Jib Traveler question

Long history with H14's and H16's, new to H18's.

Under what conditions do I want to move the jib traveler car fore and aft?

Not setting the boat up for racing, just want to optimize speed when sailing close hauled, on beam and broad reaches. (5-18mph winds in flat to surf conditions)

Fore/aft position of the jib cleats effects the sheeting angle of the top versus the bottom of the sail. Jib blocks forward and the top of the jib gets pulled tight, farther back and the top of the jib opens up.

Start with the jib cleats in the center of the tracks, sheet the main and jib in tight, and sail an upwind course. Slowly head the boat into the wind and observe the upper and lower jib telltails. If the top of the jib luffs first, then move the blocks forward. If the bottom of the jib luffs first, move the blocks back. The goal is to get the two sets of telltails to break evenly (or maybe just slightly earlier at the top).

If its really windy and you're overpowered, you can also slide the jib cars back in the tracks. This will help flatten the bottom section of the jib while allowing the top to twist open.

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Makes sense. When I moved the car to the back it was apparent that it was dumping a lot of wind.

Based on your logic below, do you do the same adjustment at each course of attack (broad reach vs. close hauled)?

Almost never. It is usually a set-and-forget setting.

For course racing, we set the jib leads to get the jib breaking evenly upwind. Downwind, the crew hand holds the jib sheet in light/medium wind to keep the telltails flowing evenly (and this usually requires that she sits right behind the front crossbar and holds the jib sheet out to the side of the boat and moves her arm up or down to keep the top flowing properly). In higher wind she trims straight from the cleat, usually sitting back on the tramp.

For casual sailing, it's really not worth the hassle to mess with the jib leads. But if you wanted to experiment, you would probably end up moving the jib leads forward for downwind since the top of the jib has a tendency to twist open too much downwind.

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