By sheeting the smaller working jib INSIDE the shrouds, I am sure that the piper's tacking angle is improved by 20 degrees per side.

Well this past weekend I took the plunge. I moved the genoa tracks to the cabin top (like on a Capri 16). I screw-nailed them to the teak handrail (of which I am not fond and which should be replaced with some non-corroding metal or my favourite plastic: UHMW). I extended the tack of the genoa upward by about 10" using a wire strop left over from my vang modification. The purpose of this was to get the clew of the sail to the same height as the cabin top.

Boy does this girl point now. My guess, is that she can tack across about 100 degrees. I will get a compass varification and report back. Speed at this angle is not fantastic. But, even without drawing a polar diagram, I am convinced that I can now get home in time for dinner & drinks.

posted August 09, 2002 02:03 AM            

I have several suggestions:

Be careful not to pinch when going upwind with the inboard sheeting. There is a very fine line between moving well upwind and stalling out when the jib is at a closer angle. Three sets of ticklers along the jib luff would help you see if you're pointing too high.

A lot of sailors tend to set their fairleads too far back when they sheet inboard. By moving the leads forward you induce more twist at the top of the jib. (Sometimes the clew of the jib almost touches the fairlead when going upwind.) This seems to let the air flow straight back rather than curl into the lee side of the main sail. By comparison; if your jib was just touching the spreaders when you used the outboard rail track, it could be a few inches off the spreader when the inboard track is used.

I'll be most interested to hear how your new jib track system works.

Although the genoa is a little further back with the cabin top fairlead arrangement, the centroid of force on the genoa/mainsail combination seems to have shifted FORWARD. I have developed a little bit of lee helm. Can you explain that in simple terms?

I took compass readings, with resolution to 5 degrees, before and after each tack. The arithmetic average after 7 tacks was 120.7 degrees. Still not spectacular. The conditions were puffing and shifting.

posted August 16, 2002 01:41 AM            

In heavy winds the traveller would be let out in the gusts and you can sheet in harder to flatten the sail. At this point, the main might be filling backwards from the air being squeezed between the jib and main. Thats OK in the heavy stuff.

I also think it's important to keep the boat flat with weight well forward. I'd be inclined to sit almost at the cabin using a long tiller extension (maybe adjustable?) to steer. You get a better view of your jib from this position as you can see a good portion of the luff (not just the bottom tickler).

We're getting beautiful warm, strong winds here. Great weather to try different sheeting angles.

posted August 16, 2002 01:46 AM            

In heavy winds the traveller would be let out in the gusts and you can sheet in harder to flatten the sail. At this point, the main might be filling backwards from the air being squeezed between the jib and main. Thats OK in the heavy stuff.

I also think it's important to keep the boat flat with weight well forward. I'd be inclined to sit almost at the cabin using a long tiller extension (maybe adjustable?) to steer. You get a better view of your jib from this position as you can see a good portion of the luff (not just the bottom tickler).

We're getting beautiful warm, strong winds here. Great weather to try different sheeting angles. Again, be careful not to pinch too high. We were racing this evening and although we were not pointing as high, We were beating a lot of boats by bearing off ever so slightly but going much faster.

posted September 23, 2002 07:12 PM            

The good news: I finally got on a Sandpiper. Now I'm really hooked on these marvellous little boats. They're the perfect size for what we do. This boat was equiped with just the basics: A good simple boat. You may find this frustrating Superpiper but it seemed to easily go 45 degrees into the wind (tacks through 90 degrees). With a bit of fine tuning - 40 degrees. This is with standard on the rail fairleads.

One observation is that the deck seems wide enough to have another track right up along the cabin. Maybe your fairleads are too far in causing the jib to curl. You only have to get the leads inboard a few inches. The trailling edge must still dump the air straight back. Too much curl might be causing the lee helm. I'd be interested to hear comments from any other veteran Sandpiper sailors.

Now that I've actually messed about with one, I've got a bunch of new questions which I'll be posting. I'll also be seriously rationalizing buying one over the winter months.