Steering under sail

[Carrierjason]

Anyone have any issues steering under sail. I replaced the stock steering with hydrolic this year, and it been working pretty good, but yesterday I was having trouble turning into the wind.

[mastreb]

need a lot more info to help diagnose. Were you hard over? That turns the rudders into brakes and gets your speed so far down that you can't reliably steer.

Below 2 knots, it's difficult to turn these boats at all, so its necessary to get speed up before you can steer reliably, especially into the wind or across a tack. If I can't get speed above 3 knots towards the wind, I'll turn around and gybe rather than tack.

Were you on main only? If so, this puts the center of effort behind the center of balance and makes it difficult to turn into the wind as well. The solution here is to get your headsail out to restore proper balance.

Any chance you forgot to put the daggerboard down? This can also prevent steering into the wind as the windage of the boat will push the hull leeward rather than pivoting on the daggerboard foil.

If you were having problems steering at speeds above 3 knots and with both sails up, put the outboard down with all boards, and see how well the boat can turn circles in both directions at 4 knots. If everything seems fine, it's not your steering system, it's your sailing system.

[Tomfoolery]

I don't know about the , but my doesn't like coming about in lighter air unless I leave the jib/genoa sheets secure until it's backwinded and helps bring the bow around. And ditto on the rudders being brakes when turned too far.

[MAC-A-TAC]

May be a case of centerboard dysfunction, the blue hauls don't have this problem.

MAC Out.

[dlandersson]

I did a Fred Flintstone mod in the cockpit so I can paddle fast and help with coming about at slow speeds.

I don't know about the , but my doesn't like coming about in lighter air unless I leave the jib/genoa sheets secure until it's backwinded and helps bring the bow around. And ditto on the rudders being brakes when turned too far.