Submitted on July 22, 2003 by Clive

Question: During the recent X-Yachts Gold Cup in the UK, I competed ( joined in) in the 2 sail fleet. Going upwind my X-302 was constantly over powered, and would not point compared with other x-302's. Other X-302's seemed to be able to keep their boom on the centre line with out being over powered and point higher and with more speed, with the same amount of sail area set.

I have a 7 year old set of cross cut North sails (145% furling Genoa and standard
main). Would having a more powerful mainsheet system and backstay help pointing and not being over powered? or do I need a new set of rags?

Clive
Quickstep
Hamble River, England

Answer: Hi Clive, New sails are always better than old sails. They will stay flatter overall and the position of the deepest part of the sail will stay forward in new sails. With old sails the maximum draft area moves to the middle of the sail making the leech tighter and causing the boat to heel more. But whether your sails are old or new, when you are overpowered, the way to correct the situation is to pull harder on everything.

There are a few things you might be able to do to get better performance from your old sails. First, check the amount of tension on the standing rigging and compare it with the tension on the fastest sistership in your fleet. A tighter rig is always faster in windy conditions. If you talk to the fleet leaders you will probably learn that they have a range of settings on their headstay (and possibly lower diagonal shroud) turnbuckle, tightening it significantly between the setting for 8 knots of breeze and the setting for 20 knots of breeze.

A powerful backstay is very important for upwind performance. The backstay works to flatten the mainsail by bending the mast and to flatten the headsail by taking sag out of the headstay.

The next area to look for is better sail control is the halyard tension on both sails. With older, stretchy, crosscut Dacron sails, you will need to use much more halyard tension than you might expect. Your halyards should be made out of high modulus line with a Vectran or Aramid core. You will have to pull the halyard on the headsail hard enough that there is a very distinct crease of fabric along the headstay before the sail is sheeted in. The mainsail halyard and cunningham need to be set hard enough to have the same effect.

In a tough one-design fleet like you found at the Gold Cup, excellent tuning and new sails are required to compete with the top teams. Either one without the other will leave even the best sailors with an insurmountable handicap. Regards, Dan Neri

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