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Trimming the main and jib to 100% efficiency can be a daunting task to a beginner sailor or one's who are at the intermediate level because the wind speed and direction is never constant. Most sailors just "set & forget"  the sails any way they can. If you don't believe me just take a look at the sails on sailboats that are sailing in any harbor in the world on any weekend.

When I returned to sailing after many years in power boats, sail trim was a major task -- there were just too many sail trim controls on the main and jib to deal with. My solution was to develop a chart for my own use. One day, on a Catalina owners forum, I answered a sail trim question and casually mentioned I had developed a sail trim chart. Over a 2  week period I received 75 requests for the chart. Unfortuately, the chart was not in saleable condition -- it had arrows and stuff all over the place and only I could read it. I organized it and a friend computerized it. Later, I had it produced professionally. I've sold over 19,000 charts worldwide.

The chart lists all the sail trim controls for the main and jib and provides the setting for each point of sail and wind condition. It explains telltail settings and provided the trim sequence for the main and jib and also displays solutins and corrective actions. After using the chart some sailors suggested I write a book on the subject. They claimed the chart told them WHAT to do but they wanted to know WHY they were making a particular sail trim adjustment.

To see the SAIL TRM CHART and it's companion the SAIL TRIM USERS GUIDE visit my web site at www.sailtrimproducts.com.

Don Guillette
www.sailtrimproducts.com
www.sailboatowners.com (sail trim forum)
yankee3223@juno.com       

Comments

  1. Stan McCallJanuary 22, 2022 at 10:33 AM

    In the book pg 49 it says "practice tacking and note the heading on each tack. Add the two together and divide by two to obtain the wind direction"
    How does knowing the wind direction determine how you are going to run the race?

    ReplyDelete

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