Tacking with the Admiral

tomchitecture · Post by **tomchitecture** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:09 am

So, yesterday, on my 1990 Mac 26s we went out in 2-7 knot winds for the day. Around 11:00 am, I gave my wife the helm. She didn't want it, but she got it. Her first time on the helm and we are "beating" home in not very much wind. This post is to cover 3 points.

1. Someone on the forum suggested, sailing through the tack, to bring the bow around, backwind the jib and then, while keeping even pressure on the jib, bring it across the boat last. Since my wife was at the helm, I decided to attempt this technique while she was learning that pushing the stick to port makes the boat go to starboard. By the 3rd tack we were in quite a rhythm and the technique not only shaves about 10 seconds off the total time it takes to tack, the boat is being steered more by the sails, there is less of a chance for the rudder to stall the boat in light air, and I felt I stayed a few degrees closer to the wind and didn't have to correct my track as dramatically when finished.

2. Always set yourself up for success. We were going to reverse our roles on the boat. I chose to do it when we didn't have to be anywhere. I chose a day when there was no way the wind would overpower us. And, if we made a mistake nothing catastrophic would happen. We are both more confident and competent, and we both had a blast.

3. It is always good to spread around the experience on the crew. If someone has a heart attack or gets knocked out by the boom in a jibe, the rest of the crew needs to know how to get home. An emergency is no time to learn.

Thank you for the tacking advice. The boat feels a little less like an old pig and a little more like, well, a sailboat. Thank you for the great advice.

Fair winds everyone.

Post by **dlandersson** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:58 am

Nice post.

pokerrick1 · Post by **pokerrick1** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 1:44 pm

Yes, it was a nice post - - - however - - - wouldn't work in our case. Several times I have put her at the helm for the simple task of keeping the boat pointed into the wind (the same direction it is now with the engine on) while I lowered the main - - - and EVERY time the boat has wound up doing a 180! WT !@#$%^&*. EVERY TIME

Rick

Post by **dlandersson** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:54 pm

Is she trying to tell you something? How much insurance and who is the beneficiary?

pokerrick1 wrote:Yes, it was a nice post - - - however - - - wouldn't work in our case. Several times I have put her at the helm for the simple task of keeping the boat pointed into the wind (the same direction it is now with the engine on) while I lowered the main - - - and EVERY time the boat has wound up doing a 180! WT !@#$%^&*. EVERY TIME

Rick

mastreb · Post by **mastreb** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:55 pm

pokerrick1 wrote:Yes, it was a nice post - - - however - - - wouldn't work in our case. Several times I have put her at the helm for the simple task of keeping the boat pointed into the wind (the same direction it is now with the engine on) while I lowered the main - - - and EVERY time the boat has wound up doing a 180! WT !@#$%^&*. EVERY TIME

Rick

My admiral is quite the competent helmswoman and sailor, but she really does not seem to care much about sticking to any particular course

Looking at the GPS breadcrumbs after she's been on watch is like looking at the old cartoon trails of a bee flying.

Post by **dlandersson** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:16 pm

Perhaps she's in "shopping" mode?

mastreb wrote:
pokerrick1 wrote:Yes, it was a nice post - - - however - - - wouldn't work in our case. Several times I have put her at the helm for the simple task of keeping the boat pointed into the wind (the same direction it is now with the engine on) while I lowered the main - - - and EVERY time the boat has wound up doing a 180! WT !@#$%^&*. EVERY TIME

Rick
My admiral is quite the competent helmswoman and sailor, but she really does not seem to care much about sticking to any particular course Looking at the GPS breadcrumbs after she's been on watch is like looking at the old cartoon trails of a bee flying.

pokerrick1 · Post by **pokerrick1** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:16 pm

dlandersson wrote:Is she trying to tell you something? How much insurance and who is the beneficiary?

A LOT and SHE is

Rick

arknoah · Post by **arknoah** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:00 pm

pokerrick1 wrote:Yes, it was a nice post - - - however - - - wouldn't work in our case. Several times I have put her at the helm for the simple task of keeping the boat pointed into the wind (the same direction it is now with the engine on) while I lowered the main - - - and EVERY time the boat has wound up doing a 180! WT !@#$%^&*. EVERY TIME

Rick

I kinda have the same challenge. I'll ask my wife to keep the course on a specific number, say at 135 or whatever. It almost never fails that when I'm finished doing whatever with the sails that we're way off course. This seems to happen for three reasons: first, I may not be communicating clearly enough how to keep the boat on a certain course; second, moving the tiller to steer the boat is just not intuitive to her as it is for me, and third, when she does steer, she tends to oversteer -- just the way my new driver son does with the car.

What I've decided to do is work on my instructions on how to keep a steady course, since that's all I can control, and there's certainly nothing bad or wrong about having to learn not to oversteer, and if it ain't intuitive for her, it just ain't intuitive for her. I only wish I was as intuitive as she is on non-boat things!

Post by **dlandersson** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:34 pm

Does her course look anything like this?

http://scribbledigit.files.wordpress.co ... -woman.jpg

pokerrick1 wrote:
dlandersson wrote:Is she trying to tell you something? How much insurance and who is the beneficiary?
A LOT and SHE is

Rick

Freedom77 · Post by **Freedom77** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:05 am

Had the same deal with my beloved Penny. Do you have any landmarks that you can tell her to point at. This always helped escpecially if you tell your mate there is a shopping mall there

Also if you have a compass tell her to keep on the heading. Otherwise I have no advice accept for experience. Have her take the tiller for a long stretch on open water and she will improve. When we used to go to Catalina I would take a nap and Penny would steer a perfect course. "There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats" Toad, Wind in the Willows. Fair Winds and Full Sails....

pokerrick1 · Post by **pokerrick1** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:36 pm

Freedom77 wrote: "There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats"

I know - - - I used to do a LOT of messing around in my

Rick

bartmac · Post by **bartmac** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 5:07 pm

Whilst I love my admiral... I find anything anything to do with direction puts her in a spin,so much so that our car,truck, motorcycle,bicycle,boat ALL have GPS....saves a lot of arguments.One problem though if she gets seperated from me and my GPS.....!We've had man overboard exercises which entale my hat going overboard and her having to retrieve it,and to that end we've now made all sail controls return to the cockpit...so drop the sails and motor back or sail back...I don't know whether she has enough sailing knowhow to sail back...so lessons are in order OR may be the motor option is the better one!!!One thing though having sailed only tiller boats before the 26X we have now....I still have momentary lapses with wheel being opposite

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