In article ,
Dave wrote:
On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:22:54 -0500, lid (Jonathan Ganz)
said:
That's consistent with what I've experienced. I generally end up taking a
second reef in the main before rolling any of the 150 in.
Doesn't that give you a fairly unbalanced helm? That's a lot of CE forward.
Not really. With an outboard rudder, the boat has a bit of weather helm when
seriously heeled. Reefing the main gets it back on its feet with a fairly
balanced helm.
I've never sailed a boat this size with an outboard rudder.
Is that what's doing it (or preventing it)? I would think that most boats
when seriously heeled have weather helm.
I was out today in 20 kts with 25 gusts. My boat is fairly well balanced and
takes minimal effort. It's a masthead rig. We sailed with a small working jib
and one reef in the main. She would heel, give some slight weather helm, start
to round up, then correct and get back in the groove without helm intervention
(or at least not much.. two finger control).