Dart 15 Forums

Hello to all ....can anyone offer me advice on how to come about successfully in my catamaran?

After years of sailing Fireballs and stuff like that I'm trying my hand at cats and so far found the sailing brilliant...far exeeding my expectations for speed even after the Fireball....


However I'm really stuggleing on one aspect and have been caught out several times.When coming about to change tack...the boat simply stops dead in the water and on a few occassions has actually gone in the backwards direction on me and I have had to reverse the tiller and ended up doing a three point turn !

I have tried a few things,one of them is backing the jib to steer it round.....seems a bit drastic....is this normal practice with catamarans?


any advice would be most welcome as I cant gybe all my turns !


Richard

Hi Stormy,
None of my advice is based on Dart15 sailing as I've still not wetted mine yet, but I've sailed Dart16s a fair bit and certainly on these you need to use a backed jib to get around sometimes - it's the generally accepted method.
Other things: make sure you've got some speed on - no cat likes to tack slowly. Sometimes moving right to the back of the tramp helps as it lifts the bows a bit and lets the boat turn on its skegs easier.

Hi,

You need to push the tiller over more gradually than in a dinghy and also move accross more slowly this will keep the speed up and allow the boat to drive through the eye of the wind. Ensure you have some speed up prior to tacking. If you are on the sea and in waves makre sure you don't tack into a wave since it will stop you dead.

The slow speed of tacking is why cats don't follow the same route up-wind as dinghies normally trying to sail to the lay line and then doing a tack to lay the windward mark in one.

Using a backed jib is also a good means to ensure a tack is successful when sailing in sport mode.

If you do fluff a tack the 3-point turn is normal practice.

Martin S.

Richard

Try not to back the jib if you can, as although it gets you round it also stops your forwards movement.

Make sure you are tight on the wind, turn into the tack smoothly, stay on the windward side over the deepest part of the skeg until the sail is moving across.

Remember it's not a monohull so you're not going to capsize by being on the leeward side for a second or 2 longer than in a monohull.

Come to some TTs & watch what everyone else does, there are different patend methods & I'm sure you will find one to work for you.

Sailing on a small puddle tends to necessitate getting better at tacking!

There are a few things, most have already been said:
1. Need to be going fast, as a lot of speed is lost when trying to turn.
2. Make sure you are sheeted in and close hauled, tacking from reach to reach is more difficult, as more speed it lost.
3. Smoothly push the tiller away, as jerky movements slow the boat. Keep it pushed over throughout the tack, so make sure you don't accidently straighten up mid-tack.
4. Only release the 'old' jib sheet when you here the battens on the main pop across.

One common complaint is getting stuck in irons when the tack stalls (3 point turn with rudders reversed is the normal cure).

Others have mentioned close hauled, speed and smooth rudder action.

One key thing covered in the training weekends I have found more than anything else to have near consigned failed tacks to Room 101.

That is - quickly uncleat the mainsheet, ease it about 12-18 inches and recleat it as you move across the boat. It takes some practice to do smoothly along with transferring the tiller whilst keeping the rudders over and with the traveller coming across - but well worthwhile.

This is because you had been sailing close hauled with a near flat sail. As you come out of the eye of the wind on the tack unless you have given the sail some shape back it will not 'collect' the wind but will allow it to blow across (and often start you sailing backwards).

The art is push the tiller away with the rearward hand and as the boat comes head to wind lean in and quickly ease the main and recleat it with the forward hand as you turn aft to do the tiller transfer - making sure you keep the steady pressure on the tiller (to keep the rudders at about 45degrees during the turn).

Steve

Hi, As said by many on the thread, tacking cats is different from dinghies. Here at the Windsport "Cat Clinic" training centre we have three levels,:- 1) 100% tacking success - that involves backing the jib and a few other pointers
2) Tacking techniques for fast acceleration out of the tack( race style)
3) Tacking from the wire to the wire
All three have added elements, but the first one to master has to be the 100% tacking success. For first time cat sailors we always teach keep rudders turning and jib a back until mainsail battens have popped to new side. We add a few other things depending on the conditions etc.
Brian Windsport