As the breeze comes up, we flatten the main even more, move the jib leads back and stop inhauling. The result is that both sails are flattened slightly, and I can trim back in a little, keeping the main closer to centerline. On the flip side, if we have perfect power and the breeze builds, I say, “Easing main, overpowered.” Erik reduces inhaul, flattening the jib, and Stephanie adds vang and cunningham to flatten the main. At the same time, our other crew, Stephanie Roble, adjusts the vang and cunningham to further increase power by making the main fuller. If the wind lightens more, I say, “Searching for power.” This means it’s time to adjust controls-outhaul off, and more inhaul on the jib to create more depth and power in both sails.
Then, if a lull comes and I have to trim harder to get more power, I say, “Two-blocked, just OK.” For example, I say, “Perfect power.” That lets him know I am trimmed in to the sweet spot, heel angle is good and everything feels right. On the Melges 20, I communicate power to the jib trimmer, Erik Shampain. I’ve found the best way to match your sails is to talk in terms of power, and the main trimmer or the helmsman usually make that call. On the Melges 20 Samba Pa Ti, note how the leeches are matched and the slot between the sails remains open. To do that, you have must have really good communication. For example, he would say, “Ease your jib a quarter inch and trim in the main half an inch.” And after these small changes, voila! Off we went, which hammered home the importance of not only trimming the sails very precisely but also having the leeches match and then trimming them together when we make changes. Our coach, James Lyne, continually reinforced this fundamental. Matching your sails keeps the slot a similar distance apart from top to bottom. Fast boats have similar depth in the main and jib as well as similar twist profiles.Įven if conditions don’t dictate flat sails, flat sails trimmed well and together will still be faster than mismatched sails. Or it might be flatter or fuller than the other. Typically, on slow boats, one sail will be much looser or tighter than the other. If a team’s sail plan looks out of whack from behind, you can be sure they’re going slow. Granted, hiking and steering were variables, but it became really apparent how important it was to make sure the jib and main were matching each other with simple adjustments of the sheets.Ī coach watching from behind in a powerboat can easily see if the sails are well-matched. Yet, we often went different speeds, even when those settings were identical. We had marks on all of our important settings, and while tuning we talked to each on the VHF radio sharing our settings. The hulls were identical, as were masts and sails.
In the Wildman and Samba Pa Ti two-boat Melges 20 program, we spent many hours on the water tuning with each other.
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