In a death roll, letting the spinnaker sheet run free is going to make it worse
immediately,


The navigator© wrote:
I disagree.

You can disagree all you want.



The windward rotation is best stopped by standing the boat
up. Let me explain why:

1. The main is less important cos it's luffing and skying the boom makes
thing worse by breaking full battens -even if it doesn't break the gooneck!

WTF?? The main is not luffing when the boat is beginning a broach or death roll. If it
is, then you have broken all your standing rigging (except possibly the forestay) or you
have found a unique method of broaching and/or death rolling while going upwind.

Blowing the vang on a big boat puts the spreaders at risk, but I've seen this done on
old heavyweight 50 footers and they seemed to keep battens & gooseneck in one piece, no
sweat.



2. The helm is losing authority (that's a large part of why racing
dinghies with plates 1/2 down can control, it better) and standing the
boat up massively increases control by

a) stopping rudder ventilation
b) increasing effective rudder area
c) decreasing the pitching moment on the hull that is stopping the bow
from rising and turning downwind
d) increasing keel grip.

FWIW I agree that boats sail & steer better when more upright. The question is how to
achieve it.

"Standing the boat up massively" is not a sail handling procedure... can you explain in
more detail?




3. It's hard to do a death roll without a spinnaker and the reason is
the spin pulls the boat over as long as it's full of air!

Total nonsense. I guess small una rigs like the Laser and Finn are notorious for death
rolling because "it's hard to do without a spinnaker."




although it may get you out of trouble once the current oscillation
is over. The better answer is to run the pole forward and down hard, and also if
you crew is sharp they'll yank the sheet twinger down hard too.

These ideas just don't apply in offshore racing 'cos you can't adjust
things that fast -the loads are huge and you can't just yank in a
'twinger' (we call it a barber hauler -the tension of the sheet can be
so large you can walk up it) or pull the pole down fast.

That's funny, easing the pole forward doesn't take any big muscle or much time, and as
it goes forward the load comes off the foreguy. OTOH letting the sheet run will at least
momentarily increase the boats windward heel and will drop the speed which reduces
rudder effectiveness. Then you have to get all that sheet back in, by which time the
skipper will not be very happy.

Earlier this summer I sailed a 2-Tonner in 20+ we yanked the pole forward and down about
thirty times over the course of the day (2 15 mile bouy races). We were a pick-up crew
but most knew the ropes and by the end of it we were getting pretty good at it (and also
getting tired). It is not like sailing a Lightning (a 19' centerboard dinghy) but the
basics are the same.

So, how does all this tie in to your babbling about hull shape, or have you given that
up as one of your more transparent bluffs?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King