Hello Bill,
Need your help big time. The last two regattas that Kevin and I have sailed the ARC 22 have been in moderately heavy winds. 18-20 mph and steady. The first race in Ft. Walton, we trashed our jib and this past week end (2 days of sailing) we could have done the same, except we had it reinforced by Sabre in between the regattas. The problem is that when we are going upwind in these heavier than normal winds and chop, the mast rotates to 90 degrees, and the spreader gets into the leech of the jib. The jib gets hung on the spreader. The movement of the boat and mast oscillating with the seas and wind cause it to constantly hit the jib's leech and get stuck preventing the sail to lay "flat" and the way it supposed to be. I did not have a camera on board or I would have really liked to have sent you a photo. We have the mainsheet blocks hooked on the clew plate's hole farthest inboard (toward the mast) to try and reduce the mast rotation, but this is very little help as far as remedying the problem. We have a lot of downhaul on the sail to try and flatten it in the heavier winds. This mast is a new mast that we bought last year, and the spreader is higher than our previous mast. This may not be the reason, but it may be why we didn't have the problem in the past. In lighter winds, we do not seem to have this problem. I know that you don't want to hear the "R" word, but in this case we sure could use a de-rotator or a limiter. I personally do not want a mast rotator on the boat, because half the time you forget to release it and that causes more problems, and we really enjoy having the boat the way it is with one less thing to worry about. Plus the clean deck is a big plus for the boat with two big guys bouncing around on it.
Need your input. We're willing to try just about anything to get rid of this problem.
Please advise.
Thanks ahead of time for your help.
ARC 22 Jib Problems -- Need your help Bill Roberts
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ARC 22 Jib Problems -- Need your help Bill Roberts
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Battens: From my persepective that would be the problem
Don,
You need the battens...
Without the battens the leech of the jib is "Hooked" back into the mainsail & spreaders which isn't helping the performance of the boat. In a jib with battens the leech will be roughly 4-6" away from the spreader tip when the mast has typical rotation and the jib is trimmed properly.
I sailed with Craig on his 22 last month and the jib never touched the spreaders except for maybe a brief "brush" when tacking. Periodically I also found it might be touching right after a tack, but then I also found that I had over-sheeted it for the conditions.
On your rotation issue, how tight are your side-stays when the boat is just sitting on the beach with no sails up? If the rig is "loose" and you feel the mast is rotating too much you could always tighten the sidestays a bit to limit the mast rotation. Just don't over-do-it, because the mast may not want to rotate smoothly when you get on the water. As a rule of thumb, you should be able to easily close the side-stay lever with both hands. No need to "stand" on it, that is just overtightening and could cause rig damage.
Hope this helps...
(edited 8/10/04 7:30cst)
You need the battens...
Without the battens the leech of the jib is "Hooked" back into the mainsail & spreaders which isn't helping the performance of the boat. In a jib with battens the leech will be roughly 4-6" away from the spreader tip when the mast has typical rotation and the jib is trimmed properly.
I sailed with Craig on his 22 last month and the jib never touched the spreaders except for maybe a brief "brush" when tacking. Periodically I also found it might be touching right after a tack, but then I also found that I had over-sheeted it for the conditions.
On your rotation issue, how tight are your side-stays when the boat is just sitting on the beach with no sails up? If the rig is "loose" and you feel the mast is rotating too much you could always tighten the sidestays a bit to limit the mast rotation. Just don't over-do-it, because the mast may not want to rotate smoothly when you get on the water. As a rule of thumb, you should be able to easily close the side-stay lever with both hands. No need to "stand" on it, that is just overtightening and could cause rig damage.
Hope this helps...
(edited 8/10/04 7:30cst)