Going about

Submitted by joeb on Mon, 09/02/2013 - 22:12

Forums:

I launched my mirror this year after about 18 months worth of lunchtimes spent repairing it. I am quite an inexperienced sailor, being more of a dabbler really but am finding the Mirror to be a lovely boat to sail.
However one problem that I have is getting the boat to go about from one tack to the other, it will do it well enough in very light winds but in anything else it could take 6 or 7 attempts with different combinations of dagger board and speed. I have tried releasing the jib sheets early and late in the manoeuvre but nothing seems to help. any advice?

PuffinInTegel's picture

PuffinInTegel

Mon, 09/02/2013 - 23:12

Hello Joe,
glad to see you've managed to "climb aboard" the forum after all.
Perhaps you're pulling the rudder over too far, which stalls the boat. If you do get caught in irons and the boat goes backwards, you simply have to push the tiller over in the opposite direction and it will turn the bow through the wind (one often HAS TO do this on some Hobie cats with fully-battened mainsails).
Normally a Mirror should still go dead into the wind for a few yards in anything less than a force 4, giving you a bit of extra windward way and enough time to go about.
See YouTube "Armada session 1 clip 6" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGGFmUNac1s), for instance, for an example of a tack. Of course two people in the boat have more weight and therefore more momentum, so the boat doesn't slow down as much as when you are single-handed.
Cheers
Gernot
BTW there are quite a few clips of training sessions worth watching on YouTube to get tips on sailing techniques ;-{)

joeb

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 21:20

Thanks Gernot, it's useful to know how to get going again, I forgot to mention that I don't have any battens in the sail yet, would that make a difference?

62816inBerlin's picture

62816inBerlin

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 10:45

The battens keep the cuved part (the roach) of the leech in shape, without them you have much less forward drive (or none at all) going upwind.
They're easy to make - get some knot-free flexible wood and plane it down to about 3 mm or cut them out of thin plywood, sand the the edges to allow them to slide into the pockets smoothly. The lengths should be so that they fit snugly and dont fall out when the sail flaps.
I have been sailing with homemade battens wooden battens for years. The advantage is that they float if they are dropped overboard by accident.
My new mainsail from Trident came with plastic battens, which dont't float (I believe - haven't tried it).
Cheers,
Gernot
P.S. have you looked at some of those clips? Hote how the boat continues going into the wind as the crew changes sides and how the helmsman does not turn the rudder by more than 45° at any time.

joeb

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 13:56

Hi Gernot,

Thanks for that, I was wondering if I could make the batteny mysef or if I needed to but them, I had a look at that video clip and yes it does go about with very little fuss. I will make the battens and see how it handles then.

joeb

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 14:03

I have just cut a 5 inck circular hole in my dect for an inspection hatch in exactly the wrong place and have cut one of the deck support/stiffners. I have just stopped cursing and banging my head off the wall and now need to decide what to do about it. I have thought of epoxing the cut out back in then covering the side of the deck in marine ply epoxied and taped in place or possibly bridging the broken stiffner and fitting the hatch in that place anyway, I have experimented a bit and I can still get my hand into the compartment even with a bridging piece fitted. Anyone got any ideas? and when I go to fit the other hatches in the side panels and rear compartment will I encounter the same problems?

sail_and_oar's picture

sail_and_oar

Fri, 09/06/2013 - 04:02

I faced a similar scenario when I cut a hole in my aft deck for a hatch. There is a wooden batten which runs accross the boat to support the deck roughly halfway between the transom and the back of the cockpit well. You may spot a row of nail heads here. The foredeck should also have similar battens.

Cliff

joeb

Fri, 09/06/2013 - 11:35

Hi Cliff,

Thats sounds fairly serious, how did you fix it?

sail_and_oar's picture

sail_and_oar

Fri, 09/06/2013 - 16:48

I saw the position of the deck beam before I had cut through it but had to change the position of the hatch.

Cliff

Wild Idea

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 22:38

If you tap along the deck panels with a knuckle, you can tell where the batons are by the change in resonance.