Stop luffing your sails

We had a recent storm day.  40kn in the circle, 22-25kn in the junior area.  I was reminded of an issue I see at the beginning of the season when the wind comes up, and on days where it's blowing snot: people sailing with the sails luffing.

Now, there are only two times your sails should be luffing:

1. When slow sailing and depowering/slowing down

2. During a tack

You could also argue they can luff very temporarily in a gust.  What they shouldn't be doing is luffing constantly/a lot as an attempt to keep the boat flat/from capsizing.  I see a lot of newer sailors going out in high winds and sailing around with the sails luffing, thinking that's successfully handling high winds.  We're going to talk about why it's not, and what you can do instead.

First, why not let the sails luff (flogging in the wind is a better term)?  Quite frankly, it's bad for the sails.  Like, really bad for the sails.  And sails aren't cheap.  The main killers of a sail are 1) flogging, 2) UV damage, and 3) salt.  Salt takes a while on dacron, which is why we don't really tell people they need to rinse their sails (but notice windsurfers always rinse their sails, which are mylar and don't play nearly as nicely with salt).  UV we handle by covering the sails in the yard.  Which leaves flogging.  The early killer of our sails is, by far, flogging/luffing unecessarily.  Whether it be while sailing, or sails being left up at the dock for a long time, luffing is why we go through so many sails.

Secondly, and similarly, if the sails are flogging violently enough, then so is the rig, which is just bad for the entire boat.  And those are even more expensive than the sails.

Thirdly, and depending on who you talk to and if they are a racer, possibly most importantly: you're just going slow.  You're better off doing soooo many other things to deal with the wind, which we'll cover below.  But also, an important side effect of going slow and having poor sail trim is you have less control over the boat.  Boats respond predictably and quickly when moving at an approprate speed for the wind and with the sails trimmed properly.  Luffing sails and moving slowly in high wind means you're limited in being able to make the boat do what you need it to do.  Which is not only a sailing skill issue, but a safety issue.

Now, if we can't luff the sails to stop from capsizing, what should we do?  What options do we have?  A lot!  We'll run through them in the order of what I do as the wind comes up, but you are free to do these (somewhat) out of order.  If the wind is already up, you'll probably do every single one before even leaving the dock.

1. Get your weight out further.  Hike.  Hike hard.  If your butt isn't out over the water, you're not hiking.  If your stomach muscles aren't sore tomorrow, you're not hiking!  Or you're just in better shape than I am.

2. Get out on the trapeze, or send crew out on the trapeze.  This gets weight so far out over the water it makes a huge difference.  I do this before depowering the sails because, well, it's just more fun.  If you've never trapezed before, find someone who has and ask them to show you.  It's seriously one of the best parts of dinghy sailing.  Some people don't even want to skipper, they just want to fly on the trap.

3. Flatten the sail.  ie, tighten the controls.  Get the outhaul, cunningham, and vang tight.  If they were loose, this will depower you a lot.

4. Reef.  An obvious one, but if after all the above you're still luffing your main to keep the boat flat (or in more accurate words you're unable to keep your main properly trimmed), you should be reefed.

5. Get more crew.  If you're reefed and trapping (or your crew is trapping and you're fully hiked as well), and you still can't keep the boat flat with the sails full, you need more weight(crew).  If your boat can't fit more crew, then it's time for a different boat that can handle more people.  Sometimes it's just too windy for a JY.  But 3 on a reefed Quest, with one on the trap and 2 hiked hard?  Now, that can handle almost as much wind as the bay will throw at you.

Notice how early in the list trapezing is.  If you're not yet, start getting more comfortable with it, and with getting in and out of the boat smoothly, then start trying it while single handed.  It will transform your sailing, and is a critical step on the way to Senior.  But also, if you're having a lazy day and don't feel like working, feel free to do #3-5 before #1 and #2.  The above is just the order I generally do it for a "normal" sailing day.

Bottom line, go out in high winds, challenge yourself, get your ass kicked even (that's an important part of progressing), but do so incrementally.  If you struggle to keep the boat flat in 15kn don't go out in 20 yet, work your way up by getting better with the tools above.  And know your limits for a boat in given wind, so when you look at iwindsurf in the clubhouse to see what the wind is doing, you know what you're going to need to do before you even go out.  For example, I'm 5'10" 155lbs and these are my limits single handing on a JY:

I'm fine hiking out up to 12kn, at which point I have to start trapping.
I can do full main trapped out until 15kn, then I have to reef.
Reefed main + trap until 17kn, then I'm starting to luff the main too much in an effort to keep the boat flat.

Beyond that I don't go out by myself.  If I'm out and the wind comes up, I come back in and find crew or call it for the day.  Which happens.  We deal with a LOT of wind where we are.  Sometimes today is just too much wind and it's ok to sit on the bench and watch the windsurfers, who are probably running their gear to the dock and out there having a blast.