[quote=erice]until you get better info, try this
it is usual practice to have a boat that will slowly turn into wind if the rudder is let go. (for safeties sake if you fall off or need to let go of the tiller etc.)
to do this you have the center of pressure on the sails slightly behind the center of balance of the boat
to sail a straight course with the sails set like this you will then need to pull slightly on the rudder
if you remove the jib, the center of pressure on the sail moves further behind the center of balance. so you have to pull MORE on the rudders to make the boat go straight
this is normal
if you are never going to fit a jib and don't want to always be pulling this hard on the rudders you could bring the rake of the mast slightly forward. this will have the effect of moving the center of pressure clsoer to the center of balance and so reducing the pull needed to keep it going straight
but don't rake the mast past vertical or you will get other, bigger, problems<!-- editby --><em>edited by: erice, Aug 31, 2009 - 06:31 AM</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
No HTML tags allowed (except inside [code][/code] tags)
