IOMICA Forum

Hi All IOM Sailers
it may be a silly question to the experienced among you but as i am
still attemting a steep learning curve please could you help,
When goin from close hauled to a reach or reach to run sometimes
the bow digs in is there any top tip to remady this complaint
Or could it be my poor helming
Yours hopfully Roger

Hey roger,
It would probably help to know what hull you are using. Some hulls will have a tendency to do this more easily then others.

The first thing you need to do though, skipper wise, is to stay off the rudder till the boat picks up speed. If your boat is digging in and rounding up, try not correcting this with the rudder until the boat picks up momentum. When you try and turn the rudder hard over to correct the ‘broaching’, you will just be making it worse. It takes a very sensitive rudder thumb when sailing downwind in heavy air.

A few things to remember: The slower your boat is going, the stronger the apparent wind, thus pushing the bow down. Make sure your sails are sheeting out just slightly ahead of the turn, but not luffing so much that you lose speed. You can help this by making sure your sheeting angles are allowing the main go go out quickly (thanks Lester and his spreadsheets). Greg is right, some hulls do this much easier than others. If it is your own design, and you can't control it, you can add either freeboard or a bit more fullness up front. Some have used the flared bow to success. Lastly, once you are on the downwind run, and are pressed hard, you can do two things; sail by the lee in a heavy puff to blanket the jib. A tougher trick is to sheet in a bit, but you must be sure to keep the wind dead behind you, or else you will broach. I only do this if I can't go by the lee (another boat, or close to the mark). If you can get good at these boathandling techniques, and your boat is still uncontrollable, then I would start making some design changes to better suit your style.

Thanks for your help Steve and Greg the yacht in question is a home built
Box Kite from a Grahame Bantock Plan I will attempt to put your
recomendations into practice Regards Roger