[C320-list] Steering Friction

[Ferris Wills]

Hi Dennis,

I sail often in high winds (sf bay you can find 20+ nearly every summer day), and I can’t imagine doing that comfortably without using the traveler. The PO had line slots sewn into the dodger to give access to those funky traveler cams - not ideal, but it works. You might want to consider doing that.

Moving the traveler down wind is one of my first moves, and I even do it with my first (and sometimes second) reef set. 

I have a 110% jib and that is often reefed as well. I find the boat will maintain a nice light helm in 25 knots if the trim is good.

Ferris Wills
(Argo, #505)


Typos by iPhone

> On Oct 19, 2023, at 9:54 AM, Dennis Cookson via C320-list <c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello Jack,
> 
> Thanks indeed for the helpful tips and observations below. Certainly no offence taken by me as it’s always useful to hear what other 320 owners have found useful and you are obviously doing a lot of things well in terms of sail trim and balance. I can see that I need to pay more attention to flattening the main in stronger winds. As mentioned I would typically have set a reef in such conditions, which would ensure that the outhaul is well tensioned but I tend to ignore the traveler, which is awkward to use on my boat due to the cam cleats fitted forward of the spray hood. I can’t release them without going around the hood each time.
> 
> I suspect that I may be over-reefing the genoa too, which would reduce lee helm and so increase weather helm. My genoa is marked with indicative reefing points for first and second stage reefing but I suspect that they don’t really mean much, and don’t match up with the two reefing positions for the main. 
> 
> One question: you refer to your headsail as a jib - do you mean that it is actually a relatively small sail, ie not overlapping the mast? That puzzles me as it would tend to result in increased weather helm under full main sail, would it not?   I believe that my standard headsail is a 135% genoa which together with an unreefed main would surely result in less weather helm than a non-overlapping jib?
> 
> I agree with you that the 320 is a great boat. I just need to understand it better so I can handle it optimally under the conditions I find myself sailing in!   
> 
> Regards,
> Dennis Cookson
> Catalina 0577, 1999
> 
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>