Crew Position

Submitted by fs5629 on Wed, 11/09/2005 - 16:05
At the Fall 48 I spent a delightful weekend starting fine and finshing poorly. Now there is an advantage of starting in front and finishing in the back in that you get to meet so many new people as they sail by you that you might not otherwise become acquainted with. However it might be nice to actually fun to see the leaders finish from time to time which brings me to my question. CREW POSITION. I'm afraid that I sail my Scot the same way I use to sail my Thistle--with my crew and myself foreward. Perhaps hanging on to a fully extended hiking stick mught not be the best way to go about things. Not being the brightest bulb on the tree it hasn't registered with me yet that in pushing my crew against the side stay he's forward of the hiking rope and the jib cleet angle which mught be a clue as to where he should be. I'm starting to think that as i look up and see the jib and main full, with tell tales streaming back. that I might be burying the bow and destroying any hope of obtaining anything that closely resembles boat speed. So my questoj is this--where in the world should we be sitting while going to windward?
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Comments

We had good speed at the Fall 48 with the single crew sitting co

Submitted by Hot Wheels on Thu, 11/10/2005 - 02:13.
We had good speed at the Fall 48 with the single crew sitting comfortably aft of the jib sheet cleats and the skipper sitting right opposite the main sheet cleat. This leaves room for a 3rd crew, had we had one, to sit between us. Scots don't seem to need the weight forward like most other dinghys. FS 5626

At the last regatta I was, Harry Carpenter rigging and Q&A sessi

Submitted by Claus on Fri, 11/11/2005 - 12:51.
At the last regatta I was, Harry Carpenter rigging and Q&A session. The main points I got from it is to sit as close together in the middle of the boat as possible, sand your bottom, and don't fly the spinnaker the Ben Hur style. I actually do that but only while raising or lowering the spinnaker. Other times the crew flies the spinnaker and we are close together in the center of the boat (centerboard raised up). I was surprised how many people did the Ben Hur stunt all the way down wind. Needless to say that we passed them. Disclaimer: I don't race regularly, so my experience is quite limited.

Claus FS5074 Ames, IA

I got a question to my last post and I opted to post my answer h

Submitted by Claus on Mon, 11/14/2005 - 10:57.
I got a question to my last post and I opted to post my answer here since others might find it useful as well and, most importantly, people can correct me when I'm wrong.
quote:
Quick question about a recent post regarding flying a spinnaker. You said that Harry Carpenter cautioned against flying the spinnaker "Ben Hur" style. What is that, exactly? Sounds like it is standing with the tiller between your legs and with the guy in one hand and the sheet in the other. How should the spinnaker be controlled?
Your description is exactly right. With doing this you are not able to steer well and the weight balance of the boat is off as well. It might also be that you are a wind block/drag by standing up (not sure about this). Since I only have one crew, I, as the skipper, have to hold the guy and sheet while the spinnaker is being hoisted. Once the spinnaker pole has been set the crew takes over the guy and sheet and flies the spinnaker. I just sit in the middle next to the crew in order to keep the boat as flat as possible. When we douse the spinnaker we have to do the same procedure. Other boats have their spinnaker rigging configured better than I do. For one the spinnaker sheets have turning blocks in the back of the boat in such a way that you can control them from nearly any position in the boat. Also the spinnaker halyard goes to the rear of the centerboard trunk, so that the skipper can raise and lower the spinnaker. I'm not sure about the exact procedures of raising and lowering the spinnaker in such a boat as I never sailed in one, but it should be more optimized that what I'm doing.

Claus FS5074 Ames, IA

I gather that you have the crew raising the chute.

Submitted by johnrmcl on Sat, 12/03/2005 - 20:51.
I gather that you have the crew raising the chute. With two on board I suggest other way around. Crew gets pole on and chute ready to go up and prefeeds the chute to the forestay and pushes the pole to the forestay. Crew takes sheet and guy in hand, calls for the skipper to hoist. Skipper, standing with tiller between legs quickly hoists the chute (which is led aft to his position) and crew trims it to fill and slides into postion on windward side while slipping the guy into the hook. Skipper simultaneously sits down and positions weight to keep boat level. Skipper immediately begins to call point of sail and other instructions to crew to facilitate positioning the boat where the skipper wants it. Crew will generally remain to windward in heavier air and when high on the wind. Crew may move to center of boat in lighter air or when dead downwind or by the lee. At times in light air crew may even go to leward to allow skipper to see forward to find mark or evaluate other boats. As much as possible, skipper looks aft to read the wind and keep track of attacking boats. Crew dedicates alomst complete attention to the chute and to tell tales or windex. Chutes know when you are not looking and take advantage of you. If you are sailing three the skipper still does the raising, but forward sets the pole and prefeeds the chute to the forestay, middle calls for the set and trims the chute to fly while forward holds the pole forward to assist the chute in clearing the forestay and then hooks in the guy as the set is complete. Forward move to leward and middle to windward to level the boat (execpt on close reaches or heavy wind where both may need to go to windward. Skipper positions for best visibilty and dircts crew to balance the boat. Forward faces backward to read the wind and call following boats and holds the main out in light winds. Ngulule Customflex #1554

The boat should not be level or dead upright downwind.

Submitted by Hot Wheels on Sun, 12/04/2005 - 22:54.
The boat should not be level or dead upright downwind. Photo of the Egans dead-downwind, winning the '05 NACs, heeled well to windward, to balance the helm, and reduce wetted surface. Both skipper and crew are seated on the weather rail. Note all 3 boats in the photo are heeled to weather. http://www.bhuckaba.net/fssanac/Photos/showimg.php?file=/Day3/DSC04255.JPG

After checking out the pictures, they answered a lot of my quest

Submitted by Corsa on Tue, 12/06/2005 - 02:15.
After checking out the pictures, they answered a lot of my questions about rigging and flying the spinnaker. Some really fantastic pictures!! FS 1385

The current "Scots n' Water" has a good article (by Dan Goldberg

Submitted by jfluard on Tue, 12/06/2005 - 09:30.
The current "Scots n' Water" has a good article (by Dan Goldberg) describing how to rig for spinnaker. If you are not a member of FSSA, join. John

Gregg Fisher has a great section on the North Sails site re flyi

Submitted by johnrmcl on Tue, 12/06/2005 - 09:43.
Gregg Fisher has a great section on the North Sails site re flying the FS spinnaker. http://www.northsailsod.com/class/flyingscot/flyingscot_article.html Also you will notice in the race pics above it is a fairly windy day and the skippers are sitting well aft on the downwind legs. Ngulule Customflex #1554

Another photo dead-downwind, this time from astern.

Submitted by Hot Wheels on Tue, 12/06/2005 - 11:25.
Another photo dead-downwind, this time from astern....all crew on weather rail, spinnaker guy in hand to be pumped once per wave to promote surfing, helm balanced by weather heel. This is Eduardo Cordero [6 time Sunfish world champ] and Paul-Jon Patin who were 2nd last summer at the C of Cs. They have incredible down-wind speed. http://PhotoBoy.smugmug.com/photos/33961273-L.jpg Actually, he is 8-time Sunfish world champ. Paul-Jon has won it as well. Note that the chute halyard is eased off nearly a foot and the single-part mainsheet, which does not drag in in the water as easily and makes trimming the main at mark roundings faster. The sails are made by Doyle.

I noticed that in these discussions about managing the spinnaker

Submitted by chet.ensign on Sat, 12/31/2005 - 17:07.
I noticed that in these discussions about managing the spinnaker, no one mentioned the downhaul. I do not have one rigged on my boat, but I have seen downhauls on others. Should FS's be rigged with a downhaul or does the guy hook achieve the same result. Happy New Year, Chet Ensign FS #4141