Dart 15 Forums

Fred wrote:

I was browsing the Shanklin web site and I made a fantastic discovery. Pictures of Geoff Howlett & Erling Holmberg and THEY ARE BOTH WEARING TIES.
What is the world coming too?
HGave a look for yourself:
http://www.shanklin-sailing-club.co.uk/
PS I would steer clear of Tim Benton wielding the knife.

Colin replied:

Can anyone help me out ?
My jib Fairleads are on sliding tracks , but when sprinting i am not sure where to set them and when to move them forwards or backwards in different weather conditions .

Dartful Codger 3 replied:

Hi Colin
The simple advice is that you move the fairlead forward in lighter weather, and progressively back in heavier weather.
The theory here is that when moved forward, the angle of the jib-sheet between clew and fairlead is pointing slightly more inboard, and the length of jib-sheet between these two points will therefore be shorter. This results in the jib angle narrowing when pulled in tight, which should allow you to point a little higher, in the same way that pulling in the main has when you are beating .
The problem becomes more complex when the wind strength increases, because the jib should also make the main more efficient by speeding up the airflow and direction across the leeward side of the mainsail, or through 'the slot' as it is normally referred to. What happens if the wind picks up is that the 'slot' becomes too small to allow all the air to flow through smoothly, and so 'backwinds' the main, i.e. the luff of the mainsail is blown towards you and will flap uncontrollably until the gust has passed, or you let off the jib to widen the slot again and thus allow a greater volume of air to pass without excessive restriction.
So when this condition is experienced continually, this would be the time to move the fairleads progressively aft, thereby preventing the leach of the jib from being pulled too far inboard when pulled on hard and closing the slot .
Thus trial and error will slowly tell you the ideal settings to use, and it is often a good idea to put some marking strips alongside the tracking - say numbered 1 - 10 to help you remember the best position for a given wind strength. It must also be assumed that the tracking has been put on in the right place initially, since this is not a standard fitting, but would probably have been placed so that the original static loop fitting would have been located in the middle of the tracking, to extend the adjustment equally for'ard or aft.
Apologies if that seems to over-complicate matters, but if so, simply read my opening sentence .
Happy sailing Paul Smith 1961 (Beaver S.C.)