Nov 262011
Hello I am wondering about the Iroquois and sailing heavy weather. I have heard one person say, leave one centerboard down and one up when sailing heavy weather on a reach.
Another says both down, but not all the way.
Any feedback here?
I have partly lowered the weather leeboard and kept the lee one up. My thinking is that she is less likely to trip and more able to slide sideways as the weather hull comes up. This is in big waves.
However, in normal sailing I reckon the leeboards are less relevant in capsizes than the press of sail. I have capsized a small racing cat and that tripped over the lee bow. If the sails are pressing forward and sideways the net result is to push the lee bow down. I read somewhere that one signal that it is time to reef was lots of water coming over the lee bow.
If in doubt – reef
Paul
Hi there – could you let us know your name?
If you look back through our Newsletters (in the Archives section) you’ll see a lot of discussion about centreboards in heavy weather. There are basically two issues.
The first is whether the boat is more likely to capsize with the lee centreboard down than with it up. Some say that pulling the leeward board up will allow the lee hull to slide sideways in a heavy gust and therefore be less likely to ‘trip the boat up’.
Personally I don’t reckon that a heavily pressed lee hull (carrying the whole weight of the boat, as it would be at the point of capsize) is going to ‘slide sideways’ fast enough to relieve the wind pressure on the boat, whether or not the board is down. And if you are going to windward in heavy weather you are going to need the boards down – or at least one of them.
The second issue is that there have been cases of damage caused by boards that were fully down in very heavy weather. The boards themselves can break, and they can cause damage to the centreboard slot – especially the windward one, because there is less structure to resist the centreboard forces on the outboard side of the hull. Most boats will have had the slots reinforced by now, but it’s worth checking that this has been done to your boat.
I agree with Paul’s comments. In windy conditions, especially to windward, the Iroquois can accelerate very fast in a gust, thereby increasing the apparent wind speed even more. This obviously creates very big loads in the rigging, hulls and boards. My own preference is to have both boards around halfway down if going to windward in a lot of wind, and at least a couple of slab reefs in too. I am very much a cruising sailor, and if the weather’s bad I want to keep the speed down and get there in one piece!
Cheers,
Martin
Good advice from both post. They do cover both side of the issue though. I guess the most important is reefing deep and early. The postion of the centrboard is second to the reef(s) in importance. I have two reef points on my sail, but will be adding a third and sailing with the boards at half mast when on a reach. I do not know if my centerbrd slots have been reinforced, but now doing some reading here, there seems to be two ways of doing it. More fiberglass or a support bolt(?) The bolting path seems the easiest.
Z
Hello Zen,
I glassed the ends of my centreboard slots, not difficult.
I remember reading in McMullen’s Multiull seamanship that he would sail with his board(s) up when on a reach. He would need to point up bit to counter the increased leeway but he reckoned that brought the apparent wind forward, further increasing windspeed over the deck- He reckoned it was faster – might be safer too.
Paul
Thanks for the imput guys.
On a similar subject…….do others find that their centreboards bang against the sides of the slots when sailing? The noise inside the boat is quite disturbing. I have tried wedges in the gap between the board and the top slot but the movement is still sufficient that the bottom bangs around, having the boards half way down or fully down doesn’t seem to make any difference.
My boards are sheathed in a glass mat and I have pivots which are the improved type with a stud welded to an outside plate which goes through a plate on the inside of the hull and is secured with a large nut. The front of the board slots have been reinforced as recommended. I have considered fitting bronze bushes to the boards as shown elsewhere on this site but I doubt they would stop the movement, I suspect the boards flex enough that they would still move enough to hit the slides of the slots. Also I doubt that I could get a close enough fit between the pivot and the bush to eliminate all movement, the main benefit I see is to reduce wear on the hole. The last time I took the boards out for inspection was 4 years ago, the pivot holes were still in good conditon then but I heard the same banging noises.
The only other option I am considering is fitting some rubber packing in the slots (top and bottom) but it will need to be very thin and will need to have low friction or lifting/lowering the boards will be more difficult.
Am I worrying too much? I hear stories of centreboard cases fracturing and can’t help wondering if a board banging against it is likely to make the situation worse? Do all Iroquois do the same or has anyone found a way to eliminate it?
Hi Graham ,
I too dislike the constant banging of the boards. I’m working on a daggerboard design that can be fitted more accurately in it’s slot. I also got a plan to have it flush with the deck when pulled up. I think you are right if the board has enough side to side movement it’s momentum against the hull will potentially lead to problems. Daggerboards cand be easily pulled for inspection and adjustment would be the way to go. Cheers, Bart
Hi Graham,
I’m puzzled by this issue of ‘banging boards’ – it doesn’t seem to happen on my boat unless the boards are unloaded, for example when motoring or running dead downwind with the boards down. When sailing normally, the load on the boards seems to keep them quiet.
Personally I don’t think a bit of rattling will do much harm to the boards, but it would be possible to put extra strips of glass along the bottom edges of the slots to decrease the clearance. Rubber strips are likely to get rubbed off, I reckon.
Bart’s daggerboard plan is interesting, and I’d like to know his cunning plan to avoid them sticking up four feet or more when raised.
Cheers,
Martin