Sail Adjustment for Downwind Sailing
2023-12-11
Written by Ivan Briukhovets
Article published on 2023-12-11.
During extended downwind passages, the correct setting of the sails helps to prevent the boat from flapping, rocking, and being pulled into the wind.
Our recommendations are based on experience crossing the Atlantic, as well as numerous crossings from the Balearic Islands to the Canaries downwind.
- Be sure to use a gybe preventer. This can save your boom and shrouds from testing their strength and you from undue stress.
- Shift the sail center as far forward as possible: open the mainsail as much as possible, up to the shrouds, and ease the headsail until it maintains its shape. This reduces weather helm and the boat will yaw less.
- If you have a spinnaker boom, be sure to use it for the genoa, attaching it into the clew. Don't forget about the gybe preventer for it.
- If the following wave is large enough, your yacht will tend to yaw. In this case, reduce the size of the mainsail and increase the autopilot's response speed.
- Butterfly sailing, as shown in the video, will allow you to sail straight into the wind, downwind, running. In this case, a speed of 4.5-5 knots will get you closer to your destination faster than a speed of 7 knots at the backstay, broad reach. The parameter used to determine efficiency is called VMG (Velocity Made Good).
In this video, our sailing yacht Sun Odyssey 54 DS "Persuasion" is sailing butterfly downwind using a spinnaker boom on the genoa.
