The answer is YES, it worked well on long tacks as I needed to drag it to windward of the centre line of the yacht. It probably gave the yacht an extra 1-2 deg. upwind.
In short course races it was left to the centre point.
'Centre sheeting' v 'end of boom sheeting' also has an effect of boom angle, end sheeting gets the boom closer to the centre line of the yacht... But you need to deal with a lot more sheet rope. End sheeting also works well with run / push starts.
Centre sheeting seems to be the most used these days.
I have a hunch that a traveler may help one to gain a few degrees downwind as well based off sailing my solid wing rigs.
OK! So I will ask the question.. What is a Traveler and if anyone says some one going from point A to point B or a Gipsy etc. I am going to come to and annihilate them. OK??
Ron
Ta! Gizmo,
[}:)]Like I need to have extra stuff to control and go faster?? Occum's Razor has managed to scare the "Bejesus outa" me already and it didn't have a Traveler fitted. Like it was said earlier, rear Sheeting gives you a whole lot of extra rope to control with out fitting more to complicate your life more..
Ron
have often contemplated using a traveler system with the uncut windsurfer sail and standard wishbone boom setup to get rig closer to center or past., feel there is tons of performance to be found without having to modify anything. from what i have read an iceflyer acheives very significant speed but may not point as high as a cl5 or mini. might this be overcome with a simple traveler system, yes? recently there have been statements about landyachts applying significantly more downhaul than a standard windsurfer setup, could someone explain how that is possible? most ws sail modifications take some luff curve out suggesting less downhaul is applied to set shape with mast. is the modded sail fuller than a properly downhauled, outhauled standard windsurfer sail?
Those are my thoughts as well OM, Seems to me that Wind Surfers have a hell of a lot more curvature in their masts and can bust then easily in hot weather.. So how the hell would they survive out on Salt Flats and Deserts??
Ron
The discussion on sailboards sails now has its own thread...
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Sail-making/Sailboard-Sails/
Most travelers I've seen have a purchase system on them . This one doesn't appear to have one. Is it hard to pull to windward when sheeted in?
Did you use the full length of the traveler?
Yep could do that... But in those wind speeds you would just be hanging on for dear life the traveler would be the last thing you would be interested in. Pinching a bit higher into wind would be easier.
I'm also assuming the course you would be sailing would have legs no longer than 1km, very long course legs where you have time to adjust and play might be ok.
When you tack or Jybe with a traveler it wacks over real hard in strong winds, and if it was in a centre sheet system you could be singing saprano easily....