Abominations

Abominations

This abomination of a sail plan, ugly and eye sore though it may be, has been doing the trick for the last 14 or so hours.

I kept the pole up when furling the Solent knowing I would need it off and on as the wind backed and veered. Reaching at angles greater than 120 apparent means a jib cannot be poled out. In those instances, the main overpowers the windvane and steering effort goes through the roof.

The amount of weather helm generated is a mystery to me. I’ve tried everything that should work with no improvement whatsoever. I have John Letcher’s superlative ‘Self-Steering for Sailing Craft’ aboard and it struck me that I could devise a steering sail of sorts using the pole and Solent.

Now, when weather helm starts to round us up, the steering sail assists the windvane is driving us back in course. Steering effort is reduced and steering efficiency, as in how straight a course we are steering, improves.

It’s not perfect, but at least better. I’m just thankful no one else with a sailboat is out here to see it!.

Follow my tracks in real-time:
https://bit.ly/svseaburban