Excellent generalities and useful to a newbie sailor but they don't
have anything to do with what was talking about.

I was actually focusing on the idea of knowing your boat and how it
will behave in different conditions. I used to amuse people by close
reaching Solings backwards in Boston Harbor so I know there are a lot
of ways to skin a cat when it comes to making a boat do what you want.
It was a surprise to me though how differently my boat behaves under
main alone when slowing down from the speed of the full sail plan or
motor sailing with the main only and when working up to speed from a
near stop. It's not something I would have wanted to discover in a
narrow channel with the engine out. In open water, I just would have
worn around and jibed to the new course. It's good to go out and
experiment a lot with your boat before you get it into tight spots.

--

Roger Long



"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 07 May 2006 16:39:14 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:

If you let the boat stop, or try to get it going from a stop such as
casting off a mooring, it can't get going fast enough under main
alone
to reach the equilibrium where it will sail itself.

Almost any sloop will sail under main alone if beam reaching or
close
reaching. The trick is to not over trim the sails, and get the boat
to the right angle with the wind. When leaving a mooring, or any
other time when stopped head to wind, it is useful to back the
mainsail to windward by pushing on the boom. With proper rudder
control this will cause the boat to back up and fall off to the
wind.
At that point you should be able to sheet in just to the point where
the sail is full and begin moving forward. If you can build speed
on
a beam reach or close reach, a keel boat should carry enough
momentum
to allow a tack. Don't over trim or try to point too high. Timing
and rudder control are critical.