Sail trim chart pdf

The leech of the jib should match the shape of the main. Once the lead is set and the jib is trimmed properly, we can use the lower jib telltales as a steering guide. Sail so the inside telltales are streaming aft. When overpowered, head up slightly and let the inside telltale dance. This narrower angle of attack reduces power. In big chop, add power by falling off a couple of degrees until the outside telltales dance.

Be careful not to fall off too far, or the outside telltales will stall and performance will suffer. Sea conditions play a big roll in cruising sail trim. In flat seas, very flat sail shapes work well. In wavy conditions, the challenge is to keep enough power to punch through the waves without being overpowered.

From our initial moderate air settings we can fine tune sail shape to match the sea state. The goal is to sustain full power, while adjusting the mix of power to match the sailing conditions. We trade one kind of power for another, while maintaining the same total. In smooth water, try a flatter sail shape, with less twist, for higher pointing. You can accomplish this with more mast bend and a tighter headstay. Also, move the jib lead aft to flatten the jib, and then trim the jib sheet harder to take out the extra twist.

Setting the jib lead can be a source of confusion for cruising sailors. Moving the lead aft flattens the foot and adds twist, but in smooth water we want a flat sail with little twist.

Move the lead aft to get a flat shape, and then trim the sheet extra hard to take out the extra twist. Result: A flat sail with little twist. July 12, With detailed instructions, illustrations, and photos, these downloadable guides are a must-have resource for every sailor. Request a quote. Share this:. The Discussion. Richard Hall Hi, I sail on a Beneteau First 40 with barber haulers for tweaking the jibs can you do a trim guide on how to use them please Regards Richard.

Login to reply. This website uses cookies and collects usage statistics. Privacy Policy. This is when we need to change gears and flatten out the sails to reduce drag, improve boat speed and point higher. The backstay should be pulled onto a medium tension which flattens out the mainsail. This also helps to tighten the forestay which automatically flattens the entry on the headsail.

The luff tension on both sails should be increased to keep the draft at their designed positions. Be careful to not over tension the luff on the mainsail as this can cause excessive back winding by moving the draft to far forward.

Having just enough tension to remove the horizontal wrinkles in the luff seems to work well on most mainsails. The headsail luff also needs just enough tension to remove the horizontal wrinkles at the luff tape for luff foils or just enough tension to remove the sags between the hanks on hanked headsails.

The traveler should be positioned so the boom is on or slightly to leeward of the centre line. The mainsheet hand needs to work it up and down through the gusts to keep the boat on the correct angle of heel.

The mainsheet should be trimmed to have the upper leech ribbon almost flowing as this helps with higher pointing ability. The genoa cars need to come aft when the boat becomes overpowered as this will flatten the foot area and exhaust the upper leach.

The genoa sheet should be tensioned to keep the leech at approximately 20mm from the spreader. Many helmspeople make the mistake of pinching up and pointing too high, which results in them losing boat speed. It is important that the helmsperson keep the speed up. Crew should sit on the windward rail to sit the boat down to reduce excessive heeling and present the maximum sail area to the wind. The headsail is set for medium to heavy conditions.

The backstay is on to straighten the forestay and flatten the entry. The genoa cars have been moved aft to twist off the upper leach. The backstay should be tensioned for maximum mast bend, so the mainsail starts to blade-out giving you maximum flatness.

Over-bend creases will also result in your mainsail leech twisting-off or laying-off, which will reduce your pointing ability considerably. If you see these over bend creases starting to appear, ease the backstay until they just disappear and this should be your maximum backstay tension. The Cunningham eye or luff tension should be on quite hard to keep the draft forward in the sail and the outhaul should be tensioned quite hard to flatten the foot area completely.

The traveler should be worked quite aggressively up and down through the gusts and in lighter winds to keep the boat on its feet. I have found a lot of crews have a tendency to reef the mainsail far too late, waiting until the boat is over-pressed and the mainsail is flogging excessively, i. Back winding. A reef in the main will dramatically improve windward performance with less leeway and better boat speed.