Speed Tips from Jud Smith

In spite of races being cancelled due to a lack of wind, Jud Smith treated the fleet to a comprehensive de-brief. Thank you to Jud and to JP Zonnenberg for lending out his inflatable as an observation platform. Some of Jud’s observations included:

In General

• Establish a loose, medium and tight setting for forestay, uppers, jib cars
• Tighten everything in a breeze

Rig

• Forestay – Some are too tight, very few are too loose
• Loosen lowers – Keep them loose and adjust depending on the conditions. Sight the mast and adjust for some, but not too much, side sag.
• Pre-bend – Mast should have 1″-1.5″ of prebend
• Jumpers are recommended in all but light conditions
• Backstay should never be flopping around. If you feel the need to back it off all the way, keep it just barely snug to keep the rig from shaking around.
• Center the rig in the boat

Sail Trim

• Jib car should have a max of 2″ of range fore and aft
• Many sailors were on the edge of sailing with their cars too far forward, with too much depth in the jib. Car further aft and tighter sheet were recommended.
• Point mode – Jib car aft, tight jib sheet; high traveler, tight mainsheet

Pictures from the day can be found here: https://r19fleet5.org/2014/08/tuning-pictures-jud/