Weather helm when solo sailing TI

You can achieve a similar outcome by filling up 3 litre drink containers with water, and stuffing them down the rear hatch. If you put enough of them down there, they won't move around, and their centre of gravity will be helping not hindering your sailing. Fill 'em with fresh water if going out for a weekend, salt water if not, and you can empty them out back at the shore so you don't have to lift them or carry the around

(Mind you, the cooler full of beer sounds more appertising!)

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

I agree with the cooler idea too! I keep mine on the Haka so it's close to hand.

My next upgrade idea is the water containers idea. Looking at these.

BudK Swiss 20 Liter Black Water Bag https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P43Q5Y/re ... QxbG9E4276

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Rob

2014 TI Papaya
Aussieonyak Haka mods
GaryInWI seat mod
Yangler tiller extension
KayakingBob Aka tether
Polytarp Jib

I'm only chiming in because weather helm isn't magic and body position on the boat won't affect the helm amount as much as properly trimmed foils and sails.

First, weather helm is caused by an imbalance between the above water foils and the below water foils-fore and aft. The boat is designed to have the COE of the sailplan slightly behind the COE of the underwater foils. This is so you gently round up going to weather.

Truth to tell, though, I don't know how the mirage drive foils interact with centerboard and rudder...seems to me that they have to do something if they are in the water.

First check to verify the centerboard and rudder are fully deployed.
Second check to verify that you don't have the mainsail oversheeted (a hooked leach will cause awful weather helm because the oversheeted mainsail leach causes the COE of the sailplan to move way aft to force you to round up). As others have noted, if you reef, the weather helm will be reduced partly because you no longer have a hooked leach.
There is a third possibility, your rudder and/or sailplan may be stalled. Check sailplan stall by dropping traveler (if you have one or release mainsheet some. Check rudder stall by trying to fall off-if boat doesn't answer helm, then ease mainsheet and fall off.

If none of those things divulge the source of weather helm, you may have to rebalance the boat. Reducing mast rake or increasing rudder rake (tucking the rudder further under the transom). I don't know if the TI has these adjustments, though.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Those are all great suggestions. Unfortunately the TI doesn't have a traveler, although I'm sure someone will rig one up now just to see. Mast rake and rudder rake are also not adjustable on the TI. Fore and aft balance is definitely weight affected. Best location is pretty much hiked out over the rear aka.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I agree Tom, and I suspect the most common cause of weather helm is actually the oversheeted main mentioned by tpdavis.

It is too easy to overlook one of the basic tenets of sail trim - The "sweet spot" for sail trim is just before the point where the sail wants to flutter.

Experience allows a sail trimmer to find that spot intuitively, but the rest of us find it by loosening the line until flutter starts, and then trimming in a smidgin (technical term). If sailing anywhere but close-hauled, you can achieve similar results by changing your course slightly (steer up to initiate flutter, steer down to remove it).

Luckily, Hobie installed a highly sophisticated instrument to make the above task easier.... those little red and green streamers up there in the sail window. These streamers, or telltails, will let you know exactly how you are doing with sail trim. If you have both of them streaming parallel (or the one on the windward side actually flying ever so slightly higher than the one on the back of the sail), you have hit that sweet spot. At that point, you won't be experiencing any massive weather helm unless your hull is loaded very unevenly, or either your centreboard or rudder is not fully deployed.

BTW, while it might seem like a good idea to add leech ribbons, which you see on larger sailboats, but in my experience, these are not reliable on Island sails. Unlike big racing yacht sails, which tend to have horizontal leech battens, our roller-furling sails have almost vertical battens. The leech on our sails can therefore have a "micro-curl" right at the leech, which will cause the leech ribbon the dance around wrongly indicating that the sail is not working correctly, when it is only the inch or two right at the back edge of the sail.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Interesting you mention the leech tells. Matt actually recommended them at one point. I think you're correct about the over-sheeting. One thing that has helped me not over-sheet is adding a wind indicator on the mast head and using that to determine my attack angle to the wind. That helps me find the general sheeting, then I use the sail tells to get the final sail shape.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

_________________
2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas