Five of us enjoyed a virtual night on the boat yesterday evening (in the basement with fireplace on) to work through the notions of clear air and shifting gears. A summary table doesn’t do justice to the thoughtful discussion, but here it is nonetheless:
| Starting/ Footing | Go-gear | Pointing | Low Leeway | |||
| Sail Trim Goals | Windward Telltale | 0˚ | 45˚ | 90˚ | ||
| Boom | Wide | Just below Midline | Midline | Wide | ||
| Mast Bend | Minimal | Moderate | Increased | Marked | ||
| Main Twist | Marked | Minimal | Very little | Moderate | ||
| Main Draft | Full | Moderate | Decreased | Moderate | ||
| Draft position | Forward | Aft | Aft | Foreward | ||
| Controls (relative to go-gear) | Backstay | Eased | Moderate | Harder | Hardest | |
| Traveler | Lower | As needed | Lower | Lowest | ||
| Mainsheet | Eased | As needed | Harder | Eased | ||
| Jib Car | Forward | Breaking evenly | Aft | Aft | ||
| Jib sheet | Eased | As needed | Harder | Moderate | ||
| Outhaul | Eased | As needed | Hard | Hard | ||
| Cunningham | Tighter | Moderate | Eased | Tighter |
I think the big aha was that we have been sailing 2018 in a sail trim that can best be described as “trimmed for pointing, steering as if we are footing”. As a result we almost certainly sacrificed speed, pointing and leeway. In 2019, for clear air we should be using go-gear settings that are slightly more relaxed and a steering angle that lifts the leeward tell-tale a bit. From there the table summarizes what we need to do to each control to shift into footing mode or pointing mode. In light wind, heavy air, or a heap of traffic, we should shift to low-leeway mode.
I’m sure we’ll need to come back to this table many times to remember it all!