LDC Racing Sailboats RS200 Owner's Manual - page 13
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eased or in strong winds. Up until the wind strength when you are effectively
overpowered all of the time use no cunningham tension at all, basically sail on
the mainsheet constantly adjusting the te nsion to keep the upper part of the
mainsail correctly sheeted. Use the upper leach telltale to help you determine
this. Beware of under sheeting the mainsail, from experience many people,
even experienced hands, who are new to fully battened mainsails tend to
under sheet the sail with a consequent loss in pointing ability. The
combination of large upper roach and modified aerodynamics mean that
considerably more tension and less twist is required for the optimum
performance. Obviously it is still possible to overdo it, but be prepared for the
best performance to be when the upper leach telltale spends more of its time
collapsed than flying.
As you start to become overpowered, especially in gusty conditions, parry the
gust by luffing slightly and easing the mainsheet
for a moment. If the gusts are
particularly viscous or prolonged you may set the kicker so that it is very
lightly tensioned when the sail is sheeted fully in and comes under load as the
main is eased. This further helps to bend the mast and improves the
responsiveness to the gusts.
As the wind increases further to the point where you are almost continuously
having to ease power start to pull some tension on the cunningham control,
bearing in mind that you should always aim to be slightly overpowe red rather
than under powered. “Rig for the lulls and not for the gusts”.
You will find that the cunningham is much more effective in de-powering the
fully battened sail than it is in a conventional soft sail. Use just sufficient
kicking strap tension to maintain the pointing required. Ultimately you may end
up with full cunningham and considerable kicking strap tension, by now it will
be very windy indeed! Don’t forget to ease some kicker before you bear away
or you will put unfair loads on the lower mast. If things deteriorate to survival
conditions you will probably find extra super cunningham tension and virtually
no kicking strap tension to be the easiest set up to control.
Off wind
Ease the cunningham away completely. Adjust the kicking strap to the best
setting. Due to the unsupported deck stepped mast, this will have to be a
compromise between reducing twist and over bending the lower mast.
If overpowered on a tight reach with the spinnaker set remember to ease the
kicker to allow the upper sail to twist open and spill wind. If trying to survive or
just lay the mark on such a leg don’t forget the cunningham can be used to
further flatten and de-power the main.
Use of the outhaul will normally be restricted to maximising power on two sail
reaches.
Setting the spinnaker and operating the Sprit
To hoist the spinnaker in reaching mode - ensure the check line knot is clear
of the “V” notch alongside the halyard cleat and pull on the spinnaker halyard
until the sprit is fully extended and the halyard is hoisted to hounds height (the
tweeker line should be