Volumes can be written on this subject, and have been. It is presumptuous of me to try to cover this subject in a few short paragraphs but some advice may well be in order. Perhaps the best advice would be to read up some of these books. In the absence of such books these notes may well help some owners, but the more expert owner will be forgiven if he has a quick glance through them and gets on with his sailing. First point is that there is no point in cramming more sail on than will make her travel at maximum speed.

Second point is that it is amazing how much sail she will carry in safety!

The most frequent combination is the large genoa and full mainsail. This combination would normally be carried up to a force 5 wind strength, though before a force 6 were reached the mainsail would be well reefed when beating to windward. Let's deal with this pair of sails first. When beating to windward in light airs you must allow the sails to be full and nicely fat; greedy for more air in them yet not stretched in their luffs; there is only a given number of square feet of cloth in the construction of the sails and no ammount of stretching will increase it.

For the large genoa, tack it down close to the deck and haul on the halyard just enough to eliminate any horizontal puckering on the luff between the hanks or creases at the hanks. As the wind strength increases winch up the halyard just enough to keep these creases non-existent. The mainsail should be similarly treated to keep any horizontal creases away from the luff but remember it also has an outhaul. This control should be tensioned so as to remove any vertical creases along the foot. Any sign of vertical folds in the luff of the sails indicates overtight halyards and a horizontal fold in the foot of the mainsail tells you that you have over-tightened the clew outhaul and that it needs to be eased until it disappears.

As the wind strength increases still more it will no longer be sufficient to adjust sail shape only with the halyards and the clew outhaul. This is when the Cunningham Eyes come into play. The Cunningham Eye tackle is supplied as standard equipment only for the mainsail; provision is built into the genoa with an eye cringle about a foot above the tack, so that suitable tackle will need to be added to take advantage of it. The tackle is hauled down to stretch the luff still more.

The need for all this stretching of the luff is to flatten the sail by pulling cloth out of the centre of the sail and transfering it along the luff. By this means you change a full cut sail into a flat one. You need a flat sail in higher wind strengths to avoid excessive weather helm; if you have a full sail in strong winds the fullness of the sail is blown aft till not only does it loose power but it pushes the centre of pressure in the sail aft thus increasing weather helm and causing the yacht to heel unnecessarily.

Around force 5 winds you will need to reduce sail. Keep the large genoa up and put as many rolls in the main as you need to counter undue heel and pull on the tiller. When reefing the mainsail it is utterly essential to pull the leech of the sail aft to keep it flat. Once there is the need to reef you will get just about all the power you want from the genoa and you need only regard the mainsail as a means of preserving the slot between the two sails, and maintain correct balance on the helm.

The importance of the slot (if of the right shape) cannot be overstressed. It is a means of increasing the power in the genoa and of re-attaching the wind to the leeward side of the sail to counteract the disturbance caused by the mast. The "slot" is the area between the two sails and you should endeavour to keep this parallel from top to bottom.

Undoubtedly the finest aid to sail setting, and the cheapest, is to add woollen tufts to the forward part of the sail. Take three or so pieces of black wool about 12" long and pass each halfway through the sail 9" aft of the luff and in the middle of a panel sewing them in place; position them at equal distances up the sail.

You can see both halves of them when the sail is pulling correctly, the one on the leeward side is visible through the cloth. They should be flowing along the sail horizontal and parallel to each other. When you are beating to windward and cannot come closer to the wind without pinching, the helmsman can steer by the woollen tufts in the genoa. When sailing off this position, it is the crews job to get the woollen tufts to stand like soldiers by adjustment to the sheet.

Once the mainsail has been rolled down to the second batten (remembering to haul the leech aft) and the wind is strong enough to hold the gunwhale down, it is time to change down to a smaller headsail. There is no point in allowing Achilles to heel too much, as she will not go faster. It is well worth fitting a clinometer and limiting the angle of heel to about 25°.

In gusts of course, it is sufficient to ease off the mainsail sheet to keep the yacht in balance, but it is a mistake to hold on to too much canvas for too long.

Reaching is more easy. For a given wind strength you can carry more canvas and the sails can be made fuller by easing off the Cunningham Eye. It is always worth slipping on a special reaching sheet on a snap shackle block for the genoa. It makes the world of difference.

Running before the wind the same remarks apply but it always helps to boom out the genoa opposite the mainsail (assuming there to be no spinnaker). I always find it a great comfort to rig up a foreguy when running, it holds the main boom firmly in light winds and stops it shaking the wind out of the mainsail. In strong winds it prevents an involuntary gybe and saves your head being knocked off by the boom. A foreguy is simply a line running from the end of the boom which is secured to the forward mooring cleat, after which the mainsheet is tightened in. Do remember to detach it before you gybe though!

Never, never, never sail by the lee; it slows you down, it is inefficient and it is dangerous. Far better to tack downwind keeping 10 degrees windward of dead downwind and gybe when necessary.

Butler Mouldings