Mizzen adjustments for sailing close-hauled and other musings

[Eddie Offermann]

I'm doing a fairly significant sail in a few weeks - nothing monumental, but the first full day trip to another port with the new girl since I'm finally going to be moving SoNice from Long Beach up to Marina Del Rey. It's on a set date that unless there's some really catastrophic weather that weekend, it will be happening no matter what the weather is: so I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row for any condition.

 

Mostly, because this is Southern California, I'm most concerned about light winds - I don't want to motor up to MDR - and it's a pretty long sail.

 

I'm still new to this ketch sailing thing and I've been going through SoNice's sail inventory and working out how best to optimize and adjusting the rigging to suit where I naturally expect to find things, and sorting out what I might want to be able to do and making sure that the rigging and hardware is available to do it.

 

First, from the title of this entry, I'm curious about the running rigging on other Newporters mizzens. It looks like I probably have the original setup - a block and tackle mounted center aft, rigged to run the line forward along the boom to the mast and down. It seems like it would be handy to have a traveller - so that the mizzen could be pulled to center line or past for balancing, especially when sailing close hauled.

 

How have other people either used my current setup or modified it? Mostly, I'm interested in any tweaks to what I have that might help, but rigging & hardware changes are welcome as well: they just won't happen in the next couple weeks.

[Hans Petrie]

I have sailed my Newporter from Long Beach (San Pedro anchorage actually) to Santa Monica before and I don't recall it being a very long sail at all.  The winds can be very light in that area which is problematic for Newporters as they can be very slow in light winds.  I use my main and mizzen without a traveler.  On downwind runs I rig a preventer down to the rail to keep the boom from "slap jibing" unexpectedly.  I do this on both the main and the mizzen boom.  For light air runs uphill you are going to want a really big jib.  I use a 150 (as measure from the main mast) which feels giant.  I keep the staysail raised but pulled in tight so it doesn't actually contribute to sailing - it is there just for tacking so the big jib doesn't get hung up on the staysail wire.  The staysail helps it suck through the slot between the forestay and baby stay nicely.  Also, it is nice to have up when the big jib comes down because it must come down as the wind picks up.  I find it very dangerous to handle the giant jib in moderate winds.  In moderate winds I use a smaller jib hoisted really high up.

 

BTW - the preventer setup can also be used like a traveller to keep the boom more to center if desired.  I have found that this isn't really necessary.  I seem to get almost all my power out of the jibs.  In fact with main and mizzen the boat really cannot be sailed.  You have to run a jib of some kind. 

 

In heavy wind such as in San Francisco bay I run the main and the staysail and that is enough to go rail under on a reach.  For downwind sailing in moderate weather I usually take down the mizzen as it makes the boat want to broach and turn up into the wind with way too much weather helm.  On light air days you need every sail though to keep the Newporter moving.  For downwind on light air days use the Spinnaker.  I once sailed all the way from Astoria to Portland up the Columbia river on Spinnaker alone.  I don't use a spinnaker pole.  Just let it drift out there in front of the bowsprit.  I never use the spinnaker though when I'm single handing as it's just so easy to start shrimping with it.  A chute scoop would be a nice toy I may look into some day.

[Eddie Offermann]

I'm starting from down in Alamitos Bay, so a little bit farther down and with more of a (most likely) upwind sail starting out. I'm estimating about 9 hours, though I think that could easily go 3 hours in either direction.

 

We've had *great* wind recently, most days, so there's a decent chance that with an early morning departure, we could be pulling in by early afternoon which I'd be pretty happy about.

 

Mostly I'm concerned about light winds - and that tip about keeping the staysail tied back tight when not in use to help the jib suck through when tacking is a great tip. Mine's on a furler which of course has its plusses and minuses but I like being able to trim my jib.

 

I haven't done enough with my Newporter to have 'habits' with it yet, but I *always* tie off a preventer on my other boat - they're great for peace of mind since I spend a lot of time on autopilot just enjoying the scenery and it's nice to know the boom is tied back. I'll plan out lines to use for that here as well.

 

I'd love a chutescoop. While I may have to make some concessions in this regard to get the full sailing benefits of this lovely ketch, I am an avid solo sailor - anything and everything I can do to make a boat easier to handle singlehanded is valuable to me. Even when I'm not alone, it's nice to know that most things can easily be done by one person.

 

Thanks for your thoughts!