LEE
HELM which is considered undesirable at all times. Remember Ð if the
boat is tipped either way, you must retain a hold on the tiller or
the boat will spin around. |
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If you should panic at the tipping, you need only to
let go of the sail to equalize the situation. The alteration in steering
forces is of course influenced by the distorted shape of the immersed
part of the hull as well as by the greater turning forces on the sail
due to the increased inclination from the supporting hull. To become
familiar with this effect of shifting weight, experiment with your
weight in different positions on some of your early sails. |
| Move your weight to windward or leeward and adjust your sail trim
to control the helm. You will soon become familiar with the effect
of heel on the pressure against the rudder and learn to anticipate
and compensate instinctively and thus become a better helmsman very
early. The skipper should never sit on the stern flotation tank as
his weight is too far aft for proper balance, and he is in the way
of his tiller and cannot easily steer a course to leeward without
jamming the tiller against his body. |
- Diagrams and Text courtesy of Sailing and the Tech Dinghy
- Permission granted by: Harold "Hatch" Brown, MIT.
- Black and white clipart were provided by
arttoday.com
- Created by: Nondini Naqui '02
- Maintained by: Bonnie Dix
- Date Created: 7/27/00
- Last Modified: 8/9/00
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