Date: 12/7/2005
Name: Mark Weinheimer
email: sailscanvas@pinelink.org
subject:travellers
In response to Mark Dickmann's questions about mid-cockpit travellers: In light air the traveller car should be well up to weather to allow the boom to be trimmed to centerline without closing off the top of the leech. Light air requires a lot of twist in the leech profile to maintain flow - keep that top telltale flowing for speed. As wind speed increases, it will be easier to keep the flow going and the sheet tension will need to increase to keep the sail in the proper trim. Gradually ease the car toward center as you sheet harder to maintain boom placement on or near centerline. The basic goal is to keep the same leech profile until you need to bleed power to keep the boat on its feet. In breezy conditions, the traveller is the quickest way to dump power and stand the boat up. It is also the easiest method for reproducing the previous main trim after the puff dies. Simply bring the car back to the place it was before the puff. If you dump the mainsheet at each puff, you'll have a trickier time duplicating that fast leech proifile. In really big breeze (20+), I let the car float uncleated - it usually ends up at the inboard edge of the leeward seat and won't come any higher unless you really pull it up to weather. The final block in my sheet system is fixed on a plate bolted to the traveller bar on centerline like a J-24, so pulling on the sheet doesn't move the car. The biggest advantage of the traveller is in light air - over 10-12 kts, vang sheeting will do all the same things.
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