Many cruising yacht skippers mark little or no on board their boats. They depend on expertise and remembering how the sails must be set in numerous situations. However it is a bonus to have a very good coding system in your boat.
The boat’s steadiness is a very powerful indicator of appropriate sail setting. Even when the helm is impartial, it’s no assure that the sails are set accurately. If the rudder angle required to maintain the boat heading in the right direction is bigger than 8 levels, you possibly can make sure that the sail or rig tuning may very well be improved. It’s due to this fact essential that you recognize the standing of the boat’s steadiness exactly.
Marking rudder stations
In case your boat has a tiller, it is possible for you to to see the rudder angle always. It’s harder in case your boat has wheel steering.
Use marks or a numbered scale on the mast and growth as a reference for halyards or outhaul
Then you definitely want marks that present the rudder angle. It’s simpler to mark wheel steering precisely when the boat is out of the water.
Have somebody flip the rudder to predetermined positions and mark the precise rudder angles on the wheel. If you recognize the utmost rudder angle, you could mark the wheel whereas the boat is afloat. Rely the variety of turns of the wheel to maneuver the rudder from one excessive to the opposite.
It’s then pretty simple to calculate the rudder motion in levels for a sure turning of the wheel. For those who attempt to eradicate as a lot slack as attainable within the steering system earlier than you begin, the marking will likely be extra actual.
Marking halyards
Marking halyards the place they exit the decrease a part of the mast means that you can decide how tight they’re. A mark displaying how excessive the sail could also be hoisted earlier than the halyard shackle touches the sheave on the high of the mast offers you the utmost halyard/luff pressure, except you employ a Cunningham. Additionally it is clever to mark the principle halyard for every reef cringle place so the right halyard size may be discovered rapidly.
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