Pivoting Marine Compass
July 22nd, 2010 | 
Author: Pivoting Marine Compass
If you want to really understand balance on a small sailboat, practice steering her with only the sails--without using the sailboat wheel or tiller. You'll learn how to sail a boat better and become a more confident, skilled sailing skipper.
Olympian Steve Colgate tells a story about a race across the Atlantic ocean on a large sailing sloop. The rudder broke when they were still more than 1000 miles from the closest port. There they were, stuck out in the ocean with no rudder, and no spare parts to replace it.
So they used just the mainsail and Genoa to steer the boat. They were able to sail an accurate course day and night for more than a week, using just the boat sails. If they can do it--so can you! Follow these steps to learn one of sailing's best kept secrets.
The secret of the giant hand
Think of a wind vane on top of a house or barn. On one side you have the shaft and arrow. On the other side there's a figure of a rooster, ship, or some other type of figurine. When the wind blows, the arrow points into the wind. The larger surface area of the figurine stays farther away from the wind. This explains why your small sailboat always tries to head toward the wind with her bow (called weather helm).
Think of your small sailboat bow as the wind vane shaft and arrow. The mainsail, which has the most area above the water, represents the wind vane figurine. Now, try this experiment.
Get onto a beating or reaching point of sail. Release your grip from the sailboat tiller or wheel. What do you notice happens? The wind--like a "giant hand"--presses onto the larger surface area of your mainsail. This causes your small sailboat to pivot her bow (shaft and arrow) toward the wind. With this knowledge, you will be able to balance a small cruising or racing sailboat to steer herself with just her boat sails.
Use balance to sail without a rudder
You can sail in a straight line without a rudder by keeping one sail full and allowing the other sail to flutter (luff). The wind's giant hand will press more on the fuller of the two sails.
To sail closer to the wind, keep the mainsail fuller. To sail farther away from the wind, keep the headsail fuller. In heavy weather, you could achieve this by reefing or furling your sails. Follow these five easy steps to success.
1. Place the sailboat wheel in the center (amidships) and lock it in place. If you have a sailboat tiller, lash it amidships so that it doesn't move.
2. Find an object in the distance to steer toward. Choose an object at least 45 degrees off of the true wind direction.
3. Set the mainsail and headsail for that point of sail, just like you would if you still had rudder response. You will change this in step 4, but this is a starting point.
4. Steer the boat straight. If you need to fall off the wind, sheet the headsail flat and allow the mainsail to luff (flutter) a bit. If you need to head up toward the wind, sheet in on the mainsail and allow the headsail to luff.
5. Experiment with these settings until you are able to hold a straight course toward the object for three minutes or more.
These five steps will teach you how to sail a boat better using the power of balance. Practice maneuvers like this each time you sail to boost your sailing skipper skills to the next level and beyond.
Captain John Jamieson shows sailing skippers how to sail better than ever before! Get his popular free report "Ten Top Boat Safety Checks for Cruising Boat Skippers" at http://www.skippertips.com/public/242.cfm
John offers free reports, videos, tip-of-the-week, and a free ezine with subscription ===> http://www.skippertips.com
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