NORTH SAILS BLOG

Finn tuning is very much a preference of each individual’s sailing style. Are you a pincher or a footer, a hiker of do you just perch on the side? Everyone has their own unique style, therefore, this is more about having a system that allows you to accurately reproduce your settings. The numbers we recommend are there to give you a good start point to launch for the day in any given condition. STEP 1 – How to Measure Your Leech Tension Rather than measuring a mast rake in a straight line “tip of mast to transom” we measure what tension would be put through the leech of the sail. This allows you to get more accurate settings and go afloat with a good idea of how open your leech will fly. It also allows you to interchange different masts and set the leech profile to the same setting no matter how different your masts may be. You can use any of the different spring/ digital gauges currently on the market: Persola Spring Balance, Devoti digital strain gauge work equally well. Attach gauge and long tape measure to mainsail halyard. Hoist halyard until it locates in the lock. Attach hook of gauge onto the outhaul. Tie the traveller to a traveller down position. With the mainsheet, sheet the boom to the deck. (NOTE: Always use the same side of the boat for measuring tensions. Always measure with boom end on side of boat.) Take measuring tape and measure to the inner edge of the boom black band. Adjust the outhaul until the tape reads 6020mm Read the numbers on the gauge to get what the mast is set up at To adjust the tension you can either move chocks at deck level or the screw at the base of the mast. Approximately 1mm chock is 1lb (1cm rake) Always re-check after changes. STEP 2 – Deck Chocks Moving the mast around at deck level whilst controlling the leech tension allows you to balance the feel of the boat (helm). The simple rule is when it goes light and you want to increase helm move the mast back and as the wind increases and you want to reduce helm move the mast forward. This exercise goes hand in hand with the leech tension and if big changes are made you may have to change the heel of the mast position to maintain the same leech tension. It’s always good to have at least five 1mm chocks available for fine-tuning on the water. STEP 3 – Centerboard The board is another great tool to increase and decrease the helm (feel) on the boat. In light air move the board to max forward bringing it closer to the mast, and as the wind increases move the board back in the boat to reduce the helm. SETTINGS The matrix above gives you a rough guide to what settings we recommend throughout the different wind ranges. Again, this is just a guide and it may vary from sailor to sailor. If you go out with these and you have a selection of 1mm chocks then you will be in a strong position to fine tune on the water. If the sea state is lumpy then drop a chock out. If flat water then you can add a chock. Always trying to balance the helm, and maintain good pointing. READ MORE

This guide has been written to get the most out of your new Melges 32. North Sails has been the pioneer in sail development in the class and will strive to give you any new information that arises. Please keep in mind that this information is partial. Sailing venues and conditions vary; you may find slightly different settings that work better for you. Tuning the Rig Prior to stepping the mast: Headstay length This length is measured from the center of the pins at the hounds and the stem fitting and should equal 42’7” or 12980. The headstays are set at the factory to this length. The other measurement to double check mast rake is to pull a 100’ tape measure up the main halyard, latch the ball at the highest setting and measure 52’10” to the bottom corner of the transom at the hull. Mast butt placement The base of the mast should be positioned 7” measuring from the aft shiny molded surface of the main bulkhead to the center of the socket in the mast step plate (Typically this is close to max. forward). Once the mast butt is in position tighten it down to secure it. Check the hydraulic ram for any dirt, or foreign objects before connecting the hose. Make sure the fluid level is at least ¾ full. You will have to open the valve on the hydraulic pump to connect the hose, and the silver safety valve. After stepping mast: STEP ONE: With slack lowers and intermediates, tighten the upper shrouds to #6 on the Model PT-3 Loos tension gauge (be sure to place the tension gauge below the chafe guard on the shrouds, slide the chafe guard up out of the way). It is a class rule that the upper shrouds be set up at the light air setting with the mast jack all the way down. That way you can simply go all the way down for light air, or if there is a jack failure, you are closer to the correct settings and can safely continue racing without risk of mast failure. Center the rig. Using a bucket at least ½ full of water with a lanyard tied on the handle, attach the jib halyard to the end of the lanyard and suspend the bucket off the side of the boat at the chainplate area. With a marker, hold the marker flat on the deck just in front of the chainplates and place a mark on the lanyard. Transfer the bucket to the other side of the boat and repeat to see if the mast is centered. If the mast is in centered, the marks will line up, if not adjust the rig until you have matching marks. This method insures even tension on the jib halyard from side to side. STEP TWO: Now that the mast is in centered and the upper shrouds are tensioned to 6, it is time to tune the intermediate shrouds. Tighten the intermediates so the slack is taken out and they are hand tight plus 1.5 to 2 turns. Site up the aft side of the mast to insure the tunnel is straight side to side. Next, Pump up the jack until you are at 4,000psi, or most importantly #14 on the uppers using the PT-3 Loos tension gauge. Now, tighten the intermediates so they read #17 using a PT-2 tension gauge and tighten the lowers so they read #5 on the PT-3. This is a good set up if you are sailing in predominantly light air venues as it sets the mast up with a bit of sag at base. If you are sailing in venues with a bit more breeze you should set up to these numbers: 4,000psi on the jack, and #12 on the uppers using the PT-3 gauge, 19 on the Intermediates using the PT-2 gauge and 6 on the Lowers using the PT-3 gauge. This set up will produce a straighter rig at base and is better in more breeze. Final tuning of the intermediates and lowers needs to be done on the water going to windward, but this should get you in the ball park. STEP THREE: Check the rig for overall straightness both at the dock and again while sailing by sighting up the mainsail track. Adjust the shrouds appropriately to get the mast straight. Secure the turnbuckles with the Velcro wrap provided. Note: This is a starting point for the Lowers and Intermediates, you must go sailing to fine tune the set up on the lowers and Intermediates. The basic guideline is to set up the mast with approximately ½” of leeward sag from the boom to the uppers with the jack pressure off if you use version #1 above. As you jack up the rig the sag will come out and make the mast stiffer allowing more backstay to be applied. Version #2 above produces a straighter mast side to side and tighter diagonals as soon as you go on the jack which stiffens the mast. The hydraulic jack can be relied on for tension but it is a good idea to have some secondary reference checks in case of a jack gauge failure. If you attach a batten on the deck tie wire and place marks on the back of the mast with corresponding marks on the batten for given jack pressures and rig tensions this will give you the proper secondary checks to make sure your rig is set correctly in the varying conditions. Another method is to use a caliper and measure the gap between the bottom of the mast and the top of the mast step plate. On the Water CHANGING BREEZES Tuning is now complete for 0-6 kts. See the Tuning Matrix below for detailed ram tension instructions. The simplicity of the ram allows you to do most of the tuning with the ram. Now all you will do is adjust the Jack in increments of 500 PSI on the ram. There are times in heavy air with big waves that it may be beneficial to take up 2 turns on each Lower to help stiffen the bottom of the mast and achieve better headstay tension. Also, we have experienced better speed and headstay tension in a breeze with 5 turns on the headstay when we jack up to 2500psi. Note that the jack will immediately start at 1000 PSI if the upper shrouds are set at 6 on the Loos gauge. Traveler Notes: : In waves it is better to work with the traveler higher and a softer mainsheet to achieve twist in the mainsail than what the chart says. Jib Lead Notes: This is a good starting point, in very light air you could experiment with 9 factory holes showing aft of the car and in very windy conditions you could experiment with the car further aft. We have found that in most conditions 8 holes showing is very fast. Bottom line is in flat water you can sometimes get away with the car slightly further aft, and vica versa in waves. Once you find the sweet spot you will find that you rarely move the jib lead. It also will not hurt to drill some additional holes in between the factory holes for fine tuning of the lead position. Backstay Notes: The Melges 32 likes to have backstay put on early to flatten the mainsail and achieve headstay tension. As soon as you are hiking, the backstay should be coming on. MELGES 32 TUNING MATRIX Wind Speed 0-6 6-10 10-14 15-20 20+ Ram Base, 6 on Loos Base in flat water to 1500 on Jack in waves Base in flat water up to 2000 on Jack in waves 2000-2500 in waves, generally more tension in waves 2500-3000 Headstay Base Base Base +5 turns from base +5 to 10 turns from base D1’s Base to 1/2” sag Base Base sight straight Base sight straight Base straight D2’s Base to 1/2” sag Base Base sight straight Base sight straight Sight straight Vang Slack Slack Taught Taught Try Tight cunningham Loose Loose 50% on Tight Tight Main sheet 5° twist if possible 5º+ twist, top telltale flying 5º to 15º twist as needed to boat seed 15º + twist 15-25º twist Jib sheet Soft, upper TT flowing Harder, but always keep top TT flowing Same Same Softer in big stuff, more twist, try lead aft and hard sheet and lead for soft sheet Traveler 100% to weather 50-100% weather Middle to up50% Middle to 25% Down Middle to 25% Down Jib Lead Forward, luff break evenly, Generally 8 factory holes showing aft of car Same Same 1 aft of light in flat water, same in lump 1-2 aft depending on waves, sometimes lead forward soft sheet Jib Halyard Slight wrinkle in luff or just pull out Slight wrinkle in luff No wrinkles No wrinkles No wrinkles Main Outhaul off 1/2” 1/2” eased to max Pull to max Pull to max Pull to max Backstay None to 25% on 25% to 75% on 50% to max on when overpowered Max on Max on Sail Trim UPWIND MAINSAIL TRIM Without getting overly detailed, because everybody sails to their own style, the following are basic tips for trimming the 3DL main. “ Twist is fast “. By this we mean that it is necessary to open up the top of the leech and maintain flow over the top of the sail. A good rule of thumb is to trim until the top leech telltale is just stalling and then ease out two to three inches of sheet so that the telltale is flowing again. This is unlike many other one designs that like to have the top batten parallel to the boom in most conditions. In light air the traveler should be pulled to weather. As the breeze builds we need to maintain a balanced helm. Begin by pulling on the backstay to flatten the top of the main. Adjust the traveler, mainsheet and backstay to find the sweet combination for the given condition. Generally, in flat water the traveler is better in the center with more main sheet tension and in the waves a looser mainsheet with the traveler above center is good. In big breeze, the top of the main is twisted well off and the bottom 1/3 of the main is doing most of the work. If the main is back winding from the jib you can keep the main traveler closer to the center. If the waves are big it tends to work better to keep the traveler centered or above center line and work the main sheet and fine tune the back stay. Be sure to pull the vang on in these conditions to help keep the bottom of the main working. JIB SHEET Three things control the jib shape: sheet tension, car placement, and halyard control. The sheet tension has the most obvious effect, so we’ll talk about that first. The sheet controls the leech twist and how far the sail is pulled in. If you look at the overall sail as it relates to the sheet it does two things. Picture the boat on a close hauled course and the jib luffing, as you pull in the sheet, first the angle of the sail changes, then as the last few inches are tensioned the leech gets tighter. In short, it pulls it in and then down. It is important to try to match the leech profile of the jib to the profile of the lee side of the main. Try to envision how the sails would look from a motorboat trailing behind you. Place marks on the sheet to duplicate settings if necessary. Keep an eye on the leech tell tale on the top batten of the jib. The Melges 32 jib is a high aspect sail and likes to have the jib car forward enough to keep the top of the jib working and the jib trimmed fairly tight. To achieve maximum jib trim, trim the jib until the top telltale stalls and then ease it until it starts flowing, this is your maximum in position. Marks are a good idea for the mainsheet, jib sheet, backstay, jib leads and jib halyard. Make sure you can duplicate fast settings. Our rule of thumb for jib luff tension is just pull the wrinkles out in all conditions except flat water and 4 to 9 knots where a slightly softer jib entry is OK for better pointing. SAIL SELECTION The recommended sail wind ranges are as follows: Light jib 0-8 knots Medium jib 6-22 knots Heavy Jib 20-27 knots Small Reacher 1A Asymmetrical or VMG 0-5 knots, and again over 23 when the waves are big. AP Runner/Reacher Code 2A Asymmetrical 5-8 and 13-27 knots Max Runner Code 3A Asymmetrical 7-14 knots CREW POSITION When sailing upwind in light air you need to move the crew forward and out of the transom of the boat. This reduces wetted surface and helps with the boat attitude through the water. As the breeze builds this is less critical and weight outboard and centered around the widest part of the boat is best and aft. A body behind the driver upwind in a breeze seems to be good. DOWNWIND Be sure to power up the mainsail when sailing downwind, except when it is windy! Ease off the cunningham, outhaul, and backstay. Adjust the vang so the top batten is open and the tell tale is flowing. A softer vang is fast, especially when you can reach. Remember to let off the vang while rounding the weather mark, as well as any cunningham. This will allow the helm to get around the mark with more ease. KEEP THE CREW ON THE RAIL TILL THE BOAT FLATTENS OUT! Have a forward crew sight up the mast to check the mast bend and backstay tension. In light air keep the crew weight low and forward until you are planing downwind. As you begin to plane you need to start moving the weight aft in the boat. The windier it gets the more you need to move the weight aft to get the bow up and free up the rudder. Above 11 we leave the jib up off the wind and trim it to a soft trim as to not effect the trim of the spinnaker. When you can plane keep the backstay on at least to 75%, keep the vang soft, ease the outhaul, let the traveler all the way down and get everyone to the back of the boat except the bow and the trimmer forward of the traveler, everyone else behind the traveler. SPINNAKER SETUP When setting up the spinnaker gear, be sure that the tack line goes over the lazy sheet (the sheet going to the opposite side of the boat). This ensures that the spinnaker will gybe to the inside, between the head stay and the luff of the spinnaker as opposed to around the outside of the luff of the spinnaker and in front of the boat. We have found that hoisting out of the forward hatch is the most efficient method. We have also found that a retrieval line can be helpful with the speed of the douse, especially a leeward drop but requires some extra house keeping. SPINNAKER TRIM Like all spinnakers, the spinnaker sheet should be eased until the luff carries a slight curl. The real trick to flying the sail and having the best downwind performance is to maintain constant dialogue between the skipper and trimmer to keep pressure in the sail without sailing too high and losing sight of VMG (velocity made good to the mark). As a general rule the boat sails downwind at 125 degrees to the true wind, jibing through 90 degrees. As the breeze builds, it is possible to sail deeper angles while maintaining good speed. In planing conditions, keep the boat powered up. Planing and loosing 10 degrees of depth far exceeds displacement sailing. Remember, when sailing in the deep mode, to heel the boat to windward and ease the sheet out. This rotates the chute out from behind the main’s wind shadow, exposing maximum sail area to clear air. Keep the vang soft generally downwind. Any time you can plane, do so. Be aggressive on crew placement aft. Have any non-essential people aft of the helm. Experiment with this a bit and you will quickly get the “Feel” for how you can steer without having trouble with sight and fouling the rudder. SETTING THE ASYMMETRICAL We have found the safest and fastest method to set the kite is to pull the tack line out to a mark which would represent the position of the tack when the pole is fully extended and flying. Cleat the tack line, bow person puts the tack just over the bow pulpit and goes to feed the kite out of the hole. Then, on the hoist someone pulls out the bow sprit as quickly as possible. Make sure the tack is just over the bow pulpit and not further and make sure the bow person maintains control of the kite to leeward of the jib. Also, make sure the bow sprit does not get pulled out too early. The bowsprit can not legally get pulled out until you are in the process of hoisting the spinnaker. GYBING THE ASYMMETRICAL There are two different styles of gybes that we utilize. The first one and by far the most popular is called the “pre gybe”. This gybe works best in lighter winds, breeze under 14 knots or so. This gybe is performed by bearing away to dead down wind and holding course while the crew pulls the new sheet around and once the clew of the kite reaches the windward shroud the helm turns through the gybe. The kite will fill before the boom goes across, this is a good VMG gybe. In heavier air, when you are planing and you have the jib up we found it is best to do a “mexican gybe” To do this gybe you have a trimmer on each spinnaker sheet, the helm turns right into the gybe fairly aggressively, the trimmer over trims the kite to strap the foot, the kite loads up on the new windward side of the boat once you turn through the wind, the trimmer blows off the sheet and the new sheet is trimmed rapidly. The helm has to come out of the gybe slightly low of the proper angle and then as soon as the kite fills heads up to accelerate. The jib must be up to perform this gybe and you need to have someone gybing the jib to prevent spinnaker tears. When you do this gybe correctly you go from planing on one gybe to planing on the other gybe much quicker than with the pre gybe. DOUSING THE ASYMMETRICAL The three take downs you need to master are the windward, leeward and Mexican take down. With the windward take down, the helm heads straight down wind, the pit eases the take line off at least 10’ to unload the kite, the trimmer and foredeck pull the kite around to the port side, one person goes down the leech, one person pulls in the foot keeping it inside the bow pulpit, and then the sewer sucks the kite through the hatch. With the leeward drop the helm bears away, the retrieval line is pull in to gather the foot inside the lifelines, halyard eased off 15’, then tack off when the bow calls for it, and another person controlling the aft section of the sail. It is important for the pit to be aware of the kite at all times so they do not drop the sail in the water. Try to avoid this drop as it is the hardest to do safely. With a Mexican take down, you set up at least 3 boat lengths above the layline, preferable 4, you come in and when you do your final gybe to round the mark, you over trim the foot of the kite as the back of the boat gybes, do not gybe the kite, blow the halyard off as the kite is backing into the rig and suck the kite through the hatch. On all take downs it is best to have the bow person control the foot and tack, another person at the mast controlling the leech, the sewer sucking the sail through the hatch and the pit controlling the halyard, tack line and bow sprit. With all sailing and maneuvers, do what feels good to you. “Tune” with any other 32’s you can find, keep notes on all days you feel fast and also the opposite. If the boat feels slow or you feel “ out of the groove” revert back to notes and what felt good last time you went sailing. READ MORE

This guide for the J/22 has been developed through extensive testing, tuning, and practical racing experience by some of the top sailors in the country. New changes in the class and developments in sailcloth and sail design technology continue to bring about improvements in the J/22’s performance, and North Sails is an important part of these innovations. While we can’t guarantee you immediate victory on the race course by following this guide, we can assure you that you’ll be taking a big step in the right direction! BOAT PREPARATION The suggestions below are for our latest M-7 mainsail, which performs best with the angled step. If you have the SC-2 main or a flat step (the NB-1 main), please contact us and we’ll gladly help you with your tuning. In preparing your boat for sailing, first step the mast and connect the forestay. Then: 1. Pull your jib halyard down alongside the mast and tension it so the halyard shackle is just even with the top of the gooseneck band. Cleat the halyard at this point.Next, swing the jib halyard out to the forestay and pull it snug alongside the forestay. Place a mark (either with a piece of tape or a permanent marker) on the forestay at the very bottom of the halyard shackle. Measure from this point (which represents the top of your band) down to the junction of your template and bow plate. For the angled step, hull numbers prior to 1460, and the M-7 main, this measurement should be 4’ 11”. For the angled step, hull numbers 1460 or after, and the M-7 main, this measurement should be 5’ 1/8”.   2. To aid in centering the mast laterally in the boat, place a pencil mark 8’ back from the stem fitting at the shear (the hull-deck intersection) on each side. Then hoist a tape measure on the jib halyard and measure to these pencil marks. Adjust the upper shroud lengths correspondingly on each side of the boat until the mast is centered. Be sure to adjust the lower shrouds as well, maintaining a straight mast (sighted up the back of the mast). 3. Tension the uppers to 250 lbs for the M-7 and angled step. This setting (for 10- 12 knots of breeze) is your uppers tension “base” number. 4. Tension the lowers so the mast is straight laterally when sighting up the slot at the back of the mast. The lowers “base” number should be at or close to 5 on the newer black PT-1 Loos Pro Model gauge. 5. Re-measure the side to side position of the mast to ensure that it is still centered. If you have calibrated turnbuckles, record the respective numbers. 6. Check that you have developed the proper pre-bend in the mast (positive bend) by pulling the main halyard taught to the gooseneck. The distance between the back of the mast and the main halyard at the spreaders for the M-7/angled step should be close to 1”. 7. Check your forestay tension without any tension on the backstay and with the rig still tensioned to your base settings. The forestay tension should be close to 6-7 on the PT-1 gauge. 8. Check that your backstay is the proper length. Sometimes on older boats, and especially with the increased rake of the M-7/angled step, the backstay may be too long and “bottom out” too early, not allowing enough backstay tension to be applied in heavier winds. If this problem exists, the backstay may need to be shortened a few inches at the top. RIG ADJUSTMENT ON SHORE We suggest you start each day by setting your rig close to the base numbers (or do this at the end of the previous day’s sailing). UPPERS: 250 lbs LOWERS: 5 PT-1 For lighter winds, you need to loosen your rig tension to allow for more headstay sag, which will create a more powerful jib. The lightest wind settings should be 145 lbs on the uppers and very loose on the lowers (the PT-1 will not register). In these extremely light conditions, the forestay should be loose as well, just barely registering on the PT-1 gauge. In heavier winds (above 19 knots), much more tension is needed to maintain proper forestay sag and mast bend. In the 19-20 knot breeze range, the upper shrouds should be tensioned to 450 lbs and the lowers to 14 on the PT-1. The headstay should be nearly 16 on the PT-1. RIG ADJUSTMENT ON THE WATER ADJUSTING SHROUD TENSION: THE VISUAL METHOD This visual method is our suggested way to set your shroud tension for all crew weights and in all wave and breeze conditions. We feel that it is not only a relatively simple technique to use, but also the most accurate way to achieve proper and consistent rig setup in the J/22. Set your rig tension so that the leeward upper shroud just starts to appear slack – not sloppy, but just not taught. Start out close to the upper shroud tension suggested in the chart below for your best guess of the present wind velocity. When sailing upwind under proper sail trim, watch the leeward upper shroud, and if it has a great deal of “wiggle” (more than a ½” back and forth), tighten both sides equally until the leeward upper is again just starting to go slack. If the breeze lightens, or you start out too tight (no wiggle at all), back off both uppers equally until a slight wiggle just appears. The lower shroud tension is checked by sighting up the slot in the back of the mast (lay your head on the windward side of the mainsail facing forward and looking up the mast groove). There should be a slight sag (approximately ½” to 1 ½”) to leeward at the spreaders in all conditions except very breezy ones (20 knots and above) when heavy boom vang tension is used. Only in these very breezy conditions will the mast become almost straight. Never, in any condition, should the mast bow to windward at the spreaders! You’ll have the most sag in very light air and the least sag (almost straight) in 20 knots and up.   Sight the sag in the mast by sighting up the back of the mast when sailing upwind.   1”-3/4” of sag to leeward indicated proper lower shroud tension   ADJUSTING FORESTAY LENGTH Although the forestay length set on shore for your boat’s hull number is generally correct, you can also check to make sure on the water that it’s as accurate as possible. Doing this is easiest in 6-8 knots of breeze with a crew of maximum J/22 class weight. In this wind strength, the crew should be all just hiking and the boat should be “awkwardly flat,” with about 3-4 degrees of heel. Make sure your shroud tension is right and your sails are set up and trimmed correctly for the wind speed. The backstay and other sail-depowering controls should not be needed in these conditions. Once the boat is sailing comfortably, begin the forestay length check by gently letting go of the helm and allowing the boat to go where it likes. If the forestay length is correct, the boat should drive straight for 3-5 seconds and then turn down. Repeat this test several times to confirm the results. If, after performing this check several times, you find that the boat consistently turns up instead of down, you should shorten your forestay two full turns and then perform the check again. If the boat now goes straight but doesn’t ever turn down, you’re very close to the right length, so shorten the forestay another full turn and perform the check again. If the boat starts turning down sooner than 3-5 seconds after you let go of the tiller, lengthen the forestay by one or two turns and perform the test again. Through trial and error, you’ll be able to get the correct forestay length. So using this method, you can either verify that your forestay length set on land is correct or make adjustments to it based on how the boat drives when you let go of the helm. Once the boat drives as described above, pin the forestay and tape it. You will not need to change it again for any conditions that you sail in. UPWIND SAIL TRIM Once you have the rig set up properly, you can now concentrate on trimming your North J/22 sails for maximum boat speed. At this point, it’s critical to mark your shrouds, sheets, tracks, halyards, outhaul, and backstay. Keep accurate records of these settings (fast or slow), the conditions you’re sailing in, and what the other boats are doing differently. It’s essential to be able to duplicate settings from race to race and to know how your boat was set up when you were going fast. THE MAINSAIL MAINSHEETTrim the mainsheet hard enough to make the top batten parallel to the boom. You can check this by sighting from underneath the boom on a lateral plane. Once you’ve accelerated and you want to point higher, trim harder to cock the top batten slightly to windward. We generally recommend sailing with the top leech telltale stalling 75% of the time. In flat water, you can trim harder, but in light air and choppy water, you’ll need to ease the mainsheet ( there should be no vang) to twist off the top of the main so that the top batten is eased open about 10 degrees from parallel. Trim your mainsheet so that the upper batten is parallel to the boom for 75% of your sailing TRAVELERIn light to moderate air, keep the traveler car to windward so the boom is close to centerline. When you have the traveler to weather, be sure to ease the mainsheet until the top batten is twisted off considerably (15 degrees past parallel). This can be most effectively achieved by pulling the traveler to windward until the car is within 2” of the windward cockpit seat. As the breeze increases, gradually drop the traveler to reduce helm while at the same time trimming the mainsheet. In heavy winds (above 15 knots), leave the traveler on centerline and play the mainsheet constantly to maintain helm balance. Also, tension the vang quite hard to control leech tension. Position the traveler just below the weather seat in light winds to help keep the boom close to centerline OUTHAULYou can use the outhaul for power in the bottom of the mainsail because outhaul tension primarily adjusts the shape in the main’s lower third. A looser outhaul increases lower leech “hook” and adds fullness. This can aid pointing ability as well as increasing power. A tighter outhaul flattens the lower sections of the main, which helps to minimize windward helm and reduce drag. Remember that in flat water and light winds a flatter sail is fast, whereas in chop a slightly fuller sail is needed to give the necessary punch. A good guide for tensioning the outhaul is the distance between the side of the boom and the middle of the shelf foot seam (a seam that runs from the tack to the clew of the main). In heavy winds, the outhaul should be tensioned tightly so that the shelf is completely closed and this seam is right alongside the boom. In medium winds, the outhaul should be tight enough so that this seam is about 1” off the side of the boom. In choppy conditions or when power is needed, ease the outhaul so that this seam is 1 3/4” off the boom’s side. Never have the outhaul any looser, except while sailing downwind, when it can be eased so that the shelf is nearly all the way open. The shelf foot seam will then be about 3” off the side of the boom. Determine outhaul tension based on the distance BACKSTAYThe backstay affects several different areas of sail trim and should never be overlooked as a power control. Pulling on the backstay does two things to the sail plan. First, it bends the mast by pulling on the tip, which opens the main leech and flattens the upper two-thirds of the sail. Second, it makes the headstay tighter, which flattens the upper entry of the jib and eases its leech, thus increasing pointing ability and reducing heel. Because pulling on the backstay has a large effect on main leech tension, whenever you adjust the backstay you should check your mainsheet trim and vang tension. Assume minimum tension when the backstay blocks are at rest and maximum tension when the blocks are about 1’ above the deck. BACKSTAY TENSION 0-6 knots Min 7-10 knots 1/4 11-14 knots 1/2 15-18 knots 3/4 19+ knots Max   The backstay turnbuckles should be adjusted according to conditions. Ease the turnbuckles in light air so the backstay has no tension and the backstay blocks ride just below the connector plate. A small piece of shock cord can be used to help hold the blocks up closer to the connector. This cord is attached from the deck through a block on the connector plate and then back to backstay bridle blocks. As the breeze increases, tighten the backstay turnbuckles in relation to the uppers and lowers to allow for maximum adjustment. Remember that, just like shroud tension, the backstay turnbuckles cannot be changed after the preparatory signal.  Maintain an eased luff tension in light winds. CUNNINGHAMThe main cunningham is used to position the draft of the sail. Aim to keep the maximum draft point close to 50% back in the sail (sighting from luff to leech). In up to 10 knots of breeze, you need very little cunningham. In 11-12 knots, use just enough cunningham to remove many of the wrinkles in the main. And as winds rise above 12 knots, progressively tighten the cunningham to remove all the sail’s wrinkles (a smooth luff) and maintain proper draft position in the top of the sail. The boom vang should be slack until about 12 knots of breeze when you have to start depowering. From there, it should be pulled on snug until you want to start easing the mainsheet because the boat is overpowered. In that case, pull the vang hard (you should see the boom bending). More on boom vang tension is given in the Heavy Air Techniques section below. THE JIB Proper jib trim upwind has one of the greatest effects on speed and pointing. Usually, the biggest mistake most J/22 sailors make is over trimming the jib sheet. This sheet is normally trimmed so that the middle batten is straight aft parallel to the boat’s centerline. In light wind and/or sloppy conditions, ease the jib sheet so that the middle batten is angled outboard 10-15 degrees. Also, in breezy conditions, ease the sheet for more twist in the leech. Generally speaking, the jib leech telltale should be flying but just about to start stalling. In the bigger breeze, however, this telltale will be less likely to stall because the jib is eased. Note that trimming the jib harder for short periods of time (where the middle batten is slightly hooked to windward of parallel to the centerline) is only effective in “ideal” boat-speed conditions (medium winds and flat water) because it narrows your steering “groove.” Like the main, be conscious of not over tensioning the jib halyard. However, never allow the jib halyard to be eased enough that there are scallops between the snaps. There should be slight wrinkles off each snap but they should not be extreme. To maximize pointing ability, we suggest cross-sheeting to the weather winch and using the larger Harken 009 ratchet blocks if possible. These blocks will allow maximum inboard positioning for the jib sheet lead. The J/22 is very sensitive to jib halyard tension. For light and medium breeze conditions, the jib halyard should be set so that slight “crow’s feet” wrinkles emanate from the snaps, with no scallops between the snaps. As the breeze increases, these wrinkles will become less and less visible as the halyard tension is increased, and they should disappear at about the same time you are halfway into the backstay. As the wind continues to increase, use more and more jib halyard tension. To get maximum tension for survival conditions, turn the boat downwind and let the backstay off. The middle crew should then pull the jib halyard as hard as possible. The starting jib lead position (called the “standard position”) for the M-7 main/ angled step and rake of 4’ 11” should be where the block on the car (not the pin, but the actual block sheave attachment point) is directly in line with the mast and the shroud chainplates. In heavier breezes (above 15 knots), move the lead aft to help depower the boat and widen the steering groove. The farthest aft the lead should ever be moved is three holes aft of the standard position. A good way to check your jib lead position is to trim the jib in so that the mid-leech batten is sheeted correctly and the halyard is properly set for the breeze condition. In that case, the foot of the jib near where the “Big Foot” sticker is (about 18” back from the tack) should be just inside the toe rail. You should either be able to see the shadow of the toe rail through the jib foot or the jib foot should actually be pressed against the rail. If the shadow of the toe rail isn’t visible through the jib foot, the car is too far back and should be moved forward a hole. If the jib is on top of or outside the toe rail, the car is too far forward and should be moved back a hole. We suggest drilling extra holes in your lead tracks so that finer tuning on the leads is possible.   Like the main, be conscious of not over tensioning the jib halyard. However, never allow the jib halyard to be eased enough that there are scallops between the snaps. There should be slight wrinkles off each snap but they should not be extreme. DOWNWIND SAIL TRIM THE SPINNAKER  Maintain an eased luff tension in light winds The general rule of spinnaker sheet trim is to allow 8-10” of curl in the luff of the spinnaker. The outboard end of the pole should be even vertically with the free-floating clew, and the guy (windward clew) should be continuously adjusted so that the pole remains perpendicular to the apparent wind. Pole height has a big effect on spinnaker performance. An effective and easily visible guide is to position your pole so that the center seam of the spinnaker (the vertical seam running from the head to the middle of the foot) is parallel to the mast. This generally occurs when the clews of the spinnaker are at the same height. Also be careful not to pull the pole too far aft, which over-flattens the spinnaker. The most important trimming technique in light air is to concentrate on good communication between the helmsman and the spinnaker trimmer. The goal is to sail as low as possible while still maintaining good pressure on the kite. An easy way to monitor this is to assess the tension on the sheet. It’s important not to sail too high, which translates into longer distances, but also don’t sail too low or you’ll sacrifice boat speed. The windward twing should always be all the way down. When sailing downwind in light air, the leeward twing is completely released. In very heavy air, pull the leeward twing on about 2’ away from the deck (so the sheet is just clearing the boom) to help keep the spinnaker under control. It is critical to make sure that the leeward twing is off during the set. If it isn’t, the spinnaker will fill prematurely and can cause the boat to create weather helm and round up. THE MAINSAIL Ease the mainsheet until a luff appears, and then trim slightly to create more apparent wind. Dead downwind the boom will be out to the shrouds. Set the vang in light to moderate air so the top batten is just open (pointed outboard) from parallel to the boom. The cunningham, backstay, and outhaul should all be eased for maximum power downwind. THE JIB The jib should be down on a downwind leg except in survival conditions when the concern is that you won’t be able to get enough tension back on the halyard at the leeward mark. If this is the case, leaving the jib up and very eased, almost luffing, is not going to slow the boat. CREW PLACEMENT UPWIND In light air going upwind, the crew should be as far forward as possible, with the farthest-forward person just behind the shrouds. An aft weight shift by the crew of almost a foot will help the boat steer through waves and big puffs. The skipper should sit forward of the traveler bar and as close to the jib trimmer as possible. In big breeze, the crew will be shoulder to shoulder with the farthest-forward person about a foot back from the shroud base. DOWNWIND Downwind in light air, the crew should again be as far forward as possible, with the farthest-forward person just behind the shroud base. In large waves and in big breeze, everyone should be behind the companionway in order to keep the bow out of the water. It’s also important downwind in heavy air to position the crew to the edges of the boat so as to keep it from rocking side to side. SAIL CARE Your North Sails are constructed out of the best materials on the market today. Before we made your sails we tested many different fabrics from the best suppliers in the world. MAINSAIL It is not necessary to remove the battens from the main when storing it. Be sure to roll the sail up parallel to the battens to avoid putting a permanent twist in the battens. Be sure to wash the sail off with fresh water when it gets salty and dry thoroughly before storing. JIB When rolling the jib keep the battens perpendicular to the leech. Pay special attention to the battens and batten pockets for wear and tear. Since this sail is manufactured from firm finished Dacron, problems can arise due to mishandling. Like the main, wash the sail off with fresh water when it gets wet with sail water. SPINNAKER The best thing you can do to prolong the life of your spinnaker is to always store it clean and dry. When the sail gets wet in salt water, wash the sail off and dry it thoroughly. Fold your spinnaker to store it if possible. Rev. R02a READ MORE

Download: Quick Tuning Chart for the M-11 Mainsail Quick Tuning Chart for the M-7 and M-9 Mainsails Bolt Rope Instructions BOAT TUNING Prebend Less Pre-bend More Pre-bend Heavy Crew Weight Light Softer Mast Stiffness Stiffer   You can see the above chart to search for proper pre-bend by checking your weight and mast stiffness. If you can’t find it, you can test to sail with every 5mm different pre-bend in the range provided in the tuning table to evaluate how the boat performs and you feel the boat.You may try pre-bend out of this range, if necessary.*In case it is difficult to bring enough pre-bend, you may move the mast step position back by 1-3cm. Spreader Deflection Due to the base helm characteristics of 420, you need to put the mast step almost max forward in the rule which is 2830mm. From this position, you then adjust the deflection (D) to create the desired pre-bend. Spreader Length 480mm is the standard length.The length affects sideways bend. That makes a difference in stability of the mainsail leech and its response when a puff hits the boat. One suggestion is set longer spreader lengths for heavy crews and shorter for light weight crews. This can cover the weak area of each team’s weight. You can control it in range of 465-495mm, which is effective. TUNING TIPS In the breeze you need to chock quite hard as you need to use a lot of vang tension in the wind. Jib Cunningham  – Do not use any until you are overpowered, then start to use gradually, you have to take it very hard on when strong wind.To archieve it,it is good to have a bowline tied at the end of the rope so crew could get their foot in the loop to get more cunningham tension on. Windward Sheet – Windward sheeting is important to hold the jib leech position at the proper inside position to create the best performance, even though it is not easy to use it properly. Use to put mark on the jib sheet at the cleat. performance, even though it is not easy to use it properly. Jib Height– The peak rope fixed at the head of jib controls the jib height.Normally it must be fixed by having a proper deck sweeping effect. However, for the 420 class it is important to know the height should be adjusted to provide the optimum jib lead angle. As the sheeting point is fixed, you should adjust the peak rope to move the jib clew up or down to achieve the desired sheeting angle. So you can use it for this sake.Clear understanding about the relationship between jib lead angle, jib height and mast rake will let you set upthe jib to suit the conditions. Spinnaker Pole Height When using the spinnaker in choppy waves on a flat run, it is best to set up the spinnaker pole height so the tack (corner of spinnaker the pole is closet to) is slightly lower than the clew. Centreboard You needed to have a good action to play the centerboard as it is hard to adjust the other controls readily. The centreboard slot needs to be packed well with the centreboard to allow the centreboard to be changed easily. You needed to have a good action to play the centerboard as it is hard to adjust the other controls readily. The centreboard slot needs to be packed well with the centreboard to allow the centreboard to be changed easily. READ MORE

The following tuning guide is meant to be a good starting point when setting up your Melges 24. Depending on total crew weight, wind and sea condition and sailing style you may have to alter your set up slightly from what is given here. As you read this tuning guide, write down any questions you might have and we will be happy to discuss them in detail with you. The goal of this tuning guide is to achieve a rig set up that is fast in all conditions upwind and down. Your new North sails are designed with this “all around” philosophy in mind. CLASS RULES We have a great set of rules that many of the Melges 24 owners along with the International Sailing Federation have developed over the years since the introduction of the Melges 24. The current class rules can be downloaded from melges24.com. If you have any specific questions about class rules please feel free to ask any of our Melges 24 class experts to help you with clarification. PRE-RACE PREPARATION One of the most important items you and your team can do in preparing for high performance racing is to have your Melges 24 ready to race. Listed in this section are just a few items we feel are critical for success on the racecourse. TRAILER AND BOAT Make sure when transporting your Melges 24 that the keel bulb always sits perfectly in the keel bed of the trailer. If the boat is sitting where she belongs on the trailer you will find the bulb resting perfectly in the keel bed with space in the keel box both in front and in back of the keel. Also packing pre-cut foam between the keel edges / sides and the keel box will help prevent any movement of the keel when trailing. Many teams seal the top of the keel bulb and the top of the keel box with plastic so that dirt and other debris cannot scratch or damage any part of the keel when traveling. Hull, Rudder and Keel Class rules do not allow re-shaping of these items. Hull For trailing the investment of our 3-piece bottom cover and 1 piece top cover is well worth the protection it affords. Rudder The rudder should always be removed when not in use and kept in its padded rudder bag. Keel We just talked about taking care of your keel when the boat is on the trailer. When lowering the keel either with the keel crane or by picking the boat up with an electric hoist make sure you have rinsed out the keel box along with the delrins. Because of the tight fit between keel and the delrins even small bits of debris can harm the finish of the keel. Launching and Retrieving The Boat Believe it or not this is when most damage occurs to Melges 24s. When trailer launching make sure keel box is well packed, as the keel wants to shift as soon as the transom starts floating. When using an electric hoist be sure to keep the boat level or maybe a few inches down in the bow. Again we are trying to protect the keel. Also by holding the bow down just a few inches we are protecting the spreaders from possibly hanging up on the hoist arm as the spreaders pass the arm. Deck Preparation The factory Melges 24 comes ready to race. There are a few small class legal modifications that really help with sailing the boat. With your spinnaker up at maximum hoist mark the halyard with a black permanent marker. With your bow sprit fully extended also mark the bow sprit extender line. With the bow sprit retracted (to class maximum extension when sailing upwind) we want to put a knot on the bow sprit retraction line.By having the pole extended that few extra inches we prevent water from coming in the gasket area of the pole when sailing upwind in larger waves. Also, add an additional rubber gasket to the pole so that when the pole is retracted the second gasket retracts over the one on the hull.Most now do not use the retraction line at all and use the tack line to pull in the bow sprit. Lubricate your bow sprit with a Teflon based jelly like compound. Super Lube, Vaseline are some examples.Do not use a dry Teflon spray because this will not lubricate and protect your gasket seal. The addition of a small batten (soft 6”) to the end of your bow sprit will help prevent the tack line from dropping over the end of the pole on a take down Mount a Wichard hook or Carabiner on the bottom of the boom at the outhaul turning block.We will place the spinnaker halyard tail in this hook for spinnaker douses.You will find that by placing the tail through this hook that the halyard will not re-cleat itself when the spinnaker is on the way down. On older boats it is only necessary to drill extra holes in the jib track next to the third bolt head (from the back of the track). Drill one of these holes just in front of the third bolt head, between the factory hole and the bolt head. Also, drill the third bolt head out a little for extra lead adjustment position and drill three extra holes aft of the third bolt head in between the factory holes for finer adjustment. PRACTICE - PRACTICE - PRACTICE! It has been said that each mark rounding can be worth a minute on the course. Now that is a reference between the first group and the last group of boats. That is a lot of time and a majority of it comes at the corners and the first few minutes of a race. Knowing how your Melges 24 accelerates off the starting line is something you need to practice. Sets at the windward mark are critical, especially if you want to gybe right away. Having the ability to pass between two leeward gate marks absolutely requires that you and your crew understand all three spinnaker takedowns, the Mexican, the windward and the leeward. You do not have to have rock star crews in the Melges 24 class to be successful; you do need to have a regular steady crew who are willing to practice. If we had “Time On The Boat Meters” you would find the top finishing boats in our class had the most accumulated time together sailing the Melges 24. RIG SETUP MAST DOWN As the Melges 24 comes almost completely ready to race straight from the factory there is very little to do to prepare your boat and mast to be competitive. With the mast down, be sure to mount your masthead backstay batten and wind indicator to the top of the mast. We like to put a dark colored piece of tape around each spreader 12” in from each tip. Our jibs are designed with relatively straight leeches and tighter sheeting angles, thus the 12”(305mm) mark. This will be used later for judging how tight or loose the jib is trimmed. Another thing we like to do is tie some light weight shock cord between the two lower shrouds around the front of the mast 6”- 8” down from their attachment points. This keeps the head of the spinnaker from getting jammed between the shrouds and mast on hoists. MAST UP With mast stepped and the jib halyard hyfield lever locked down attach a 50’ tape measure to the main halyard and hoist to the top (two blocked). Be sure to remove the factory main halyard shackle and run the halyard straight through the end of the tape, tie a overhand or figure eight knot in the end of the tape. Check to see that the mast is close to centered by measuring to the chainplates on both sides of the boat. At this point the upper shrouds should be snug (16 on a Loos Model B tension gauge) and the lowers should be loose. Tighten/loosen the upper shrouds on each side so that the mast is centered side to side. Now measure from the top of the mast to the intersection of the transom and the bottom of the hull. This measurement should be 36’6+1/2”(11.140). Tighten or loosen the turnbuckle above the hyfield lever to achieve this measurement. Make sure that you achieve this measurement with 16 on the uppers. Tension the lower shrouds so when using the Model B Loos gauge and pulled to the line, you measure 68mm from the the shroud to the end of the gauge. Now tighten the uppers 18 turns and the lowers 15 turns to load up the rig. Measure the side to side as per below and check for the mast column to be straight at this point. Finally, with the upper shrouds back at 16 on the Loos tension gauge, recheck to be sure the mast tip is centered side to side and that the mast rake is 36’6+1/2”. To check the rake it is best to use the tape measure on the main halyard by taking a 3/16”(5mm) short piece of line and tying a knot in each end maybe 4” (100mm) apart. Put one knot in the mast tunnel and put the other end of the line through the end of the tape measure or the knot in the halyard then put the other knot in the mast tunnel and raise the halyard to where the upper sidestays intersect the mast. Measure down to the deck on each side of the boat at the upper sidestay position and center the mast side to side. RIG TENSION The tension on the upper shrouds is critical to the upwind shape of primarily the jib and to a smaller degree the mainsail. For maximum speed it is important to adjust the tension on the upper and lower shrouds depending on wind and sea conditions. For the uppers, which get quite tight, we use a Loos Model B tension gauge to measure shroud tension and adjust the tension depending on the wind strength using the following chart. The lower shrouds control the side-to-side sag or bend of the mast and to a smaller degree how much the mast can bend forward in the middle. The lowers have a lot of control over the shape of the main because of this and it is very important to be sure they are adjusted correctly. Because the tension on the lowers is so light, we prefer to set their tension by sighting up the backside of the mast to see how much sag the mast has to set the lower tension. It is not fast except in very windy conditions to have the middle of the mast bending to windward. When it becomes so windy that the mainsail turns inside out and begins to luff or flog in the puffs, then it is fast to tighten the lowers so that the mast falls off to leeward above the spreaders. This keeps the bottom section of the mast from over bending fore and aft and thus keeps the bottom section of the mainsail working while twisting open the top half to depower. SPECIAL NOTE When sailing with lowers this tight it is extremely important to keep some backstay on going downwind. If the backstay is not on, the mast will invert and most likely break!! Always have the forward crew sight up the mast to insure that there is enough backstay on! Below is a chart of the settings on the upper and lower shrouds that we have found fast: This chart was formulated for the Ronstan turnbuckles and the internal wire jib halyard system. For the open body turnbuckles use ½ turn to equate to this chart of 1 full turn for the Ronstan turnbuckles. As you can see from the chart we have a very detailed adjustment schedule. The goal is to be within a 1 step range of the correct setting for the given wind range. The chart you build for your boat may vary slightly on the number of full turns on or off to achieve maximum performance. After you have set up the uppers to the correct wind speed, sail the boat on both tacks checking the mast sag side to side and adjusting the lowers according to the wind speed. After you have sailed the boat a while you can create a chart of the shroud tensions and the number of turns needed to be put on or taken off the shrouds for each significant change in wind speed. Also, create a chart for turnbuckle numbers for each side of the boat. This will enable you to exactly duplicate settings without counting turns. If you have the open body turnbuckles it is best to measure the gap between the ends of the threaded studs with a micrometer and record those numbers when the rig is at base so you have a starting point to return to. Note that in heavy seas you will want to err a little bit on the tight side to allow for a softer backstay and loose mainsheet and in flat water you can err a little bit in the light side to allow for more backstay and a bendier mast. While class rules allow you to adjust your shrouds anytime during a race we like to set the boat up for the lightest wind speed we expect to see on the first beat. Then if the wind speed changes significantly during a leg we adjust our shrouds according to our chart. Having a base setting using your light medium numbers is a good way to leave the dock each day for the races. It is easy to spin up and down from there. Develop this habit and you will find tuning the rig is not such a mystery but actually rather simple. WIND UPPER TENSION LOWER SAG 0-6 - Light Loosen 2 turns from base ¾” leeward sag, loosen 1 turn from base 6-8 Loos 16 -- Base Setting ¾” leeward sag -- Base Setting 7-10 Plus 3 Plus 2 10-11 6 4 11-12 9 6 12-13 12 8 13-15 15 11 15-17 18 14 17-19 20 17 19-21 23 20 21-23 25 24 23+ Loosen forestay 5 turns - Go to 29 27 The chart below is for the FIXED FORESTAY set up with the Vectran jib halyard: WIND UPPER TENSION LOWER SAG 0-6 - Light Loosen 2 turns from base ¾” leeward sag, loosen 1 turn from base 6-8 Loos 16 -- Base Setting ¾” leeward sag – Base Setting 7-10 Loosen Forestay turnbuckle 6 full turns from base Plus 2 on uppers from base Plus 1.5 10-11 5 3.5 11-12 8 5.5 12-13 Loosen Forestay turnbuckle 12 full turns from base Plus 10 on uppers from base 7.5 13-15 12 9 15-18 Loosen forestay 18 full turns from base Plus 15 on uppers from base 12 17-20 18 14 19-21 21 16 SAIL TRIM MAINSAIL Like other boats main trim on the Melges 24 in keyed off the end of the top batten. In light to moderate air we trim the main so that the telltale on the top batten is stalled about 25% of the time (the second telltale from the top -at the second batten, is flying 100% of the time). As the wind increases both telltales will fly all the time. In light to moderate air the back end of the top batten should be parallel to the centerline on the boat, in heavy air it will be pointed out about 5 degrees. Don’t forget that mainsheet tension is how you tension your forestay, which directly effects on your pointing ability. There is a fine line on having enough tension for good pointing ability and over-trimming the main. Usually most over-trimming of mainsails occurs in light air. Following is an overview of each main control and how it should be adjusted. BACKSTAY The backstay controls the overall power in the sail plan, particularly the main. Generally we do not use any backstay upwind until about 12 knots true. Then we will start putting the backstay on to depower the boat and keep it on its feet. It is vital that every time you adjust the backstay you adjust the mainsheet as well. When you tighten the backstay tighten the mainsheet to keep the top batten angle the same. In reverse when you loosen the backstay be sure to ease the main as well. This is not the case in heavy air, as you can leave the mainsheet more constant and work the backstay to change power. In puffy conditions we find it better to play the backstay rather than the mainsheet. The mainsheet also effects how the jib luff sags so it is faster to keep the main trimmed and initially play the backstay in a puff. The jib will not get fuller in the puffs and the boat will accelerate faster this way. When it is really windy, you can switch back to working the mainsail and keeping the backstay on really hard. OUTHAUL Because the slot on the Melges 24 is quite narrow, the bottom of the main generally needs to be on the flat side. Keep the outhaul tight (clew at black band) in conditions when the crew is on the rail. When the crew is in the boat you can ease the clew in 1” from the black band. Clew should be 2-3” in from band downwind except in heavy air tight reaching when it should be tight. VANG We use the vang upwind as soon as the boat is overpowered. At the early stages of being overpowered we simply snug the vang with the mainsheet trimmed while going upwind. We do this so that when easing the mainsheet in the puffs we do not lose control of main leech. As you become more overpowered we pull the vang harder to flatten the bottom 1/3rd of the mainsail. Downwind adjust the vang so the top batten is parallel to the boom. Generally the vang with the slack taken out of it upwind will be too tight for downwind sailing. We like to make a mark on the vang itself for an approximate downwind setting and then ease the vang to that mark just before rounding the weather mark. CUNNINGHAM We do not use the main Cunningham until the wind gets to over 16 knots. Then we pull on just enough to remove any horizontal wrinkles in the sail. Under 16 knots be sure the Cunningham is loose enough to allow for some slight horizontal wrinkles in the luff of the main. Downwind the Cunningham should be off. TRAVELER As a rule of thumb, keep the traveler car between the skipper foot rests when sailing upwind. Never sail with the car above the windward one nor to leeward of the leeward one. In light air (crew in boat) the car will be at the windward foot push. As the crew comes up on the rail we find it very fast to center the car or pull it above centerline if it is choppy conditions. As the breeze continues to build, keep the car centered or up depending on chop. If it is choppy then you want to err on the traveler higher with a looser mainsheet to allow the top of the main to twist. In really heavy air when the mainsail tends to “turn inside out” keep the traveler centered or raised to stop the main from luffing and put some power in the bottom of the sail. In moderately heavy air, with lots of chop, you can experiment with keeping the backstay on hard to keep the headstay straight, and pulling the main traveler to windward with a soft mainsheet to keep twist in the main. JIB TRIM Because the jib on the Melges 24 is a high aspect sail (tall and skinny) it is very sensitive to small adjustments in jib sheet tension. Tightening or easing the jib sheet 1/2” can have a big effect on boat speed and pointing. With the 36’ 6 1/2” mast rake setting you should use the third bolt head from the back of the jib track for a base setting, the next special drilled hole just forward of that third bolt for ligther wind and the holes just after the third bolt for conditions above base conditions. The jib lead should be moved aft to flatten the jib as the wind increases ending up 3 holes aft of base in heavy conditions. In choppier conditions you will want to err on keeping the lead further forward. We have placed a telltale on the upper leech (near the spreaders) of the jib to help you judge how tight or loose the sheet should be. The general rule of thumb is to trim the sheet hard enough so that the upper leech telltale is just on the edge of stalling. Just as with the mainsail it will be easy to stall the telltale in light air and very hard to stall in heavy air even with the sheet trimmed very hard. JIB CLOTH TENSION Adjust the small line at the tack of the jib so the luff of the sail has some slight horizontal wrinkles coming off it. It will be necessary to change the tension depending on the wind speed to achieve some slight wrinkles at all times. In very heavy air, tension the luff so that the sail is smooth and you are pulling out all the wrinkles. LEECH CORD Be sure that your leech cord is not too tight. It is very easy to put a lot of tension on the cord in heavy air and have it too tight in light air. SPINNAKER TRIM Spinnaker trim on the Melges is much easier than that of a conventional poled boat. There are a few tricks that can make you faster downwind and make your sail handling easier. Tack height on the sail is important. Generally, we keep the tack down tight to the pole end when reaching (broad or beam). Letting the tack up on reach will just move the sail to leeward and increase heeling. When we can let the tack line off when the tack will ride straight up or just slightly to leeward. We have found this setup to be faster in these conditions. We will generally let the tack off in these conditions 12-18”. Two other topics that always come up are whether to take the spinnaker down between the shrouds and the mast or behind them. The other topic is whether to gybe the spinnaker inside it’s luff or outside. We’ve found that it almost always seems easier to take the spinnaker down behind the shrouds. This makes setting the spinnaker easier as it does not have to fit between the shrouds, the vang, the jib and the boom. When setting the spinnaker, it is best to take the whole sail out of the bag prior to setting. This makes it much easier to hoist the sail. Normally, we’ve found that it is just as fast and a lot safer to gybe the spinnaker inside its luff. This eliminates any chance that the lazy sheet could fall in the water, it makes for a less sheet for the spinnaker trimmer to pull in, and it allows you to perform any of the three takedowns at the leeward mark. GYBING THE ASYMMETRIC There are two types of gybes. The inside gybe and the outside gybe. How you hook up your tack line to your spinnaker tack dictates whether you will gybe inside or outside. By placing your tack line on top of the spinnaker sheet when hooking the tack line up to the spinnaker you are setting up for an inside gybe, where the spinnaker passes between the luff of the spinnaker and the furled up jib on the headstay. Hooking up the tack line underneath the spinnaker sheet sets you up for an outside gybe. Most of the time though, you will see teams gybing inside. On the gybe, the fastest method is to have the trimmer ease the kite as the boat heads down, another crew starts to trim the new sheet and the forward crew overhauls the new sheet just behind the shrouds. The forward crew then pulls down on the clew to untwist the head as the kite comes around. Almost everyone is now gybing inside and not using the outside gybes. SPINNAKER SETS We have found that it is best to always set the spinnaker from behind the shrouds. This does mandate taking the spinnaker down behind the shrouds, which is the easiest way for all three takedowns. SPINNAKER DOUSES There are three types of takedowns: the windward, the leeward, and the “Mexican”.The windward douse is used when doing a port rounding and you are app READ MORE

Congratulations on your purchase of North CFJ sails. We are confident you will find superior speed over all conditions. Our new CFJ sails are designed to be fast, easy to trim as well as quite durable. The following measurements are those we have found to be the fastest for your new North sails. We urge you to set your boat to these specifications when tuning your boat. This will help you achieve consistency in boat speed, and will serve as a basis for future tuning. If you have any questions or problems or are not able to get your boat to match up these specs, please feel free to contact our CFJ experts. Good luck and good sailing! Onshore Adjustments STEP 1 Before stepping the mast, check the length of the spreaders. Measure your spreaders from the point where the shroud runs through the tip to where the spreader butts up against the side of the mast. This measurement should be 16 1/2 – 171/2 inches. STEP 2 Check the butt position of the mast. This is measured from the centerboard pin to the back of the mast extrusion itself and should be 18 – 18 1/2 inches. STEP 3 Step the mast and attach the forestay to the stem plate in the 2nds hole back. STEP 4 Attach the shrouds in their respective chainplates so the rig is just snug. STEP 5 Hoist a tape measure on the main halyard and measure back to the top of the transom at the back of the boat. With the rig leaning back on the forestay and the shrouds snug, this measurement should be approximately 19’4″ to 19’6″. STEP 6 With the tape measure still attached to the main halyard and the shrouds taught, check the lateral straightness of the mast by measuring down to the rails on opposite sides directly across from the chainplate. If the difference is more that 5/8″, readjust your shrouds accordingly. STEP 7 Hoist your jib and tension the halyard until the measurement at the transom becomes 19’11”. Basically, we are inducing 6-7 inches of “rig-tension” into the boat. The rig should be quite tight and tight enough so that when you are sailing in winds up to 12 mph the leeward shroud remain snug. Only in winds above 12 mph should the leeward shroud begin to go slack. This rake measurement and rig tension are important for boat balance, mastbend, and jib luff sag. The rig tension helps control the mast bend correctly as well as minimize luff sag in the jib. These two functions will effectively control the shape of the sails so there will be very few adjustments needed to trim your North sails for top speed. The rake measurement and mast butt position have been selected for proper helm balance and jib lead position. Sail Adjustments MAIN CUNNINGhAM For the main halyard/cunningham it is best to leave a hint of horizontal wrinkles from the luff of your main nearly all times. In a breeze when the boat is overpowered, you may tension the main halyard and/or the cunningham to just barely remove all wrinkles and have the luff be quite smooth. OUTHAUL In light winds it is best to pull the outhaul tight enough so there is a hint of a horizontal crease in the foot of the main parallel to the boom. In medium winds (above 5 mph), pull the outhaul tighter so that the crease is apparent. In heavier winds (above 12 mph), pull the outhaul very tight so that there is a hard crease in the main just above the boom. JIB SHEET TRIM Unfortunately, there is no easy guide for jib trim. We are looking for a parallel slot between the exit of the jib and the entry of he main. A guide that has been used is to imagine a batten on the jib at mid leech. The “batten” is usually set parallel to the center line of the boat, making the upper batten of the jib twist outboard slightly and the lower batten twist inboard slightly. It seem that 90% of the time boatspeed problems are due to a faulty jib sheet trim. Much of the faulty trim is caused by an undertrimmed jib. JIB HEAD PLACEMENT Your North CFJ jib is designed so that the lead should be placed close to the center of the track when the boat is tuned with proper rake. To fine tune this position, luff the boat slowly into the wind with the jib properly trimmed, as above, and note how the jib luff breaks. If the jib luff breaks higher first, move the jib lead forward until the break is nearly even. If the jib breaks lower first, move the jib lead aft, again until the break is even. The “break even” luff position for your jib is proper for all wind and sea conditions until it is blowing over 10-12 mph. At this point, or when the boat is overpowered, move the jib lead progressively aft until a maximum aft position of 2″ aft of the “break even” position is achieved. At this point the jib will be breaking earlier, higher as the boat is luffed up into the wind. MAINSHEET TRIM AND BOOMVANG The mainsheet should be pulled tight enough so that the last 18″ of the upper batten becomes parallel to the boom on a lateral plane. This is sighted from underneath the boom looking up the sail and lining up the batten and the boom an that plane. In light winds it is impossible to keep the upper batten from hooking slightly to windward because of the weight of the boom hanging on the leech of the sail. In choppy conditions, or after a tack, ease the mainsheet approximately 6 inches to help open the upper batten slightly past parallel to the boom. When the boat becomes overpowered, the boomvang is used hold the boom down and keep the upper batten parallel to the boom. It also induces a great amount of mast bend and will help to flatten out the sail. At this point, the mainsheet can be eased so that the boom will move to leeward and depower the boat. The heavier the winds, the heavier the boomvang tension. Downwind the vang should be trimmed enough to keep the boom down and the leech set with the upper batten parallel to the boom. There is a telltale placed on the upper batten on your North mainsail which should flow straight off the leech when the boomvang is set properly downwind. Your North CFJ spinnaker should be set so that there is 5-8 inches of curl in the luff of the spinnaker at all times. Try to avoid over trimming the spinnaker and closing the slot between the main and the chute. The halyard should be off the mast approximately 5 inches at all times, and the pole set so that the two ends are parallel to the deck. If the spinnaker breaks high first, check that the pole is not too high, and if the spinnaker breaks low first, be sure that the pole is not too low. We wish you good luck and fast sailing! Sail Care Your North Sails are constructed out of the best materials on the market today. We make sure of this by testing every roll of cloth we use. Through proper care and maintenance your sails will give you the performance you have come to expect from a North sail. The most important factor for a long life for your sails is to watch them for signs of wear and tear in high load and chafe areas. Be sure to wash the sails off with fresh water and dry the sails thoroughly before storing. A dry, mild climate is best. Excessive heat can cause problems with the sails due to the possibility of shrinkage. It is best to roll the mainsail and jib. MAINSAIL When hoisting and lowering the sail try to minimize the amount of creasing or wrinkling of the sail. Every time the sail gains a crease the cloth breaks down that much faster. Always have someone contain the leech and luff during these procedures. The battens can be left in the sail without any problems. Be sure to roll the sail down the leech so that the battens will not twist. This could cause damage to the battens. JIB When rolling the jib keep the battens perpendicular to the leech. Pay special attention to the battens and batten pockets for wear and tear. SPINNAKER The spinnaker is fairly straight forward. Be sure to repair all tears and pulled stitches. Folding the sail when storing is best. At North Sails we are constantly striving to make our products better. If you have any comments on this tuning guide and how it could be improved for your purposes we’d love to hear from you. Please give us a call or drop us a line. READ MORE

This tuning guide applies to the DSD design, VS design and the Proctor design Thistle sails. These designs are the result of hours of boat on boat sail testing and racing experience. VS (Fisher) Quick Tuning Guide DSD Quick Tuning Guide Proctor Quick Tuning Guide Northwest Quick Tuning Guide The following tuning guide is meant to be a comprehensive guide for setting and trimming your North Sails. Please read it thoroughly before using your sails for the first time. We urge you to read the section on sail care in order to prolong the life of your sails. Boat Preparation and Rig Tuning LOOS TENSION GAUGE The Loos tension gauge is a relatively accurate instrument that will help measure the tension of your standing rigging. The newer Loos Pro gauge is spring loaded and some sailors have found it to be slightly more accurate and reliable than the Loos Model A. Following is a comparison of the numbers between the Model A and the Pro gauges. We have broken down the numbers for both 1/8” forestay tension and 1/16” diamond tension. 1/8” Cable Forestay Tension TENSION LOOS MODEL A LOOS PRO GAUGE 240 28 21 260 30 22 280 31 23 300 32 24 320 33 25 340 34 26 360 35 27   1/16” Wire Diamond Tension With North Proctor model sails DIAMOND MODEL A PRO Top 12-13 9-10 Middle 15 11 Bottom 15-16 11-12   1/16” Wire Diamond Tension With North Fisher model sails DIAMOND MODEL A PRO Top 4-8 2-4 Middle 9-13 5-10 Bottom 4-8 2-4   DIAMOND TENSION Before you step the mast, set the diamond tension to achieve proper mast bend. Diamond tension, not only has an effect on the sideways bend in the mast, but also on fore and aft bend. The suggested numbers that we offer here will, again, get you very close so that your mast and North mainsail will work well together. Due to the nature of the aluminum extrusion and in some cases the way the masts are rigged, some masts are stiffer and some masts are softer than others. This is not a problem; it just requires slight adjustments to your diamonds. Always be sure to check your diamond tension and straightness of the mast while it is supported at both ends with the sail track upwards. If while sailing in marginal hiking conditions (10 – 12 mph breeze) you notice slight diagonal overbend wrinkles in the upper part of your mainsail, your upper diamonds are most likely too loose which is allowing the upper part of your mast to bend too much. On the other hand, if your mainsail in the upper third appears fairly round and is difficult to flatten out in a breeze, your upper diamonds are most likely too tight. For Proctor’s main when sailing above 490 pounds of total crew weight, set the diamonds close to 18 (number scale on the Loos gauge—the numbers do not correspond to pounds) top to bottom. Set them progressively looser for lighter crew weights to a minimum of 10 on the Loos gauge, e.g. top crew weight of 490 pounds, scale 18; to crew weights less than 430 pounds, scale 10. For Fisher’s main, set your diamonds at approximately 6 – 14 – 9 (not pounds and measuring from bottom to top). The lighter the crew weights, the lighter the tension on the top diamonds. Set the top diamond at 4 or less when sailing below 430 pounds in crew weight. On wood masts, the diamond tension should be slightly less than the standard aluminum mast because of possible compression problems that could develop from excessive tension. Never tension any of the diamonds on a wood mast to more than 16. On the older, stiffer, gold aluminum masts the diamond tension should be considerably looser to allow the mast to bend as easily as possible. You should drop the tension on all the diamonds approximately 4 numbers from top to bottom. While the Thistle mast looks fairly complicated with three sets of diamonds, these adjustments listed above will make it fairly easy to properly tune your mast to your mainsail for all crew weights and all wind velocities. If you have any questions about the proper bend in your mast, please don’t hesitate to call us. (Note: The numbers above relate to the Model A gauge. Refer to the conversion chart under Loos Gauge section for new Pro Gauge.) MAST STEP/MAST BUTT Position your mast butt casting so that the mast will be positioned at the minimum “J” —or 4′ 9″ measured from the forestay to the front of the mast on an aluminum mast or 4′ 8 1/2” measured from the forestay to the front of the wood mast. Position the mast on the step so that it is even fore and aft. In other words, the mast butt does not protrude out over the front or back of the mast step. We have found that it works well to have the step positioned at minimum “J” dimension when the mast is set squarely on the step. The mast should rest on the mast step in such a way that it has nearly 1/2” of positive prebend will develop when the rig is properly tensioned (we’ll discuss this later). Measure prebend by pulling the main halyard down all the way to the gooseneck so that the wire is up against the back of the mast. You will notice the prebend as the gap between your main halyard wire and the mast as it bends forward. There should be a slight gap (nearly 1/8”- see picture) between the casting on the mast and the casting on the grating at the forward edge. The gap at the front will help the mast bend easier because it rocks slightly aft of the central axis of the mast. If the mast prebends more than 1″ (forward at the middle, aft at the head) shim the front of the step between the step and the grating. This is better than putting thickness (coins, stainless tangs, etc.) between the casting on the mast and the casting on the grating because it still allows the mast to remain flexible. It is important that the mast butt casting be securely fastened to the bottom of the mast. Any slop whatsoever can greatly affect the mast’s ability to bend properly. A quick check to verify if the mast is set up properly is to push the mast forward from behind, halfway between the spinnaker pole eye and the lower diamonds. If the mast feels stiff or it’s bend restricted, most likely the mast butt is not set up well. A telltale sign that the mast is bending correctly is that when all the crew weight is positioned on the weather rail (about 8 mph breeze), there will be evidence of overbend wrinkles developing in the mainsail running from the area of the lower diamond diagonally down towards the clew of the main. In heavy winds (over 15 to 18 mph) or in flat water, these overbend wrinkles could be quite pronounced and should actually run back to the near the aft edge of the windows. If not, check your mast butt and diamond tension as there is most likely not enough mast bend developing. On the other hand, if the overbend goes past the aft end of the window, then you have too much pre- bend and should add another shim under the front of the mast step. RAKE Mast rake is measured by hooking a tape measure on the main halyard and hoisting it all the way to the top of the mast until the shackle just hits the sheave. The measurement point on the boat is located at the back edge of the bottom of the tiller hole (not the traveler). For those boats still rigged with the smaller 3/32″ forestay the reading should be 5 numbers lower. Too much rig tension will tend to increase prebend. Too little tension will tend to reduce it. (Note: Refer to conversion chart under Loos Gauge section for new Pro Gauge.) Rigging the Sails and Sail Trim your shrouds and forestay so that your rake measurement (with the rig properly tensioned and the correct amount of pre- bend) is: 26′ 11 1/2” to 27′ 1/2” for both Proctor’s and Fisher’s mains. The major consideration with both design mainsails is to maximize rake and still be able to get sufficient mainsheet tension for all conditions. The rake mentioned above positions the rig for proper boat balance. On some boats, however, because the traveler or boom block arrangement is not set as low as ideal it may not be possible to develop enough mainsheet tension in heavy air. To check this, hold your boom up so that the mainsheet is block to block and measure to the 11′ 11″ point at the back of your boom. On most boats this should be just in front of your outhaul sheave. Again, with the halyard pulled to the top of the mast, the measurement to the top of your boom should be 26′ 2″ minimum. If you have difficulty achieving this number, check to see if you can arrange your traveler or mainsheet blocks. Note: In order to allow sufficient sheeting with a long leech and rake, the mainsheet needs to be properly arranged at the end of the boom. Do not dead end the sheet on the becket on the bottom of the boom block; oftentimes this can reduce available main sheeting by nearly 6″. Instead, run the mainsheet from the boom block through the block on the traveler from front to back and dead end it on the boom, behind the block. You can either tie the mainsheet to the same slider that the block is attached to, or preferably a whole separate slider or boom bail. You can even drill a hole in the bottom of the boom and tie a knot inside the boom. RIG TENSION For a 1/8″, 1×19 wire forestay (which we suggest), tension your rig to the point where your Loos tension gauge reads: 30 to 35 (260 – 360 lbs) for Proctor’s main and 28 to 32 (240 – 300 lbs) for Fisher’s main. (Important: Measure the forestay, not the sidestays). Mainsail MAIN HALYARD The halyard should be pulled all the way up to allow for correct leech and luff tension. When hoisted, the top of the sail must pass the bottom of the sheave box. You may check your main halyard lock position with the mast down to be sure the shackle is tight against the sheave when fully hoisted. Stretch in the wire will allow it to come to the proper position when the sail is pulled up. In lighter winds, using the lower ball will help reduce the tension and allow wrinkles to develop from head to tack. An aid in hoisting the sail to the top, it helps to let the tack out of the tack pin and leave the outhaul looser. After the halyard is locked, pull the sail down with the Cunningham to help make in the tack pin (the boltrope is attached into the luff of your main sail into the luff of your mainsail under considerable tension which will help make the Cunningham snap up when released). Some Thistlers like to feed the rope back into the groove below the sail entry slot on your mast. To do this you must put the rope in the lower groove before putting the boom on the gooseneck. Then, with the outhaul, mainsheet, and vang eased all the way and the mainsail tack attached, you can get the boom onto the gooseneck fitting. This will help the Cunningham work better but can do harm to the sail if not treated properly. If you do feed the rope into the groove below the entry, be sure you release your outhaul before you drop the mainsail. If the outhaul is on tight, you can easily tear the bolt rope away from the sail above the Cunningham. CUNNINGHAM The Cunningham flattens the sail and moves the draft forward as it is tensioned. When under-powered, ease the Cunningham and when over-powered pull it tighter. Generally it is better to leave the Cunningham too loose than too tight. In light winds, if your main halyard is positioned properly, there will be wrinkles all the way head to tack. Little or no Cunningham will be required. In marginal hiking conditions the Cunningham would be tensioned slightly so that the wrinkles will be limited to the lower half of the main. In heavier winds, pull the Cunningham harder so that wrinkles are just barely showing in the lower one-third of the luff of your mainsail. OUTHAUL The outhaul adjusts the depth in the lower part of your mainsail. As the outhaul is eased, the shelf on the bottom of the sail opens and the seam that attaches it to the sail moves away from the boom. To gauge outhaul tension, judge the distance from the seam to the side of the boom at roughly the center of the mainsail foot. Proctor’s main upwind In 4 to 8 knots of wind and medium chop the seam should be 4″ to 5″ from the boom. In smooth water 3″; when fully hiked 1″. When overpowered and you’re dropping the traveler to leeward, pull the outhaul as hard as possible—until the clew slug hits the stop at the end of the boom. Fisher’s main upwind The outhaul will be pulled tight enough so that there is no more than a 2″ gap between the side of the boom and the shelf foot seam in the middle of the foot. In breezes above 10 – 12 mph when the boat becomes overpowered the outhaul will be pulled tighter until the seam is pulled up snug against the side of the boom (maximum outhaul). When reaching, to find the most eased position, ease off the outhaul so the shelf is open 4-5” from the side of the boom. When overpowered on a reach, with the spinnaker, leave the outhaul set as you had it upwind. For downwind sailing, also leave your outhaul in the upwind tensioned position for maximum projected area. MAINSHEET The mainsheet controls the powerful upper leech of your mainsail. It is the single most important adjustment. Therefore you must judge proper mainsheet trim by two factors: angle of the top two battens and feel. In ideal pointing and boat speed conditions, the top batten will be angled considerably to windward of parallel to the boom (nearly 15 degrees). It is not unusual that the upper batten telltale will be stalled most of the time when the sail is trimmed properly when sailing upwind. In most sailing conditions the mainsheet (and/or the traveler) should be played all the time in order to gain top speed and pointing ability. A good rule is that as long as the boat feels good and is going fast, keep pulling the sheet harder! More mainsheet tension usually relates to higher speed and higher pointing but the sail becomes easier to stall. When the boat starts to feel slow, it’s correct to ease the sheet, but for things like waves, you should try to anticipate and ease the sheet before you hit them. In heavy wind be careful not to overtrim. If the mainsheet is trimmed too tight the boat will develop a great deal of weather helm and become more critical to steer. In very light winds, where the weight of the boom hangs on the leech and hooks the top batten greatly to windward of parallel to the boom, ease the mainsheet so that the end of the boom is nearly over the corner of the transom. You may experiment with pulling the traveler to weather (but not farther than the windward edge of the tiller hole) which will help allow the boom to rise slightly easier and the upper leech to open up quicker when the velocity increases. TRAVELER As mentioned above, in light winds and when you will not be tacking a great deal, some Thistlers have experimented with pulling the traveler to windward. If you have the proper rake, 6″ is the absolute maximum; 2″ to 3″ is normal. Never pull the traveler to weather where the boom is actually positioned to windward of centerline. In moderate conditions (8 – 10 knots), and especially with the Proctor main you can keep the boat in the groove with the crew hiking with a little help from playing the traveler. The goal is that your helm should always be balanced (nearly neutral). In heavy winds (above 15 mph) the Proctor Thistle main will perform best with the traveler nearly completely to leeward and the mainsheet trimmed quite hard. Your mainsheet will control mast bend. As the sheet is eased the mast will straighten up and the main will, therefore, become fuller. In extremely heavy winds (above 20 mph) you may experiment with positioning the traveler only slightly below centerline and easing the sheet to allow the top of the main to angle outboard more. With the Fisher main, pulling the boom vang on quite hard (see below) helps in these breezy, puffy conditions upwind. Just be sure to ease it before you round the weather mark! BOOM VANG The vang is primarily used downwind to help keep the upper batten parallel to the boom (telltale flowing off the top batten). A common mistake in light to medium conditions is to over-vang and tighten the leech too much. In puffy conditions when reaching, the vang is often “dumped” to help keep the end of the boom from hitting the water and creating a disaster! In the middle of your groove, the windward telltales should lift indicating a stall. At the “top end” of your groove (when in a high pointing mode) both telltales will lift and oftentimes the luff of your jib will actually break. LEAD POSITION To properly set the jib lead, use the trim line that is drawn on the clew of the jib. This pen line runs from the clew grommet directly out into the body of the sail. When your lead is set properly, your jib sheet should be a direct extension of this line. You should find that on most Great Midwest boats the lead would be nearly at the forward edge of the thwart. In heavy winds, move your lead aft 1″ of the sheet extension to the trim line position. Be sure, though, to ease the vang in the lulls! Jib On both jibs, at the lower end of your steering groove (when you are looking to accelerate) the windward and leeward telltales should both stream straight aft. On the Fisher jib, the lead should be set laterally so that the sheet runs through the jib lead block and intersects the thwart at 15-16” from Centerline. The Proctor jib trims best at 16″ to 17″ from centerline. JIB SHEET TRIM For Proctor’s jib trim the jib sheet so that the leeward side of the jib at the bottom is just barely touching the rail about 2’ aft of the bow. With the foot set this way and the distance between the end of the spreader and the leech of the sail should be 1 1/2 ” to 2″ (depending on the length of the spreaders). If while the bottom of the jib is just barely touching the rail, the distance of your jib from the spreader is more than 2″ then move your jib lead slightly forward. If the leech of the jib is closer to the spreader, then move the lead aft. For Fisher’s jib in medium winds and flat seas, we suggest trimming so that the leech of your jib is 1″ off the spreader, at the middle diamond. In very heavy winds and very light winds, ease the sheet so that the leech of the jib is nearly 2″ to 3″ off the spreader. Do not be surprised to find that the leeward side of the jib at the bottom lays inside the rail approximately 2″ to 3″ at its middle. Fisher’s jib is flatter down low at the very bottom so that the sail will lay inside the rail when trimmed properly it will just touch the rail when eased for power to accelerate. For both jibs remember to quickly ease the sheet if the boat needs power, after tacking, before hitting a series of waves, or after a large header. Ease the jib out to nearly 3″ to 4″ off the spreader. Note: We have found that in many cases there are wide variances in spreader lengths. Of course, this would make it very difficult to use the spreader as a guide in trimming your jib. We are assuming 9 1/2″ spreaders (positioning Fisher’s jib at 10 1/2 ” and Proctor’s jib at 11″ – 11 1/2″). Some Thistlers have put a mark that is the same distance inside the spreader tip that you want to trim outside. Some even use a straw taped to the spreader to provide a reference! JIB HALYARD On both jibs, tension the halyard so that there are always slight horizontal wrinkles off of each snap tab. This is especially important in light to medium winds, while in heavier breezes the halyard is pulled tight enough so that the wrinkles are nearly removed. The wire in the jib luff is usually slack unless it is blowing very, very hard. In fact, the only reason to have the wire in jib is that the class specifications require it. Spinnaker Sailing your North spinnaker is fairly easy as long as you follow a few basic guides. First, always fly your spinnaker so that there is a 5″ – 6″ curl in the luff. It is much better to sail your spinnaker slightly eased and slightly under trimmed so that the slot between the spinnaker and the main will not be choked. It is important that the sheet be constantly played for maximum performance. Constant and smooth 1′ trims and eases work better than rapid 3′ jerks. Work smoothly with both the sheet and the guy to try to keep the pole basically perpendicular to the wind. Adjust your pole height with the topping lift so that the clews are roughly equal. When you can’t view the leeward clew (because it is behind the main), set the pole height so that the center seam of your spinnaker is parallel to the mast. At this point the lower luff of your spinnaker above the pole should be nearly vertical. We recommend a pole ring height of 32″ – 33″ from the butt of the mast (this is the standard Great Midwest position). We also suggest tying your halyard to your spinnaker with a long bowline so that the head of the spinnaker will always be 4″ away from the mast. This will also help open up the slot between the spinnaker and the main.   Sail Care Your North Sails are constructed out of the best materials on the market today. We make sure of this by testing every roll of cloth we use. Through proper care and maintenance your sails will give you the performance you have come to expect from a North Sail. The most important factor for a long life for your sails is to watch them for signs of wear and tear in high load and chafe areas. Be sure to wash the sails off with fresh water and dry the sails thoroughly before storing. A dry, mild climate is best. Excessive heat can cause problems with the sails due to the possibility of shrinkage. It is best to roll the mainsail and jib. When hoisting and lowering the sail try to minimize the amount of creasing or wrinkling of the sail. Every time the sail gains a crease the cloth breaks down that much faster. Always have someone contain the leech and luff during these procedures. The battens can be left in the sail without any problems. Be sure to roll the sail down the leech so that the battens will not twist. This could cause damage to the battens. SPINNAKER The spinnaker is fairly straightforward. Be sure to repair all tears and pulled stitches. Folding the sail when storing is best. READ MORE

BOAT SETUP Take the time to check all of your pins, shrouds and spreaders for wear. Clean your mast and spreaders with soap and water or Acetone. Also, please check your wire halyard. Most wire halyards fail near the shackle so please review. Clean and lubricate your sta-master turnbuckles. Also, be sure to tape all pins and spreader ends to prevent tearing the sail. With the mast on some stands or sawhorses, compare the length of the two side stays. If they are not identical in length the mast will not be in the center of the boat. Lay the shrouds along the side of the mast and adjust the stay masters so that they are the same length down to the bottom bolt. Check your spreader length and sweep. To measure the sweep, tie a thin piece of shock cord to each side stay and measure to the back of the mast. Less sweep stiffens the middle of the mast, more sweep allows more bend and as a result a flatter sail. Standard Spreaders we recommend 4” of sweep. Max length spreaders (18 inches) we recommend 4.5″ of sweep. Be sure to install shroud tell tales! SETTING UP YOUR MAST Items you will need: Sharpie Tape Measure P-1 Loos Gauge Tape Install your sidestay turnbuckles in the forward hole of your chainplates. Ensure the numbers of the sta-master are facing inboard to see them. Tighten the bolts with a 7/16” wrench. Have the bottom of the spar held down on the mast step plate while you walk the spar up. Before you hook up the forestay, lay it along the front of the mast and put a mark where it intersects the top of the black band. Hook it up on the aft hole in the forward chainplate. Measure up from the deck to this mark and adjust the sta master so that the measurement is 742mm or 29 7/32”. Another way to double-check the rake is to take a 50ft. steel tape measure and attach it to the shackle on the wire main halyard. Pull your rope halyard so that the tape goes all the way to the top of the spar and latch the ball into the halyard lock. Pull down on your halyard so that you know it is locked in place. Measure down to the center portion of the deck at the stern. This measurement must be taken from the point where the hull and deck meet. The fast measurement for your Z Max, Magnum, and Rocket mainsail is 28’ 3”. Now you are ready to set your side stays. SIDESTAY ADJUSTMENT After you have set your mast rake at 28’ 3” the shrouds will need to be set. Put a P-2 tension gauge on the side stay and tighten each side evenly until the gauge reads 15 units. Then take two full turns off of each side. This is a good base tension setting. MATRIX: ZMAX | MAGNUM | ZAP | ROCKET DOCKSIDE TUNING MAST RAKE With a 50’ tape, have your AP mast rake set a 28’ 3” SIDESTAY TENSION 15 on Loos gauge minus 2 full turns (Base setting) SIDESTAY PLACEMENT Place sidestay in forward hole on chainplate ON-THE-WATER TUNING   Sitting on Leeward Full time on deck, not hiking Just starting to hike Max hike, overpewered MAST RAKE 28’ 3” 28’ 3” 28’ 3” 28’ 3” UPPER SHROUD TENSION Base lets a 1/2 turn BASE Base plus 1/2 to 1 full turn Base plus 1 to 2 full turn OUTHAUL Remove wrinkles,slight shelf on foot No wrinkles,more shelf on foot Pull to black band,defined shelf on foot Max outhaul CUNNINGHAM None None Full cunningham tension None OUTHAUL / CUNNINGHAM DOWNWIND Cunningham off / Outhaul eased Cunningham off / Outhaul eased Cunningham off / Outhaul eased Cunningham off / Outhaul eased VANG TENSION UPWIND No vang tension Vang tension in puffs 75% vang Full vang tension. Pull hard! VANG TENSION DOWNWIND No vang tension Just enough tensionto straighten leech of sail Play vang downwind w/ waves. Eased when by the lee, pull on when higher Play vang downwind w/ waves. Eased when by the lee, pull on when higher TRAVELER Centered Centered 0-6″ below center 6-9″ below center BOARD HEIGHT All the way down, 103 degreesflush with deck All the way down, 103 degreesflush with deck 1″ above deck 2″ above deck BOARD HEIGH DOWNWIND 1/4 way down 1/4 way down 1/4 way down 1/4 way down RACING WITH YOUR NEW NORTH SAILS Your new North Mainsail is the fastest around the track. By following the guidelines noted below you will optimize your chances for a distinct speed advantage over your competition. You can make the sail full and powerful or you can flatten the sail so that your MC is easy to handle in the breeze. Please practice the following techniques and watch your MC sailing improve! One thing to mention is that the driver will want to always sit forward in the boat (right next to your mainsheet cleat) in all conditions, upwind or downwind. Only move aft when the bow tends to submarine in big waves. The order in which to adjust your sail controls will be in the order described below. Please follow this sequence in order to achieve the ultimate speed with North MC Mainsail. FULL POWER (0-8 mph) Your North Mainsail will be fast in this condition.  You are trying to get the boat to maximum heel to where you start having to use the hiking straps to hike the boat down. Boards Before sailing it is best at some point to turn the boat on its side to measure and mark the board angle. First, check to make sure the board cannot hit the front of the case by pushing forward on the board and adjusting the line in the cleat accordingly. Then take a protractor and measure the angle. We suggest 103 degrees is a full down angle for the boards in light air. Mark each side on the deck so that you can easily repeat this angle while racing. Also, take time to mark the boards for downwind. Pull the board up so that the aft knuckle is just tucked into the hull. Having these marks will ensure that the board is even from tack to tack and allow for optimum sailing. Heel You want to heel the boat to reduce wet surface area and also to get the boards basically vertical. Use the leeward rail as your guideline in all wind conditions. Maximum 15 degrees of heel is what you are aiming towards.  Never allow water to run over the edge of the leeward side rail.  When you over heel the boat develops too much weather helm and you go slow.  CONSTANT ANGLE OF HEEL IS KEY FOR SPEED! Techninque In the light air, most MC racers choose to trim and head up the moment they get new pressure. The exact opposite is the case if you want to go fast. When you get hit with a puff you want to ease a bit, keep the bow down, go for speed and then trim the main. After this, you can head up and point a little higher. The #1 goal is to achieve boat speed in this light air condition. Mainsheet Trim The mainsheet is your accelerator. Never cleat your mainsail. Always have the mainsheet in your hand so that you can trim in the pressure and ease in the light spots. Constant mainsheet trim / working is key to ultimate boat speed. Put a good mark on the sheet where you can see it so that you can easily repeat fast trim settings. In the very light air (when sitting on the low side) a great reference for mainsheet trim is to have the back of the boom over the back leeward corner of the boat. As you get more wind trim from there and feel the sail and boat respond. If the boat does not respond then ease your sail back out. You will see a response in the boat from the angle of heel. TIP – Install the 5:1 mainsheet system. It allows you to hold the sheet easier and also allows for finer adjustment! Outhaul Your outhaul should be fairly tight along the boom. You should have a shelf in the sail even in these light conditions, especially if the water is very flat. Pull the sail to the inboard edge of the white band on your boom end. This creates a small wrinkle-free shelf foot and is very fast. This will help you with speed and pointing. In very choppy conditions you might experiment with a little less outhaul tension to help power up the boat. Vang Do not have any vang tension on at all. In fact, be sure your vang is un-cleated so that when you ease your mainsail your vang does not tension up. This is very important while working your mainsail upwind. Vang should never be applied in such light conditions. Cunningham Be sure this sail control is off so that there are horizontal wrinkles in the luff of the sail. You want these wrinkles in this type of wind condition. Traveler Keep your traveler on centerline at all times. The only time you drop the traveler down is when you are fully hiked out and you cannot hold the boat down. Downwind Sailing Once you have rounded your weather mark be sure to pull your leeward board up 75% of the way up. Begin to look for wind behind you. Speed is king downwind and the only way to have speed is to be in the breeze. Set yourself up so that you have clear air and that you are in line for more breeze moving down the lake. This is very important. Technique You must heel your boat to leeward in order to reduce the wetted surface area in these conditions. The end of the boom should be kissing the water. If this is not happening you are not maximizing your speed. Your mainsheet trim is critical as well. Just like upwind, you absolutely must work your mainsheet downwind. Grab your mainsheet directly from the aft block on the boom. This eliminates the ratchet and it gives you quick and direct pull. In the very light air you must reach the boat more so that the boat picks up speed. Heel and head up to generate speed while trimming in your main. As the boat builds speed begin to head down, continue to heel the boat and begin to ease your main back out. The second the boat feels like it is going to slow down, repeat the process. In order to go fast downwind in the MC you must work just as hard downwind as you do upwind. Stay prepared to keep the boat moving and always be looking for fresh wind. Traveler is centered, vang off, Cunningham off for maximum power. Outhaul must be eased so that the shelf is gone. Do not ease to the point that the foot of the sail has vertical wrinkles. Powerboat waves: Always trim in and build up speed so that you can blast through waves. If they are very large you can pull on some boom vang so that the rig stays snug and so that the boom stays in place. Be sure to uncleat the vang after the waves have passed. ULTIMATE SPEED (8-15 mph) The MC can be overpowering (difficult to hold down upwind) for some sailors. By following the set up described below you will begin to see major speed improvements in your MC sailing. Practice these things so that you are smooth and prepared for the change in velocity. Boards Be sure that the head of your boards is flush with your deck or 1” up as the wind increases. Pulling the boards up helps reduce weather helm. Some sailors have success pulling them up as much as 2 inches when it’s really windy. Heel Again, the benchmark is your leeward rail. Never allow this to get wet while sailing upwind. As the wind begins to build, you must hike harder, use your sail controls to flatten the main and then feather the boat lightly into the wind with your steering technique. Technique For maximum speed you need to really work the boat. Hike in the puffs in order to hold the boat down. However, always keep your back vertical to the water or just aft of vertical so that you can see your horizon line. The horizon tells you just how much heel is indeed on your MC. Also, by being vertical you can trim and ease your mainsheet helping you to balance your boat. Mainsheet Trim You can trim harder in these conditions so long as you can hold your boat down. Once you become overpowered in this wind range you must begin to ease your mainsheet in the puffs. You never want the boat to overheel. When the boat does heel up you must have boom vang on so that the sail remains flat as you ease the sail. In this condition, you should sail off the angle of heel. Meaning, if you have to ease your mainsheet a foot in order to help hold the boat down then do this. The worst thing you can do is trim hard, overheel and then stuff the boat into the wind. By easing the mainsail you are able to sail at a ‘fast angle’ –not stuffed into the breeze. The boat will accelerate and begin to build speed. Never cleat your mainsail. Constant angle of heel translates into constant fast speed. Outhaul The foot of your sail should have a shelf in it which you achieve by pulling your outhaul maximum outboard. This helps to flatten the bottom portion of the main, which is quite full. Make sure you pull on this hard taking the sail to the inboard edge of the black band on your boom end. Do this before your leeward buoy rounding. Vang Due to different weight ranges we will all become overpowered at different times. Overpowered again meaning that it is difficult to hold the boat down. So, someone weighing 150 pounds will become overpowered in 10 m.p.h. of wind where someone weighing 200 pounds will become overpowered in 15 m.p.h. of wind. As soon as you become overpowered you need to apply your vang so that the mast will bend and the sail will flatten. Also, now you can ease your mainsheet so that you can keep the boat from over-healing in the puffs. The more wind the more vang you will need to apply going upwind. Cunningahm With the North designed mainsails you can apply much more Cunningham in order to flatten the sail. By applying the Cunningham you will move the draft of the sail forward and the sail will become much flatter overall. This too will bend the mast when pulled on hard – helping you to point. When it becomes very windy you must pull the vang on very hard. Traveler As the wind builds you can drop your mainsheet traveler as much as 6”. Mark your traveler track so that you know the distance. Once you have dropped the traveler, pulled on your vang and Cunningham then you need to work your mainsheet in the puffs, easing when the boat wants to heal too much. Downwind Sailing With the breeze up now it is time to sit on the high side going downwind. You do this to eliminate helm on the rudder. When sailing downwind in these conditions you want the weather board to be down ¼ of the way. The leeward board is all the way up. Upon rounding your weather mark or offset you will want to adjust the board first and then ease your outhaul so that the shelf in the foot is gone. When sailing straight downwind be sure to ease your mainsail so that it is all the way out. Your boom will actually rub against the sidestay. As the wind builds, apply more and more vang. Downwind this becomes the stabilizer for the boat. When the boat feels very jumpy or tippy, apply more vang in order to stabilize your boat. Vang is crucial to downwind speed and acceleration. Please work your vang in the puffs. Applying more as the wind hits and the boat speeds up. In the lulls, ease the vang. Always keep your weight forward and outboard. Lean out as much as possible so that the boat rocks up downwind. This helps to reduce the wetted surface area and it prevents you from ever nose-diving in large waves or chop. Even lean out when adjusting your boards after a gybe. The board lines are tied together so that you can sit on the high side, lean out and pull the leeward board up. Doing these types of things make a big difference over a long race. Most important, always look behind you for the next available wind. Staying in the wind makes all the difference. However, being in the breeze will help even more. Be aware of the new wind coming down the lake. CONTROL & DE-POWER (15-25 mph) The Z Max, Magnum and Rocket mainsails are truly the best all-around sails because they can be flattened in these conditions. You can bend your mast and flatten your sail for great upwind speed and control. With the custom material we have chosen for the body of this sail, you really can have 2 sails in one. You can flatten this sail to be just like a heavy air sail. Follow along and see what you can do to reach better performance and have more control in this type of wind condition. One of the very best things that you can do, of course, is to go out and practice in this wind range so that you feel comfortable in the boat. Your boat handling will improve for all conditions as well. Boards Raising the board in this breeze can be advantageous. Especially if you are sailing alone. Please try moving the head of the board 2” above the board box. Or on the new boats watch the line move 2 inches forward as you pull up. We feel that you will experience less helm and more maneuverability. This is a good thing to try and to practice. Heel Over-heeling is the biggest mistake made when it is very windy. When you have all your sail controls on hard you must “feather” the boat into the wind. Do not stuff the boat – you must keep the boat moving fast through the water. Easing your mainsheet as much as 2 feet may be needed in order to keep your boat on the proper angle of heel. Do not be afraid to ease the sail this much when it is windy. Technique The mainsheet is your accelerator in light air and the controller of your angle of heel in the heavy air. Practice not cleating your mainsheet. Have the mainsheet in your hand and be able to ease the sail in the puffs and trim back in as the puff leaves. This will de-power your boat. The Z designed mainsails are a flat sail when all of your sail controls are pulled on so now it is up to your mainsheet tension and steering to keep the boat on its lines. Hiking out is important as well. If you have a crew in these conditions make sure to call out the puffs early so that the crew is fully hiked before the breeze is on. Mainsheet Trim There is no set trim guideline in this much breeze. You do not need to trim hard that is for sure. With a lot of vang on you can ease the sail as much as 2 feet and not loose any speed at all. The mainsheet just controls your heel in this much wind. So, if you are over-heeled then ease until the boat settles down. While easing keep the boat on its lines – a normal course. Do not stuff the boat into the wind because then you will stop. Sail the boat fast by easing the main. Always feather the boat into the wind. Outhaul Pull hard out to the black band on the boom. Never ease in from this point with this much velocity. Vang When you are trimmed in going upwind you need to pull the vang hard. This will bend the mast, flatten the sail, and then open the leech. The boat will become very controllable. You may need to ease this a bit on the tacks and always be sure to ease the vang at least an arms length before rounding the weather mark. Otherwise you could bend your mast. Vang tension is very critical in heavy conditions like this. Apply plenty when racing upwind. At the start, it does hurt your pointing ability so you may want it eased a bit, but not completely off. Cunnigham Pull this as hard as you can. The sail will flatten right out, especially along the front of the spar. You could never pull too hard on this control in this much wind. Traveler You can drop this up to 9” if it is this windy and you do not have the weight on the boat to hold it down. If you have a crew do not drop the traveler more than 6”. When sailing alone you could go 3” further. Set this control, leave it, and then work your mainsheet. Downwind Sailing Certainly, in this much wind you must reverse heel the boat. Your board should be dropped just ¼ of the way down. Do not sail downwind with both boards down. It is slow and it could cause you to tip over upon maneuvering. Apply vang downwind so that the boat is more stable. However, be sure to not over- steer on your gybes. The boom could catch the water and take you for a swim. To be safe, ease the vang a bit before a gybe in big air. Leaving the outhaul on when it is windy will not hurt your downwind speed. So, do not worry about this control. Worry about being in the wind, sailing safe and going fast. When you are sailing in waves keep your weight in your normal position. To avoid nose-diving just lean out so the boat is heeled. This will help to prevent nose- diving. If you see a big set of waves do not be afraid to trim in and head up 10-15 degrees to reach around them. Trim your sail, accelerate and then head down with your extra speed after the set of waves. READ MORE

The following tuning guide is meant to be a good starting point when setting up your Melges 20. Depending on total crew weight, wind and sea condition and sailing style you may have to alter your set up slightly from what is given here. As you read this tuning guide, write down any questions you might have and we will be happy to discuss them in detail with you. The goal of this tuning guide is to achieve a rig set up that is fast in all conditions upwind and down. Your new North sails are designed with this “all around” philosophy in mind. PRE-RACE PREPARATION One of the most important items you and your team can do in preparing for high performance racing is to have your Melges 20 ready to race. Listed in this section are just a few items we feel are critical for success on the racecourse. TRAILER AND BOAT Make sure when transporting your Melges 20 that the keel bulb always sits perfectly in the keel bed of the trailer. If the boat is sitting where she belongs on the trailer you will find the bulb resting perfectly in the keel bed with space in the keel box both in front and in back of the keel. Also packing pre-cut foam between the keel edges / sides and the keel box will help prevent any movement of the keel when trailing. It is important to ensure that the keel fin is not touching the hull fairing plate prior to trailing. It is also important to ensure that the boat stays forward against the bow guide when trailering. HULL, RUDDER AND KEEL Class rules do not allow re-shaping of these items. HULL – For traveling to regattas and general care of your new boat the investment of our bottom trailing cover and 1 piece top cover is well worth the protection it affords. RUDDER – The rudder should always be removed when not in use and kept in its padded rudder bag. Remember to always put away dry. KEEL – We just talked about taking care of your keel when the boat is on the trailer. When lowering the keel with the keel crane make sure you have rinsed out the keel box along with the keel guides. Make sure the keel box is free of any lines or padding. Also, make sure you keep the boat level when raising or lowering the keel to ensure the keel fin does not get damaged. LAUNCHING AND RETRIEVING Believe it or not this is when most damage occurs to Melges 20s. When trailer launching make sure the keel box is well packed with padding, as the keel wants to shift as soon as the transom starts floating. To ramp launch you will need to use the keel retractor crane and just lift the keel about ½” to ensure you do not damage the hull fairing plate. Make sure you pad the keel well on the leading and trailing edges and make sure you take great care when using the keel retraction crane. When using an electric hoist be sure to keep the boat level or maybe a few inches down in the bow. Again we are trying to protect the keel. Also by holding the bow down just a few inches we are protecting the spreaders from possibly hanging up on the hoist arm as the spreaders pass the arm. Keep in mind when you lower the bow the keel fin is vulnerable so care must be taken not to damage the keel fin. Make sure you use the aft leg of the lifting bridle attaching it to the transom to help keep the boat in a slight bow down attitude when lifting. When launching on a hoist it is best to use the keel retractor crane. Hook the keel retractor to the lifting ring on the keel, make sure the lift ring is screwed all the way in the top of the keel. Take tension on the keel lift winch and securely tie off the winch handle to the horn cleat. Install the lifting straps to the lifting pins alongside of the keel utilizing a luggage tag type install. Also, install the longer aft lifting strap through the top rudder gudgeon at the transom using a rudder pin. When hooking up the hoist, put one of the lifting straps over the hook, then the aft leg, then the last lifting strap. Now when you lift the boat take care not to hit the spreaders on the hoist arm. It is best to have the boat at 90 degrees or more to the hoist arm and hold the bow slightly down to keep the rig off the hoist. Keep the keel padding in place until the keel is ready to be lowered and be sure to always hold onto the winch handle, keep all body parts away from keel and take great care when lifting the keel or lowering the keel. It is a good idea to put some soap and water on the keel guide blocks and in the keel box to allow the keel to seat more easily. If the keel guide blocks do not line up fore and aft perfectly, put a body on the bow or the stern to help tilt the boat to line up the keel guides. DECK PREPARATION The factory Melges 20 comes ready to race. There are a few small class legal modifications that really help with sailing the boat. With your spinnaker up at maximum hoist mark the halyard with a black permanent marker. With your bow sprit fully extended also mark the tack line/bow sprit extender line. Make sure that you have the proper knot tied in the end of the line to account for it being tied to the tack of the spinnaker. It is best to tie the loop with about a 65mm or 2.5” loop to prevent the tack of the kite from binding on the bow sprit end plug. The bow sprit is shock corded to retract. Ensure that the shock cord is adjusted so that it is just enough to retract the bow sprit and not retract with too much force. Attach shockcord from the top of the forward stanchion to the upper shroud above the turnbuckle to prevent the spinnaker sheet from dropping in and catching on the shroud car. Apply some number scales to the jib track adjustment locations. Place these above where the jib sheet lead comes aft and above the spinnaker bag sock on the port side. Number 1 should align with the traveler car pin when the car is all the way forward on the track. (front of car even with front of track) Practice – Practice – Practice! It has been said that each mark rounding can be worth a minute on the course. Now that is a reference between the first group and the last group of boats. That is a lot of time and a majority of it comes at the corners and the first few minutes of a race. Knowing how your Melges 20 accelerates off the starting line is something you need to practice. Sets at the windward mark are critical, especially if you want to gybe right away. Having the ability to pass between two leeward gate marks absolutely requires that you and your crew understand all three spinnaker takedowns, the Mexican, the windward and the leeward. You do not have to have rock star crews in the Melges 20 class to be successful; you do need to have a regular steady crew who are willing to practice. If we had “Time On The Boat Meters” you would find the top finishing boats in our class had the most accumulated time together sailing the Melges 20. We highly recommend the spinnaker launch system with the retrieval line and spinnaker storage sock in the cockpit. The spinnaker take downs become quick, safe and easy. RIG SETUP MAST DOWN As the Melges 20 comes almost completely ready to race straight from the factory there is very little to do to prepare your boat and mast to be competitive. With the mast down, pull all the halyards down and tie off at the bottom, also make sure the turnbuckles are set evenly with similar amount of threads showing at the top and bottom of the open body. Another thing we like to do is tie some light weight shock cord between the two lower shrouds around the front of the mast 6”- 8” down from their attachment points, also above the lower spreader between the intermediates and the diamond stays, and below the port spreader, also between the Intermediates and around the front side of the forestay about 12” below their attachment points. This keeps the head of the spinnaker from getting jammed between the shrouds and mast on hoists and keeps the kite from getting caught above the lower spreader on a take down. Double check the spreader angle and symmetry: The following process is performed at the factory when doing the final rigging on every mast. Every mast is laser straightened so when adjusting the diamond statys make sure to keep them symmetrical. We are providing the process for future field checks. Using an angle finder, level the mast using the mast base, check the spreader sweep by placing a straight edge from tip to tip on the diamond shroud or use a string pulled tight. For masts built prior do July 2013: The upper spreader should measure from the string to the aft side of the mast track 9.2cm and the lower spreader should measure 31cm. DO NOT ADJUST SPREADER ANGLE FORWARD OF 9 cm AT TOP AND 30 cm AT THE LOWER SPREADERS OR THIS WILL VOID THE MAST WARRANTY. Spreader angles too far forward makes the mast less forgiving and more prone to inversion with the spinnaker up in heavy wind. For masts built after July 1st, 2013 utilizing dyform rigging we use the following spreader angles: The upper spreader should be set to 115 mm, the lower spreader set to 320 mm. To make sure the spreaders are symmetrical, use an angle finder and find zero or level at the mast base, then check the angle on the port spreader and then the starboard spreader. Adjust as needed to make symmetrical and at the same time maintaining the correct sweep. Make sure that the turnbuckle adjuster has at least 4 turns onto the threaded stud. After setting the spreader angle adjust the diamond stays so that you have approximately 75mm (3”) of prebend in the mast and sight up the tunnel and adjust the diamonds to make sure the mast is straight side to side. Once the rig is ready to step you can slide the mast aft, place the diamond stay over the keel and lock in the mast base to the mast step deck plate. Rest the mast in the mast support on the rear mast hold down bunk. Now, attach the Intermediate shrouds to the outer shroud cars, make sure the shroud cars are all the way forward on the tracks. Also, attach the lower shrouds to the inner sidestay cars and insure that they are all the way forward on the tracks. You will want to ease both intermediates and lowers out at least ¾ of the way on the turnbuckles to ease in attaching the forestay for the very first mast stepping. Set the diamond stays so that there is approximately 75mm (3”) of prebend in the mast. By tensioning the diamond stays you put more prebend in the rig. The diamonds accomplish two important tuning tasks. First, they put prebend in the mast to better fit the luff curve in the mainsail and set the rig up to sail in a wide variety of conditions without needing a backstay. The other important aspect of the diamond stays is that they support the top of the mast when you are flying the Asymmetrical spinnaker. So, it is important to have enough tension on the diamonds to support the mast with the gennaker is flying. Refer to tuning matrix chart in PDF. Before stepping the mast it is best to pre furl the jib furler so it is ready to go before stepping the mast. When furling the jib it should furl counter clockwise, so, to wind up the drum turn it clockwise until the drum has filled up with the furling line. It is possible to step the mast alone but will be easier if you have some one pull forward on the forestay as you walk up the mast. Ensure that the mast base stays securely locked in the deck plate and does not come out as you are walking the mast up. Also, place a sail bag, or the provided keel fin cover over the keel to protect the mast and keel from scratching when raising and lowering the mast. The spinnaker sail bag also works well for this or the factory supplied keel fin cover. Once the mast is up, attach the Forestay to the furling tang. MAST UP With mast stepped attach a 15M or 50’ tape measure to the main halyard and hoist to the top and lock off on the halyard latch. Check to see that the mast is close to centered by measuring to the top of the outer shroud track at the same position on both sides of the boat. Tighten/loosen the upper shrouds on each side so that the mast is centered side to side. With the main halyard locked in the up position, measure to the intersection of the transom and the bottom of the hull. The measurement should be 9310mm or 30’6-1/2”. Tighten or loosen the turnbuckle on the forestay to achieve this measurement. Use the follwing setting for masts built prior to July 2013 with 1X19 shrouds.: You will have to adjust the upper tension when adjusting the forestay to maintain a constant tension on the uppers of 250Kg (550lbs) when checking the mast rake. The upper shroud cars should be in the max forward position for tuning at base. The diamonds should read a tension of approximately 95Kg (210lbs) when the uppers are set at 250Kg tension. Now, move the lower shroud car two holes aft and measure the lower shroud tension at 130Kg (285lbs) and sight up the mast on the aft tunnel side to insure that it is straight side to side. Dial in the settings to achieve the desired tensions with the shroud cars in the base positions. Be sure to adjust the diamond stays to this setting with the tension gauge and to set the uppers and the diamonds to this tension to check the final mast rake. Finally, recheck to be sure the mast tip is centered side to side and that the mast rake is 9310mm or 30’6-1/2”. For masts built after July 2013 with dyform shrouds we use the following base settings using the Loos PT-1 gauge to check the tensions. Note that dyform will produce a higher tension reading for the same tension compared to 1X19. Set the uppers at 275kg (#39), lowers at 135kg (#28), diamonds at 175kg (#28). RIG TENSION he tension on the upper shrouds is critical to the upwind shape of primarily the jib and to a smaller degree the mainsail. For maximum speed it is important to adjust the shroud car position on the upper and lower shrouds depending on wind and sea conditions. The Melges 20 is designed with shroud tracks on ramps to facilitate ease of rig tune with minimal turnbuckle adjusting. As the wind increases you can move the upper shroud cars aft to increase rig tension and headstay tension. This in turn helps flatten the jib and depower the rig. So as you start to get overpowered start to move the upper shroud cars aft on the tracks. You will want to be all the way aft by approximately 16knots of wind. The class rules allow for purchase on the sidestay cars to allow the cars to be adjusted more easily. Visit www.melges.com for the latest shroud adjustment system set up. The lower shrouds control the side-to-side sag or bend of the mast, how much the mast can bend forward in the middle, and the headstay sag. We set the lowers so that when both cars are all the way forward in approximately 7 knots of wind there is approximately 10mm of sag in the mast at the lower spreader. After you have set up the uppers to the correct wind speed, sail the boat on both tacks checking the mast sag side to side and adjusting the lowers according to the wind speed. Also, check the mainsail depth. If the main is overbending or showing a wrinkle into the mast below the bottom spreader you either need to ease off the diamond tension a bit if the breeze is lighter or pull the lowers aft on the tracks if it is breezier. This will straighten the lower mast section and increase headstay tension flattening the jib. Generally we like to set up the rig so that the main sets up fairly flat with the lower cars at base when we are sitting on the windward side of the boat. With this set up we can pull the lower cars aft to power up the main when needed and not have to pull too much vang on to flatten the mainsail. Generally, if the mainsail is backwinding with the jib in max trim position,(top leach telltale just on the verge of stalling at times but flowing 100% of the time) then you need to bend the mast more to flatten the sail. You can do this either by tightening the diamonds or moving the lower shroud car forward. You will want to just take out the backwinding in the main and not go too far unless you are overpowered and are looking to depower the mainsail further. Using the North tuning chart in the PDF as a guideline for shroud tensions in the given wind conditions, we then play the cars to fine tune the power in the boat. Generally, if you are all the way aft on the shroud cars and still need to depower the rig further it is time to tighten to the next step in the tuning chart. If you are never moving the cars aft on a beat then generally, you are too tight and should loosen to the next step down on the chart. Note that in heavy wind it is important to move the lower shroud cars forward 2 holes from your upwind setting prior to going downwind to allow the mast to bend forward down low and reduce the tendancy for the mast to inverse bend with the gennaker up. SPEED TARGETS Speed targets are important on any keelboat. If you dial in a good feel for a target speed in all the different conditions you will find that your performance gains will be significant. Upwind targets are more important than downwind but both will be helpful. Upwind we have developed the following target range that we have found to be fast. An important note is that you need to use an accurate through the water speedo and that a GPS based system will not be accurate enough. 5 to 7 knots of wind = 4.7 to 4.9 knots of boat speed 7 to 10 knots of wind = 4.9 to 5.1 knots of boat speed 10 to 13 knots of wind = 5.1 to 5.3 knots of boat speed 13 to 18 knots of wind = 5.3 to 5.7 knots of boat speed 15+ = > 5.7 knots of boat speed Downwind the condition where targets pay off the most is in the low soak mode. This speed changes a lot depending on wave and wind conditions and is best called by the tactician for each given condition based on boat to boat performance. SAIL TRIM MAINSAIL TRIM Because the Melges 20 does not have a backstay or main traveler it is relatively simple to trim the main and steer requiring very little movement by the helmsperson. Like other boats main trim on the Melges 20 is keyed off the end of the top horizontal batten. In light to moderate air we trim the main so that the telltale on the top batten is stalled about 25% of the time (the second telltale from the top -at the second batten, is flying 100% of the time). As the wind increases both telltales will fly all the time. In light to moderate air the back end of the top batten should be parallel to the centerline on the boat, in heavy air it will be pointed out as much as 30 degrees. With the square top mainsail on the Melges 20 it is important to not over trim the mainsail. Twist is your friend, when it doubt, ease it out to get the boat going through the water. Also, keeping the mainsail trim soft and very twisted sometimes in order to sail the boat very flat can be very fast. It is important to experiment with given heel angles and main sheet tension in different conditions to see what is working the best. Following is an overview of each main control and how it should be adjusted. Outhaul The Melges 20 likes to have some power down low in the mainsail so we like to keep the outhaul eased about 10-25mm in from the band In most conditions. In the heavy air setting we tend to pull the outhaul out to the band to flatten the sail, especially in flat water. In rougher seas it may be fast to keep the outhaul a bit looser to make the main fuller down low. Vang We use the vang upwind as soon as the boat is overpowered. At the early stages of being overpowered we simply snug the vang to help induce mast bend and flatten the mainsail. As you become more overpowered we pull the vang harder to flatten the mainsail and vang sheet. Downwind adjust the vang so the top batten telltale is always flowing, twist is generally good. Generally the vang with the slack taken out of it upwind will be too tight for downwind sailing. It is a good idea to put a number scale on the boom next to the vang track to keep track of fast settings and for an approximate downwind setting. A medium vang setting for the offset reach leg and then a loose setting for the run provides the best performance. Cunnigham We use the Cunningham on the Melges 20 as another one of the depowering tools. We pull on just enough to remove any horizontal wrinkles in the sail as soon as we start to get overpowered. As you become overpowered experiment with a very hard Cunningham to flatten the main, pull the draft forward and twist open the head. Again, different wave conditions warrant different settings so you must experiment to find the fast setting. Downwind the Cunningham should be off. JIB TRIM Because the jib on the Melges 20 is a high aspect sail (tall and skinny) it is very sensitive to small adjustments in jib sheet tension. Tightening or easing the jib sheet 1/2” can have a big effect on boat speed and pointing. The Melges 20 jib halyard is set up on a halyard lock system similar to the mainsail. Some adjustment of jib height may be required using an extra shackle on the head of the jib. The standard setting sets the jib so the foot is just off the deck in light air and just touching in more breeze as the shrouds are tightened and is generally a good setting. Generally in light to medium breeze set the jib lead so that when luffing slowly into the wind the luff breaks evenly. As the wind builds you will want to move the lead aft to flatten the foot and twist the head of the jib to depower. It is a good idea to put some numbers and dashes corresponding to the different jib car positions on the track. We like to have a dash and number at each hole that the pull pin plunger will seat into. The first dash and #1 will start at the 4th hole back from the front end of the track, at this position the front of the car will be flush with the front of the track. The Base setting for the jib car is #3. This puts the car in a position where the aft end of the car splits the second bolt from the front of the track. In winds below about 15 knots it is legal to inhaul the windward jib sheet to narrow the sheeting angle on the jib. This is legal to do and is sometimes fast. It only requires a slight tension on the windward sheet to make a noticeable difference. Take care not to over inhaul as this will be slow. In light to medium conditions we inhaul as much as 25mm on the clew of the jib. It is best to mark the jib sheets in a way that you can easily replicate settings from tack to tack. When in doubt, ease it out! Note: On the newer jibs we’re finding that inhauling is rarely required so take care when inhauling. We have placed a telltale on the upper leech (near the spreaders) of the jib to help you judge how tight or loose the sheet should be. The general rule of thumb is to trim the sheet hard enough so that the upper leech telltale is just on the edge of stalling, but never stalled. Just as with the mainsail it will be easy to stall the telltale in light air and very hard to stall in heavy air even with the sheet trimmed very hard. Jib Cloth Tension Adjust the small line at the tack of the jib so the luff of the sail has some slight wrinkles coming off it. It will be necessary to change the tension depending on the wind speed to keep the wrinkles the same in most conditions. In very heavy air, tension the luff so that the sail is smooth. In flat water it will sometimes be fast to carry some horizontal wrinkles off the luff. Leechcord Be sure that your leech cord is not too tight. It is very easy to put a lot of tension on the cord in heavy air and have it too tight in light air. The key is to just stop the flutter in the leach if there is any. SPINNAKER TRIM Spinnaker trim on the Melges 20 is much easier than that of a conventional poled boat. There are a few tricks that can make you faster downwind and make your sail handling easier. You will want to set up the spinnaker sheets to always gybe inside the luff of the kite. So the tack line would be over the top of the spinnaker sheet as it comes aft to the kite. When rigging – “tack over sheet” is your reminder. Always trim the kite so it is on the edge of collapsing on the luff, it is not fast to over trim the kite. Gybing the Asymmetric On the gybe, the fastest method is to have the trimmer ease the kite as the boat heads down, then the forward crew starts to trim the new sheet as quickly as possible to fill the kite on the new gybe. This is called the pre gybe and requires the driver to bear away to almost dead down wind and wait for the clew of the kite to be about half way from the headstay to the side shrouds before turning onto the new gybe. Mexican Gybe In heavier wind the Mexican style gybe works the best. It is also best to sail with the jiboutdownwindinplaningconditions. So, the trimmer will want to trim the jib in so that it is snug, the driver goes into the gybe straight away, the trimmer trims the kite in as the boat heads down, the kite fills and backs into the tight jib once the wind hits the kite and jib on the other tack, trimmer blows off the sheet and trims the new sheet as quickly as possible and releasing the jib sheet as soon as possible. When performed properly the kite will blow across the headstay and fill with a pop on the leeward side. Spinnaker Sets Forward crew pulls the spinnaker halyard up and the second crew pulls the tack/ pole out. Or, vice/verse, either way works well. Spinnaker Douse There are three types of takedowns: the windward, the leeward, and the “Mexican”. The windward douse is used when doing a port rounding and you are approaching the mark on port tack. The “Mexican” is for rounding a mark to port but your approach is relatively shallow on a starboard tack. The leeward douse is for rounding a mark to starboard while on starboard tack or when you approach the mark at a very sharp angle while on starboard tack and you will have to gybe quickly around a mark leaving it to port. For the leeward douse, you can either grab the lazy sheet off of the clew, or grab the sheet just above the anti hiking pad to strap the foot. The helmsperson then must bear off slightly, the clew should be pulled in under the mainsail to prevent the kite from blowing over the leech of the mainsail, and then the tack line must be blown off completely. The halyard should then be fed down as the crew gather the spinnaker. The key here is to maintain the tack and foot of the kite and keep it out of the water, also watch for the kite blowing behind the leach of the mainsail. For the windward douse, the skipper can sail low, while the crew start to trim the windward sheet to pull the kite around to the windward side the forward crew should blow off the tack to unload the pressure off the kite. The clew should be grabbed inside the shrouds and start to stuff the kite in the bag gathering leach first for about 1/3 and then grab both. Steer under the foot to keep the kite on the deck. For the “Mexican”, as you approach the leeward mark on starboard, the helmsperson should bear off into a slow gybe, the trimmer will over-trim the sheet as the boat gybes to port. Just as the boat is headed directly down wind and the mainsail begins to gybe, blow off the halyard. The spinnaker will blow against the rig and fall on the deck. When the sail is 2/3rds the way down release the tack and stuff the spinnaker in its bag. Practice of these three douses is vital to success on the racecourse. Spinnaker Douse with Take Down Line We highly recommend using the take down system on the Melges 20. This system adds greatly to the ease and simplicity of taking the gennaker down. With this system the entire process is simplified. The middle crew typically starts to inhaul the takedown line while counting down 3-2-1 and at zero the forward crew release the gennaker halyard and the tack line guiding the lines out so they do not snag. We always ease the halyard first, even on leeward drops. On a leeward drop after the halyard is eased and the tack released the forward crew should tend to the foot and tack of the kite to keep it out of the water. The driver needs to bear away to flatten the boat. The forward crew can help to stuff the last part of the kite into the sock. On the set, it is helpful to pull the kite forward to the front of the sock to help it come out easier. Also, tending the kite halyard so it runs out freely helps insure a clean set. Crew Positioning Generally in light wind, you want to sit as far forward as possible between the stanchions. Keep in mind that you are not allowed to be in front of the mast. Downwind, you will want to also sit forward and heel the boat to windward as soon as you have enough pressure to sail deep. As the wind builds you want to move the weight aft upwind so the middle crew is centered on the mainsheet swivel. Downwind when planing everyone slide aft as far as possible unless you are in marginal planing conditions. Then it is best to keep the weight more centered and move the weight fore and aft to get the best feel in the boat and keep her planing as long as possible. IMPORTANT TIPS FOR SAILING DOWNWIND IN HEAVY AIR CONDITIONS Make sure the rig is set up for the wind and see conditions Keep the outer shroud cars max aft Big ease on the kite or blow off the sheet in extreme puffs and waves with bow bury Mainsail sheeted in with vang off or if main is eased have some vang on CONCLUSION The Melges 20 is one of the most exciting new boats available today with rapidly growing fleets and excellent one design racing. We hope all of the tips we mentioned are helpful to your Melges 20 sailing program. Let us remind you that these are the most important and obvious helpful hints that we have provided. Our experts will be happy to go further in detail with you anytime. Rev R12 READ MORE

Download Australian Setup Quick Tuning Chart Congratulation on your purchase of North One Design Etchells sails. The following tuning guide is meant to be a good starting point in setting your Etchells rig and sails. (Download the PDF for tables and images.) We recognize that each Etchells vary slightly from boat to boat and rig to rig. Following are 4 easy steps to set your Etchells up to establish your “BASE” positions for your mast step, rake, upper and lower tensions. You will see on the last page our Quick Tuning Chart with the base position setup for 6 to 9 knots TWS (True Wind Speed). Set your boat up to the “BASE”, and then apply our average wind range settings (yellow). From here we recommend that if necessary you customize and develop your own settings in the boxes provided (orange). We recommend that you return your boat to “BASE” settings after each days sailing, reducing the chance of losing track of your fast rig settings. Write down the upper and lower turnbuckle calibrations to aid you with returning to BASE setting after each day. RIG SETUP SPREADERS Before stepping your mast, make sure your spreaders are the same length by measuring from the shrouds perpendicular to the side of the mast. The spreaders should be fixed in place straight out, without any sweep forward or aft. Place two tape marks on the spreaders, 1’ 6 ¼” and 1’ 9 ¾” from the side of the mast. These will be used as a reference for jib sheet tension. MAST STEP The mast step position controls the pre- bend. Setting up with the correct amount of pre-bend is the platform to control both mainsail and jib shape. Pre-bend relates to forestay sag, being the principle control over the jib sectional shape and your steering groove. The pre-bend is governed by the relationship between the offset position on your mast partner, the alignment of the mast step and your spreader angles, a variable you cannot tune on the water. By working back from the mast partners we eliminate building variables reproducing a consistent pre- bend in your mast to marry the mainsail luff curve. Moving the mast step changes the amount the spreader engages or disengages with the uppers. By moving the mast step aft the pre-bend is increased and conversely moving the mast step forward reduces the pre-bend. This is an important step in matching your mainsail luff curve with your mast bend. This can be customized in the orange mast step box. Measuring from the aft edge of the mast partner, measure aft along the centerline of the deck 12’ and make a mark. From this mark on the aft deck measure 12’ 6 ½” to the intersection of the aft face of the mast section and mark the mast step “I” beam. This is now your “BASE” mast step position, for winds between 6 to 12 knots. MAST RAKE BASE Rake Setting – Disconnect the forestay above deck and swing it into the mast and mark the top of the gooseneck black bands onto the forestay. Reconnect the forestay and set the rake up at a distance of 48” measured from the black band mark down to the deck following the forestay. From BASE, in light airs we increase the forestay length by up to ¼” being 48 ¼”, subject to your boat helm balance. MAST RAKE DEVELOPMENTS In recent times we have seen a trend towards adjusting rake for conditions. The basic rule is longer forestay in light winds to induce weather helm/ feel, and carry a shorter forestay as the wind increases, which will reduce weather helm. If you wish to experiment with this variable we suggest trying base plus ¼” in light and base minus ¼” in fresh conditions. IMPORTANT: Mast step should be left at BASE position if MAST RAKE is adjusted around wind speed.   UPPER SHROUDS POSITION AND TENSION Check mast if it is square in boat, by measuring from chain plate to chain plate with the jib halyard (or tape measure) from hounds. Place the upper in chain plate hole # 2 (from the bow). Set the upper tension up using the following steps to achieve “BASE” being 6 to 12 knots TWS. Remove chocks, set backstay so forestay is tensioned to # 10 on the PT-2 ( Loos Gauge). Forestay and mast step must be on BASE. LOWER SHROUDS POSITION AND TENSION To establish the 6 to 12 kts TWS “BASE” lower tension place the lower in 4th hole from the front of chain plates. Adjust each lower to read ten on the Loos gauge sighting the mast track is straight. Then take four turns off to establish the 9 to 12 kts TWS “BASE” measurement. Four turns are for one end type turnbuckle (Brolga and Ronstan). If you have a double end turnbuckle, please divide the number by two. The lowers affect the amount of mid mast sag (side bend). Controlling sag is crucial to setting up mainsail shape and affects helm/balance. Think of the mid sag being similar to how the head stay sag affects the jib. More middle mast sag in light air powers up the mainsail, and less sag in heavy air helps de-power the mainsail. Final adjustment of the lowers should be made while sailing by eyeing up the mast and judging the amount of mid mast sag in fractions. Please note that in fresh conditions the mid mast shall be straight or slightly to windward of a straight line when sighting up the mast track. MAST BLOCKS The function of the mast blocks is to adjust the bend in the mast for the conditions. Combined with the backstay and mainsheet tension, the mast blocks will control the bend of the mast and sag of the headstay, which helps the main and jib achieve a fast sail shape for the wind strength. When blocks are added in front of the mast, (step block raised) the bend is taken out, stiffening the mast for heavier air. This will have a great influence in decreasing your headstay sag. As the blocks are taken out from the front of the mast, (step block lowered) the mast is allowed to bend which moves the draft aft in the main, and adds to headstay sag. If the mainsail looks too flat, or the headstay looks too loose, producing lee-helm, the mast should be moved back at the partners. If not possible, because mast is already against back of partners, then the mast step should be moved forward. If the mainsail looks full (round in the lower front area) and the headstay is too tight, move the mast forward at the partners or move the step aft. MAIN CUNNINGHAM Cunningham should not be used until 15 knots and more. JIB SETTINGS JIB LEAD The measurement for an average lead position is 8’ 6 ½” from headstay at the deck to the middle of the jib car. To add power to the jib the lead can be moved forward as much as ¾”. Remember though, the lead position will have to be adjusted with any jib halyard changes. We have found that when the jib lead is set properly, the foot sets very flat. Jib Twist and Sheet Tension – We sail with two black bands on the spreaders as described in the “Rig set up” section. Measuring from the side of the mast along the spreader to the inside band should be 1’ 6 ¼”. The outside band measures 1’ 9 ¾” from the mast to the band. Using these bands allows the leech of the jib to be adjusted while looking through the spreader window of the mainsail, and increases sheet tension accuracy for different conditions. In light air, the leech of the jib should fall just inside the outside band. As the breeze builds the sheet tension will get tighter, up to the point where the leech of the jib is at the inside band. As the breeze and sea conditions build, the sheet will be adjusted to keep the leech between the bands. In 18+ knots the leech will line up with the middle of the outside band. In huge puffs you may want to be even further out to help keep the boat in control. On all our jibs we have placed a leech tell tale between the two top battens. This leech tell tale, will help determine the correct sheet tension. For best performance, the leech tale should be on the verge of stalling at all times. Jib Halyard Tension – We have a jib halyard with 2 balls at 1” increments. Together with the jib halyard fine tune we get plenty of adjustability as the breeze increases and decreases. As a starting point the jib halyard should be adjusted with the tack of the jib about 3” from the deck. In light to medium winds adjust the halyard so wrinkles are barely visible at each tab. We recommend adjusting the tack, for fine-tuning of the jib luff tension. Completely releasing the tack control will quickly add power to the sail for acceleration out of tacks. In light to medium conditions, for maximum power, the jib luff should have very little tension and some scallops should be noticed. In breezy conditions, tension the luff quite hard to depower and hold the draft forward. The LM-2H and GM-6.5 jibs are made standard with “dual set of tabs” for added wind range and versatility. Using the long tabs will add fullness and allow for a tighter headstay in choppy conditions. Generally we use the long tabs in winds below 12-15 knots. As a general rule, if you are not pulling on the backstay to depower, it is probably faster to use the long tabs. Special note on the top batten pocket for your North Sails Etchells jib: Your jib comes standard with both a full length and short top batten. Using the full length top batten can increase the effective wind range of your jib. We suggest always using the short top batten in your jib in winds up to 8 Kts. When winds pick up above 8 Kts, remove the short batten and install the full length top batten. Also use the full length top batten when sail gets older. Any questions, please give us a call. SPINNAKER SETTINGS RIG SETUP WHILE RUNNING Getting the mast raked as far forward as possible is critical to downwind speed. Take out all the blocks in front of the mast (completely lower the step block) after you get the spinnaker up. Ease the backstay off until the mast just rest on the front of the partners. The tip of the mast has moved through several feet, and the entire mast is now angling forward in the boat. To keep the mast from jumping around, it is common to have a separate piece of line attached to your jib tack shackle with a clip at the other end. Lower the jib to the deck, and attach the clip to the jib halyard shackle on the jib head. Pull the jib halyard tight. Keep the inboard end of the pole approximately 30” above the gooseneck band. Under 8 knots of wind, the pole angle should be about 2 – 4” lower at the outboard end. In 8 – 13 knots of breeze the pole should be about parallel to the water. In over 13 knots, the pole should be raised as much as 6 additional inches at the outboard end. SAIL CARE Always store your sails away from the sun and make sure they are clean and completely dry. Be sure that you always “roll “ your upwind sails. This will help then last longer and remain wrinkle free. 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BOAT PREPARATION MAST AND SHROUD TENSION The Loose Rig To measure the aft rake of your mast, hoist a tape measure on the main halyard and hold it tight at the intersection of the transom and the rear deck. This measurement (without your jib up), should be 28’ 4” to 28’ 5 1/2”. On our boat we have placed a channel adjuster above the deck at the joint of the forestay and the wire attached to the toggle. This allows us to quickly adjust the rake and lengthen the forestay if necessary. To measure the “slop” of the rig, you need to measure the forward rake of the mast. With the tape still hoisted, push the mast forward until the shrouds restrict it. The difference between this forward measurement and the aft measurement should be approximately 2-3”. The Tight Rig The tight rig tuning is only functional with the jib cut for this tuning. A Loose Rig, or even a Snug jib put on a tight rig will be too flat, especially in medium winds. First, drop your shrouds as low as possible in your channel adjusters. This should put the very bottom of the swage fork on your shrouds just barely above the actual chain plate that exits the hull. Raise the mast; hook your jib halyard to your bow plate (and perhaps tie your spinnaker halyard on the bow plate as well as a safety). Tighten the jib halyard until tensioned close to the suggested tension of 240lbs. We use a 3/8” socket wrench in the halyard box to crank the rig up tight enough. The standard aluminum cranks will break if used. It may be a trial and error process until you’ve reached the proper rig and tension. However, once achieved, you will not have to readjust the rig again! We suggest setting your rig up with the rig tension between 220 and 250 pounds. If less than 220, too much headstay sag will develop in medium winds, if more than 250; the mast may be pushed out of column in heavier winds. The rake measurement, measured with a tape hooked on the main halyard to the joint of the transom on the back deck, should be very close to 28’4”- 28’5”. Farther forward than 28’5 1/2” will result in too “light” of a helm and the need to heel the boat more to keep in balanced. More rake than 28’3” will create too much weather helm. Snug Rig Jib The Snug Rig jib will tune very similar to the Tight Rig, using the same methods and tools above. The rake measurement should still set very close to the 28’ 4”-28’ 5”. The rig tension will be considerably less then the tight rig, however. Set the rig to 80-110 lbs measured on the forestay. NO MORE TOGGLE It is no longer necessary to use the toggle to set your rake, jib luff tension or slop in the rig. In fact, you will never ever need to look at it again; your forestay will take the entire rig load while your jib halyard will simply adjust cloth tension. RUDDER BLADE In the past we have indicated in our Tuning Guides that the angle of the rudder blade to the rudder head should be set so the blade is much closer to parallel to the rudder head than comes stock from the factory. This has meant moving the blade and redrilling the rudder blade hole. We have found that this change is not necessary and in some cases has perhaps contributed to rudder blade bending due to increased leverage on the blade. Instead we feel confidant that setting the rudder blade angle similar to what come stock from the factory (the forward lower tip is approximately 5” aft of a straight line tangent to the forward edge of the rudder blade and parallel to the forward edge of the rudder head) increases the strength of the rudder blade without compromising speed or pointing ability. SAIL TRIM MAIN SHEET TRIM The main should be trimmed so that the upper batten is parallel to the boom (sighted from under the boom looking up the sail). In lighter winds, or when sailing in a great deal of chop, it is helpful to ease the mainsheet slightly so the upper batten is angled out approximately 5º. In drifting conditions, when the boom is hanging on the leech and hooking the upper batten, set the upper batten parallel to centerline of the boat. Only in drifting conditions should the main be trimmed this way, as this will place the boom approximately 2’ (61 cm) off from centerline. In very heavy winds, with the help of the boom vang, set the mainsheet tension so the upper batten is again angled outboard approximately 5º from parallel to the boom. It is important, in winds above 15 mph, to apply heavy boom vang tension so the mast and boom will bend correctly to sufficiently flatten the sail. When proper vang tension is applied it is not unusual that the boom be deflected from the straight line nearly 3 to 4” (7.6 to 10.2 cm) in heavy breezes. This heavy boom vang tension will help make playing the main much easier, as the sheet will not have quite as much strain as it does in even moderate winds. Note: Make sure when rounding the windward mark that the boom vang is eased off so more strain is not applied to the mast and boom! MAINSAIL STEERS THE FLYING SCOT The mainsail is very important in steering the Scot. The skipper should always hold his mainsheet and be ready to ease it quickly when he feels an increase in his weather helm (i.e. load on the helm acts as a brake). When the boat is tracking well again, and the helm is balanced, he should slowly trim the mainsail back in. Note: Double check that your mainsheet swivel cleat is angled properly for easy release in a puff. It is dangerous, and slow, to have to use your foot to kick the sheet free from the cleat to release it! CUNNINGHAM/MAIN HALYARD TENSION Pull the Cunningham just tight enough to leave a hint of horizontal wrinkles off the lower one-third luff of the sail. With the North Flying Scot main, it is better to err towards being too loose than being too tight. Of course, in a breeze it will require much more Cunningham tension to smooth the sail, but there should still be a hint of horizontal wrinkles. It is important to start with the proper main halyard tension at the dock. There is a definite tendency to over-tension the halyard and pull all the wrinkles from the luff before any Cunningham is applied. This is especially important to avoid in lighter winds. BOOM VANG Downwind, trim the vang just hard enough to keep the boom down and the leech supported on the main. Still use the guide of setting the upper batten being set slightly out from parallel to the boom. When the boom vang is trimmed correctly on a beam to broad reach, the telltale should fly straight off the leech at the upper batten. There is a tendency for the boom vang to be pulled on too hard when sailing downwind, especially in light winds. This will over- tighten the upper leech and, due to the side bend of the mast, over flatten the mainsail. However, it is also easy to “under-vang” in heavier winds downwind and loose valuable power from the top of the main. Be conscious of your top telltale. As previously mentioned, upwind in heavy air, the vang is set hard enough to restrict the upward movement of the boom to just allow the upper batten to ease no more than 5° to 10° past parallel to the boom. In these conditions, as mentioned, the mainsheet simply acts as a traveler and allows the boom to move mostly sideways and outboard. With each wind velocity the vang tension applied depends primarily on crew weight. Lighter weight crews will tension the vang earlier due to becoming overpowered earlier, while heavier crews might not need boom vang tension until much heavier winds. OUTHAUL Your North mainsail is constructed with a shelf foot so it is possible to make the lower half of the main deeper when sailing downwind. Usually the outhaul is tight enough upwind so that there will be only a 1 1/2” to 2” (3.8 cm to 5.1 cm) gap between the side of the boom and the shelf-foot seam in the middle of the foot. In heavy winds, pull the outhaul tighter to close the shelf and flatten the main. In extremely heavy winds, above 18 mph, the outhaul should be tight enough so there is a hard crease from the tack to the clew. In lighter winds or choppy seas, ease the outhaul until the gap between the side of the boom and the shelf seam is 2”. When going downwind, ease the outhaul (if there is time and opportunity) until the gap is a full 3-4”. JIB LUFF TENSION As wind velocity changes, it is necessary to change the luff tension on your jib (such as the Cunningham on the main). Simply crank your jib up tight enough to barely leave a hint of wrinkles along the luff. These will appear as “crow’s feet” off each snap. Never leave the halyard tension loose enough so that there is “sag” between each snap, but only crank the halyard so tight that the crow’s feet are removed in heavy winds when overpowered. There is no need to adjust the lashing at the head of your jib if you use the above suggestions. JIB LEAD POSITION In most conditions, keep the leads maximum forward on the tracks. In heavy winds and when overpowered, move the leads all the way aft on the tracks. JIB SHEET TRIM: WINDWARD SHEET TRIM Proper leeward and windward jib sheet tensions are important for top upwind performance in the Flying Scot. In light and moderate winds, the windward sheet is tensioned upwind in order to pull the clew of the jib to windward of the jib lead track. This will help narrow the slot (since the Scot’s jib slot is normally too wide) and make the lower sections of the jib more powerful. To set up the trim for upwind sailing pull the leeward sheet until the foot of the jib is just smooth and not curled. The foot should be relatively flat and not baggy, but not so flat that the very bottom of the sail begins to curl up. Next pull in the windward sheet until the clew of the jib falls directly over the middle of the seat. On our boat we actually place a tape mark in the middle of the seat to make it easier to eyeball the position of the clew. With the weather sheet trimmed the jib foot will become much fuller which will increase the boat’s power and ability to accelerate. Once the boat is up to top speed pull the leeward sheet again until the foot is flatter and the upper batten is angled straight back nearly parallel to the center line of the boat. When hitting chop or sailing into a lull, ease only the leeward sheet so that the top batten angles outboard 15 to 20 degrees. When back up to speed, pull the leeward sheet back in until the top batten is nearly straight back. Throughout this acceleration process the weather sheet is never eased unless the boat is sailing in very light, nearly drifting conditions or very heavy winds (see below). In this condition the boat will be nearly “close reached” around the course and the weather sheet, therefore will not be applied. We have found that in heavy winds and when the boat is overpowered the windward sheet will be well eased and at times all the way off. This is necessary because as the mainsheet is eased, you will need to help maintain an open slot between the jib and the main. Also this allows the leech of the jib to open up and be more forgiving, both in terms of heel and steering. ATTACHING JIB SHEETS It is best to tie the jib sheet onto the jib with an overhand know so that the knot is 6” away from the clew of the jib. This is important so that when windward sheeting pull from the windward sheet is primarily across instead of directly down. With the knot 6” away from the clew the windward sheet attaches to the jib lower and therefore pulls more sideways. If you are sailing with 2:1 sheets, the blocks should be tied about 6” from the clew of the jib. CREW WEIGHT While the Flying Scot will perform with an extremely wide range of crew weights, we suggest trying to sail with as close to 360 to 450 lb. as possible. CENTERBOARD Keep the board all the way down when sailing upwind in all conditions. In heavier winds you may find that the helm balances even better when the board is rolled back from the bottom of the hump 1” to 2”. In very heavy, near survival, winds lower your board only to where the rollers are just touching the flat at the bottom of the hump. Downwind remember to pull the board up to match the helm balance. On a reach it is not unusual for the board to be as high as 3/4 of the way up when it is breezy. Remember that the only goal is to balance the helm when sailing off the wind and pulling the board up until the boat will almost sail itself when nearly flat will greatly help to improve the boat’s speed. SPINNAKER TRIM Always sail your North spinnaker with a 6” to 12” curl in the luff. Careful concentration is necessary. Use short, smooth, in and out motions on the sheet to keep the spinnaker trimmed correctly. Try to keep from jerking the sheet when the spinnaker begins to collapse! Keep the clews even at all times through adjustments to your topping lift (pole). In some conditions it is difficult to see the leeward clew behind the mainsail, so you can use another guide, which is to adjust the pole height so that the center vertical seam in the spinnaker is parallel to the mast. We suggest easing the halyard so that the head of the spinnaker is 6” off the mast. When running, in nearly all conditions, we suggest sitting fairly far aft in the Flying Scot. It is not unusual for the skipper to be up against the aft side of the cockpit with his crew just in front of him, especially when windy. SHIM YOUR BOARD On Scot’s older than 5 years it may be helpful to shim the centerboard and trunk for top upwind speed. When sailing through chop an unshimmed board can slop around and become quite inefficient. By gluing fiberglass battens or applying thickened epoxy to the inside of the trunk where the bottom meets the inside of the trunk, the board can be shimmed tightly so that sideways slop will be minimized when the board is fully lowered. STEERING THE SNUG AND TIGHT RIG JIBS In light to medium winds, these jibs will steer just similar to the loose rig style jib. When pointing high, allow the weather telltale to stall, but never sail lower than the leeward telltale on the luff of the jib-streaming straight aft. When accelerating, both telltales should be straight aft. However, in breeze, when the boat is overpowered, it will be unusual, unless sailing through very large waves, that the weather telltale will not show a stall. In fact, in very breezy conditions, the luff of the jib will actually be breaking as far back as 12 inches. With the tight rig jib the groove is quite wide and when trying to accelerate, both telltales will nearly be straight aft, and when sailing in point mode and when trying to depower, again, the luff of the jib will be actually breaking. When steering in the upper ranges of the “groove” don’t be afraid to allow the windward telltale, and at times even the luff of the jib, break. SAIL CARE Your North Sails are constructed out of the best materials on the market today. We make sure of this by testing every roll of cloth we use. Through proper care and maintenance your sails will give you the performance you have come to expect from a North sail. The most important factor for a long life for your sails is to watch them for signs of wear and tear in high load and chafe areas. Be sure to wash the sails off with fresh water and dry the sails thoroughly before storing. A dry, mild climate is best. Excessive heat can cause problems with the sails due to the possibility of shrinkage. It is best to roll the mainsail and jib. MAINSAIL When hoisting and lowering the sail try to minimize the amount of creasing or wrinkling of the sail. Every time the sail gains a crease the cloth breaks down that much faster. Always have someone contain the leech and luff during these procedures. The battens can be left in the sail without any problems. Be sure to roll the sail down the leech so that the battens will not twist. This could cause damage to the battens. JIB When rolling the jib keep the battens perpendicular to the leech. Pay special attention to the battens and batten pockets for wear and tear. SPINNAKER The spinnaker is fairly straightforward. Be sure to repair all tears and pulled stitches. Folding the sail when storing is best. Rev. R03 READ MORE

AROUND NEW ZEALAND’S NORTH ISLAND Co-skippers Joliffe and Tucker tie for first on IRC, record the fastest overall time on PHRF and the fifth-fastest elapsed time overall. Joliffe’s 10.8 meter Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 showed the big boys a thing or two at the SSANZ two-handed, Round the North Island (RNI) race. North Sails consultant Josh Tucker and co-skipper Damon Joliffe sailed the the boat to the to its full potential to tie for first on IRC and record the fastest overall time on PHRF, the fifth-fastest elapsed time overall. Tucker and Joliffe have campaigned and practiced for 18 months prior to the race. Both knew what to expect: Tucker has completed the tough, 1,200 mile race three times, and Joliffe two. On top of doing a ton of double-handed racing together, the duo also spent a ton of time in the loft making sure no stone was left unturned in terms of sails. “We knew from previous races the best sail combinations for reaching and upwind, which is what you mostly get in this race. It was also about knowing the crossovers for each sail. We pretty much knew exactly what we should have up at any time. We made notes as we went and fine-tuned it — it wasn’t just trial and error.” Tucker says the combination that worked best during the race was reaching with the Code Zero up, with the staysail inside. “If it got windy we’d reef the main and have the zero and staysail up to keep the center of effort forward. The boats next to us would be going full main and small jib, but we found we could get as good a speed as the forty footers with this combination.” They also have a 3Di reefing jib. Having a reefing jib means the team didn’t do a single jib change the entire race. ‘We could use the medium-size jib to up to about 22 knots, then we’d reef it and it could go up to 32 knots. You can use up quite a bit of time changing jibs, and a lot of crew energy, too.’ Which brings up another important factor: Tucker and Joliffe undertook an intensive fitness program before starting the race, to make sure they were in top condition. “We did eight months of boot camp twice a week and completed a half-marathon as a team to make sure we were as fit as possible,’ says Tucker. ‘There’s no point having the best sails if you don’t have the energy to use them properly!” Richard Bicknell, from North Sails in New Zealand, did three-quarters of the RNI on canting Elliott 50 Ran Tan II, with owner Brian Petersen, before having to travel overseas to sail in a J-Class regatta. Ran Tan finished first in line honors on every leg, ahead of IRC 52 Miss Scarlet, but was ineligible for the overall prize because of the change of crew. “It was my third RNI and Brian’s second, so we knew that the biggest influence on winning the race was consistency, finishing each leg as fast as possible with minimal downtime. It sounds obvious, but it is easy to lose two or more hours through small problems,” Bicknell said. In Ran Tan’s sail wardrobe were a new North 3Di main and headsail — a number one headsail which could be reefed to a number three. They also had a furling J4 that sets back from the forestay, a North paneled sail with a locking staysail halyard; a NorLon A4, a fractional code zero on a roller furler, an A7 blast runner, an A2 cut down TP52 sail, a storm jib and trysail. “Being one of the line-honor contenders, we knew that would also mean any wind holes or transitions onboard would allow the back of the fleet to catch up to us,” Bicknell says. ‘That happened a lot — we were really pushed on the second leg into Wellington and only just managed to hang in there.” North Sails New Zealand also supplied sails for around half of the rest of the fleet, including Shaw 40 “Blink”, which had a new 3Di main and reefing jib for the race; Stewart 34 “Pahi”, which was tweaked up with a push to fly asymmetric as well as a near full inventory of new sails; and Ross 40 “Marshall Law” and Elliott 1050 “Spearhead“, which both sported 3DL inventory. Roger Hall from North Sails’ Bay of Islands loft traveled with the fleet to provide onshore repair services at each stopover location. North Sails additionally set up a temporary loft in Napier to work with the Wellington sales team, Todd Olson and Dave Molen. © Steve Cowper READ MORE

Download North Sails J/24 Quick Tuning Matrix: Loos Gauge PRO PT2 | Loos Gauge PRO Model B Thanks very much for purchasing your J/24 sails from North Sails! We appreciate your business. This tuning guide will help you set up your boat for your new sails. If you have any questions along the way, please give us a call or send us an email. We are always ready to help you and your crew to get the most out of your new sails. Also, we have posted many J/24 related articles that will help improve your understanding of this great boat. This tuning setup is designed to be as “all purpose” as possible. Like many one designs, the J/24 uses just a few sails to cover a wide range of wind and sea conditions. Set your boat up the way we have described here, and you will have great speed in all conditions. WITH THE MAST DOWN Measure the length of your spreaders from the side of the mast to the point where the shrouds touch the end of the spreaders. The spreaders should be as short as possible, 760 mm. Make sure the spreaders are swept back the same amount on each side: Tie a small string tightly between the shrouds just above the spreaders Set the mast on sawhorses, track facing up, with the mast butt (plug in place) resting on a horse. Using the back edge of the mast shoe as your guide, check to see the string between the shrouds and aft edge of the mast shoe are parallel. (See picture #1) Picture 1 – If not parallel you will need to take the spreaders off and slide the thru bar in your mast to one side or the other to compensate. If you do not have a thru bar either file down the stubby male fittings or use spreader adjusters to make the sweep the same on each side. Now check the deflection of the spreaders. This is the distance between the taut string and the aft side of the mast. For the Fathead main this should be 160-165 mm. If your mast has not been shortened before, measure down the mast from the forestay fixing point as described in the class rule 3.5.2 (7725mm down from headstay pin center). You will need this mark later to find out if your mast can be shortened. You want your mast as short as possible. The headstay should be as long as possible. To check this, attach the headstay and hold it alongside the front of the mast and make a mark on the headstay corresponding with the mark in Rule 3.5.2 (7725mm down from headstay pin center). WITH THE MAST UP Have a class measurer with an approved jig inspect your mast to make sure it is as short as possible. The mark you previously made on the mast must be no lower than 400mm above the sheerline. We like to cut our mast so the lower edge of the band is 405 mm above the sheerline to ensure that our mast will always measure in. See picture #2. Picture 2 Step the mast and attach all shrouds very loosely (except the backstay) leaving any mast blocks out for the moment. Temporarily hold the mast butt in place on the “I” beam with a pair of vise grip pliers. Make sure that the mast is positioned as far aft at deck level as possible. Have a friend hold the end of your tape at the stem measurement point and measure again straight to the lower edge to the mast band. We want this measurement to be as close to maximum as possible, 2925mm. Chock the mast at the deck to hold it in this position. See picture #2 above for determining measurement point at stem. The next step is to place the butt of the mast in the proper position on the “I” beam down below. Picture 3 Using a friend to hold the end of the tape, measure from the top of the third bolt holding the stem fitting on (inside the boat, up in the bow) to the intersection of the front of the mast and the shoe that rides on the “I” beam. This measurement should be 112.5”. Hold the mast butt in place at this position temporarily with a pair of vise grips. Now tighten the upper shrouds to 20 and the lowers to 15 on a Loos Model B tension gauge. Snug the uppers first and then, using the genoa halyard, measure down to the chainplates on both sides to be sure the mast is centered in the boat. Sight up the backside of the mast to be sure it is straight. Now we will check to make sure the mast butt is in the right place. With the backstay connected (but very,very loose) measure the tension on the headstay. The tip of your gauge should be about 40-50 mm from the close side of the headstay wire. See picture #4 below. (Note: We typically use an older, separate Loos Gauge B for the headstay measurement to keep the new one in good condition!) If your headstay is tighter than this, you will need to move your butt aft slightly; if it is looser, move it forward slightly. After moving the butt, check and adjust the tension on the shrouds before you recheck the headstay tension. This should set up your mast with 2 – 2.25” of prebend. To verify, hold the taut main halyard at the gooseneck and sight up the back side of your mast. If you see something different, recheck your measurements. TUNING CHART The J/24 has just 4 sails to cover the entire wind range for racing. For the best performance in each condition, we adjust shroud tension depending on wind speed. As the final step in setting up your boat, fill in the attached tuning chart with how many turns of the turnbuckles it take to get from one setting to another. We often adjust our shroud tensions between races (it is against class rules to do so while racing), and it is impossible to get accurate tension gauge readings while the sails are up if there are any waves at all.   NEW LOOS GAUGE PRO MODEL PT-2 Wind Speed (Knots) Uppers Tension Uppers (Turns from Base) Lower Tension Lower (Turns from Base) 0-5 13 -1 9 -1 5-8 – BASE 15 BASE 12 BASE 8-10 17 1 13 0.5 10-12 18 0.5 15 0.5 12-14 22 1.5 18 0.5 14-16 24 1.5 22 1 16+ 26 0 26 1.5   OLD LOOS GAUGE PRO MODEL B Wind Speed (Knots) Uppers Tension Uppers (Turns from Base) Lower Tension Lower (Turns from Base) 0-5 18 -1 10 -1 5-8 – BASE 20 BASE 15 BASE 8-10 23 1 18 0.5 10-12 24 0.5 21 0.5 12-14 27 1.5 24 0.5 14-16 29 1.5 27 1 16+ 29 0 31 1.5  Special note on the backstay: Adjusting the tension of your shrouds changes backstay tension too. Each time you tighten or loosen your shrouds, be sure to tighten or loosen the two smaller backstay turnbuckles too, so that the blocks riding on the backstay bridles stay 6-8” below the “y’ in the backstay when the adjustment line is slack. This is very important to make sure the headstay can get tight and loose enough depending on conditions. (We typically adjust 6 turns on each backstay leg between settings.) You are now ready to start sailing! SAIL TRIM Follow these guidelines to set up and trim your sails. Mainsail Outhaul 0-4 knots: Clew should be ½ “ from black band 4+ knots: Clew should be at band Cunningham No cunningham until about 12 knots, then tension until wrinkles in luff are just removed. Vang Upwind, keep loose to 8 knots. 8-15 knots, tension to remove all slack. Above 15 knots, tension very hard so boom does not rise at all when the mainsheet is eased.Downwind, tension so top batten is parallel to boom. Traveler Keep all the way to windward until entire crew is sitting on weather side with legs out. As soon as crew is on the weather rail with legs over, drop down 6”. After that, use it to keep the boat flat by letting it down until the leeward edge of the car is in the middle of the track. If you have to drop below midline to keep the boat flat, pull on more backstay. We do not like to sail with the traveler to leeward of midline. Backstay Use to control fullness on main and genoa. Leave loose until about 8 knots. Slowly tighten as breeze builds to depower boat. At its tightest, the blocks will be all the way down to the top of the pushpit. A small adjustment (1-2”) can have a big effect. Be sure to adjust the backstay turnbuckles with the shrouds. Mainsheet Up to 10 knots of wind, tension the mainsheet so the top batten is parallel to the boom and the top tell tale is flying 50-60% of the time. In more than 10 knots, the top tell tale should be flying all the time, because the top of the main will be flatter. Genoa Trimming the genoa involves three major adjustments: lead position, halyard tension, and sheet tension. Halyard Tension Set the halyard so the luff of the genoa has just a hint of wrinkles. We have found that it is much better to have the halyard too loose than too tight. In light air, make sure that the luff is nice and loose. As the wind builds, tension the halyard to smooth out the luff It is important to have a few marks on your genoa halyard near the cleats or stopper to duplicate fast settings for a range of conditions. We mark off ½” increments on the line. Lead Position It is important to drill two extra holes between each of the factory-drilled holes in your genoa track. The standard spacing is too far apart to be workable. Having the lead in the correct position is critical for good speed. In moderate breeze (4-8 knots), trim the sail in and position the lead car so that the sail touches the spreader and the chainplates or turnbuckles at exactly the same time. Mark this position. This will be your neutral point for your jib lead. Sheet Tension We check the sheet tension by judging how many inches the sail is trimmed away from the end of the spreader. Generally we never trim the sail tighter than 1” from the end of the spreader. MAINSAIL SETTING CHART Wind Speed (Knots) Traveler Backstay Topp Batten Angle Outhaul 0-6 All way up None Closed 3 degrees In 1/2″ 7-12 Down 3-4″ 1/4 on Closed 3 degrees to parallel In 1/2″ 12-18 Middle 1/2 to 3/4 on Parallel to open 3 degrees In 1/2″ 18+ Below CL 2-3″ Max on Open 3-6 degrees In 1/2″     GENOA SETTING CHART Condition Lead Halyard Sheet 0-6 Flat 1 aft of neutral Wrinkles 3-4″ off spreader 0-6 Choppy On Neutral Wrinkles 3-6″ off spreader 7-13 Flat On Neutral Just smooth 2-3″ off spreader 7-13 Choppy 1-2 holes forward Wrinkles 2-4″ off spreader 14-18 Choppy 1-2 holes forward Smooth 4-6″ off spreader 18+ Choppy On Neutral Tight 6-8″ off spreader   Change your settings depending on the condition. As the wind builds and dies, you should be constantly adjusting the genoa sheet. Class Jib For fine-tuning the lead position, drill two extra holes between each set of factory holes in the jib track. Start with the jib lead block even with the chainplates and fine tune the lead position from there. Unlike the genoa, the luff of the jib should always be smooth. In moderately heavy air, you can get the luff too tight. The luff of the sail should break evenly up and down. If the sail breaks high first, move the lead forward; if it breaks low first, move the lead back. Check this carefully and make a mark on the deck in the correct spot. Sheet tension is critical. We like to adjust the tension on the jib sheet to balance out the helm. If the boat has a bit of weather helm, trim the jib slightly to pull the bow down. If the boat has leeward helm, ease the jib slightly. Because it’s a high aspect sail, you only need to change the tension on the sheet a small amount (1/2” increments) to have a significant effect. Spinnaker The spinnaker should be at full hoist at all times. The general rule of trim is to allow 2-4″ (50-102 mm) of curl in the luff of the sail. Set the outboard end of the pole at the same height as the free floating clew of the sail, and pull back on the guy until the pole is perpendicular to the apparent wind. Use the upper pole ring for most conditions. If you are going slow, try raising the pole a couple of inches. Downwind — Light air Concentrate on good communication between helmsman and spinnaker trimmer. The goal is to sail as low as possible, while still maintaining good pressure in the spinnaker (measured by tension on the sheet). Try not to sail too high and add distance, but do not sail too low at a slow pace. Be careful not to pull the pole too far aft because it flattens the spinnaker. Downwind — Heavy air Don’t square the pole back too far as this makes it easier for the spinnaker to roll out to weather. Do not let the clew of the spinnaker go past the headstay. To sail low without rolling to weather, keep most of the crew hiked to leeward. Downwind Tips Pole height is important and changes in increments of 1″ (25 mm) have a big effect on the spinnaker. The luff of the sail should curl evenly from top to bottom. If the spinnaker breaks high, raise the pole. If the break is too low, lower the pole. Whether or not you use tweakers (or twings), it’s crucial to have a foreguy system that locks the pole in place. Every up and down or back and forth motion of the pole (and hence the spinnaker) is energy that will not be pulling the boat forward. An efficient system for launching and retrieving the spinnaker is another must. We recommend a deep cockpit launching bag. Call us if you would like one made for your J/24. In conclusion: Always sail the boat as flat as possible, except in very light air Sail as close to the max crew weight limit (400 kg) as possible. Do not be afraid to change settings if you are slow. Set up a tuning chart and use it. Have open positive communication on board. Sail fast and have fun! SAIL CARE Your North Sails are constructed out of the best materials on the market today. We make sure of this by testing every roll of cloth we use. Through proper care and maintenance, your sails will give you the performance you have come to expect. The most important factor for long sail life is to watch for signs of wear and tear in high load and chafe areas. Be sure to wash the sails off with fresh water, and dry the sails thoroughly before storing. A dry, mild climate is best. Excessive heat can cause problems with the sails due to the possibility of shrinkage. It is best to roll the mainsail, genoa, and jib. Mainsail When hoisting and lowering the sail, try to minimize the amount of creasing or wrinkling of the sail. Every time the sail gains a crease, the cloth breaks down that much faster. Always have someone control the leech and luff during these procedures. The battens can be left in the sail without any problems. Be sure to roll the sail down the leech so that the battens will not twist, which could damage them. Genoa With today’s Mylars becoming softer, rolling the genoa has become more difficult. When folding, creasing can develop along folds and accelerate the breaking down of the Mylar. The worst case scenario is for the sail to be rolled and then folded. Jib When rolling the jib, keep the battens perpendicular to the leech. Pay special attention to the battens and batten pockets for wear and tear. Since this sail is manufactured from yarn-tempered Dacron, problems can arise due to mishandling. Spinnaker Caring for the spinnaker is fairly straightforward. Be sure to repair all tears and pulled stitches as soon as possible. Store the sail folded. This tuning guide only begins to cover all there is to know about racing the J/24, so North Sails J/24 experts have prepared a professional, in-depth J/24 racing clinic to help you and your fleet improve. In the course of an evening or weekend, you will learn more about racing your J/24 than you could possibly learn in a season of racing on your own. For more details, please call a North Sails J/24 expert! At North Sails, we are constantly striving to make our products better. If you have any comments on this tuning guide, we’d love to hear from you. Please give us a call or send us an email. READ MORE

For answers to your speed and boat handling questions, read our tips and tricks in the J/70 Speed Guide. READ MORE

© Paul Wyeth The Jenga crew is led by two brothers, Sam and Mark Richmond. An avid sailor and Londoner, Mark owns the boat and skippered throughout the weekend. Sam, a North Sails expert out of Gosport, UK was onboard as trimmer. Despite the difficult IRC competition at the annual RORC Easter Challenge, the team had a great weekend on the water and appreciated the opportunity to work in their new sails. Following, as Sam takes a sailmaker’s perspective to review the new sails, Mark uses his experience on the helm to recount how 3Di RACE helped push the boat to its fullest potential. Since Jenga raced in IRC for the Easter Challenge, their new 3Di RACE sails fell outside of class rules. “For this event, we needed slightly modified sails to get us up to speed with our competition,” said Sam, who coordinated delivery of the sails a few weeks prior. “There are lots of custom IRC boats that have been tweaked for years, but for us it was about seeing what we could get this boat to do. We used a bigger jib, a mainsail with a smaller head, and a lighter weight spinnaker and Code Zero.” The Code Zero is a furling sail, perfect for tighter, off-the-wind angles. “The race with a reaching start, followed by a two mile first leg, was our best result,” he recalled. Having trimmed the mainsail on Jenga all weekend, Sam reported positively on the readability of 3Di RACE sails. “They have a ‘stiffness’ that allows for perfect shape once trimmed, and still allows the full range of tuning in a smaller boat with a bit more mast bend such as the J88. “3Di RACE is the latest rendition of North Sails’ proprietary 3Di technology, and is designed to be very adaptable to any boat, making the sails a ‘go-to’ option for racing clients. “The sails held their shape perfectly with our Selden mast, and we could easily adjust our sail controls as the pressure built to maximize power as the mast bent. Overall, I was impressed.” Mark remarked on the boat’s increased performance with new sails, and the work done to tailor the sails specifically for the J/88. “In over 12 knots the boat went much quicker downwind, especially wing-on-wing, which was a competitive move for us against the symmetrical spinnakers.” “Smoothness of the sails was impressive. Trimming was significantly easier too, simply adjusting jib halyard tension and moving jib cars had an amazing effect through the transition period, while the wind built and died down. The sails worked well in wider wind ranges, the minor adjustments easing us through the transition while maintaining boat speed and power.” Sam further remarked on the adjustments made within North Sails, between the design and sales teams, to refine the IRC inventory for the J/88. “We had a lot of work to do on the rigs when we first made J/88 sails. We’ve come a long way since then, which says a lot about the designers and development that’s been progressing which has really made it all come together for this boat. I lifted RACE main and jib onboard before racing and was really surprised with how light they were together. I was super impressed with how they performed after the fact.” READ MORE

FINN WORLD CUP SERIES Sunday wrapped up the World Cup Series in Hyerés, France for Olympic & Paralympic Classes. Competitors couldn’t have asked for more perfect sailing conditions in some of the most competitive fleets in the world. Over 500 sailors from 52 countries came to Hyerés to compete for first place and the gold medal. Familiar faces returned to Hyerés for redemption, and some to defend their previous titles. Lighter winds welcomed the fleet but towards the end of the event, they were seeing big pressure on all courses which made for some major competition. Consistency paid off in all fleets. The medal races concluded Sunday with medals won in the Finn, Laser, Radial, and 470 classes. Hyerés was event #2 in the World Cup series. Next up is Santander, Spain which will round-out the series for 2017. North Sails clients duked it out to the very end, some claiming gold in the medal race with others achieving hard-won positions among the fleet. Congratulations to Finn sailors Nicholas Heiner for claiming 2nd overall (at his third Finn event!) and silver in the medal race, Ed Wright for achieving 4th position overall, and Ben Cornish for an amazing performance leading the fleet on day 1 & 2, and ending up in 8th place overall. Best of luck to you all in Santander! © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves © Robert Deaves READ MORE

Winning the Star Class World Championship is the holy grail of one-design keelboat racing. The classic 23-foot one-design class was launched in 1911, and has since attracted generations of highly skilled teams from around the world. Lowell North won the Star Worlds five times, a feat that has never been equaled. The first was in 1945, when a 15-year-old Lowell crewed for 17-year old Malin Burnham. In 1949 Lowell skippered North Star II in the Worlds and would have easily won except for a DSQ in the second race. His victory in 1957, however, was the most significant. Held in Havana, Cuba, the ’57 Worlds was a challenging light-air event featuring unpredictable winds and strong currents. Results were up and down for most in the fleet, but Lowell and crew James Hill sailing North Star III had an advantage…speed. Often finding themselves in the rear of the fleet like every other competitor, North and Hill displayed a remarkable ability to claw their way back to the front. Lowell followed with World Championship wins in ’59, ’60 and ’73, but 1957 was special. It was the year he started North Sails. Today, North Sails customers win more one-design championships than all other sailmakers combined. On the water, Lowell is known as one of those guys who just “got it.” Renowned for his results in the Star Class, he medaled in 12 World Championships over 25 years and won gold at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The Star was the primary Olympic class keelboat from 1932 through 2012. Over 8,400 boats have been built, with more than 2,000 actively racing in 170 fleets. You win some, you lose some. Peter Barrett and Lowell North work on their faces after barely losing the 1967 Star Worlds in Denmark, succeeding the win to Paul Elvstrom. READ MORE

Opti sailors all over the world are competing for a chance to sail at the premier IODA Optimist Worlds in Thailand and the European Championship in Bulgaria this July. READ MORE

Thirty-three teams met in Portoroz, Slovenia for the 1st event of the M24 Euro sailing series! North Sails teams finished 1,2,4,5,7,9,10 in Portoroz, Slovenia for the first event of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series. A fleet of 33 entries from 15 nations showed great representation from all over Europe and the United States. Beautiful spring weather blessed teams with sunshine, clear skies, and fair winds. Very close racing within the top, but the teams that got out ahead early were untouchable once in place. Andrea Racchelli and his team on ‘Altea’ came out 20 points ahead, with unbelievable teamwork and boat speed against their 32 competitors. ‘UpUpUp’ followed behind in 2nd, and ‘FGF Sailing Team’ came in third position. This is event 1 of 6 total regattas within the 2017 Melges 24 European Sailing Series. The next event is held on Lake Garda in Italy, followed by Marstrand, Sweden in June, and Helsinki, Finland in July/August, where they will award an overall World Champion. The 5th event is taking place in Medemblik, NED just before the series ends with the 6th and final event in Luino, ITA in late October. Some very competitive racing out there in Portoroz, we can’t wait to see who comes out on top at the end of the series! ‘Altea’, first place finisher in event #1 of M24 European Series © Mauro Melandri READ MORE

In early 1986, a series of races were held off of Fremantle as a precursor to the 1987 America’s Cup. Dubbed the 12 Metre World Championship, a dozen syndicates competed in what they considered a “shakedown series” to test their boats against the competition. Some of the teams had new builds, their first development boats. Others hit the line with retrofit, or modified yachts. Many programs built three to four boats in the lead up to the 1987 Cup. Strong winds led to an extreme regatta, leading to four masts, a dozen booms and numerous sails being destroyed, and a few crew members overboard! Australia III, the heavy-weather Ben Lexcen designed successor to Australia II won the series. The New Zealand challenge boat KZ 5, a fiberglass Bruce Farr design, came in second, with the New York Yacht Club entrant America II third. Of the visible genoas on the starting line pictured below, woven polyester and aramid cloth is predominant, some cross cut and some tri-radial. In this photo we see three sails made by North including the genoa at center (I-6) and three others (see caption). At this time, North Sails lofts around the word were individually owned and operated, and each loft used their own version of sail design techniques and production processes. This is apparent in the variety of layouts and materials used. What has not changed is the independent development on each team. The difference between each of the sail plans in this photo is clearly visible in the variety of shapes and patterns. While less obvious today, variety in performance-related decisions, detail, and the resulting product, is still a hallmark of the America’s Cup. At the starting line in the 1986 12 Metre Worlds off Freemantle. Visible from left to right: North Sails, Hood Sails, North Sails, unknown, Sobstad Sails, North Sails, North Sails. READ MORE

Thirty-three teams met in Portoroz, Slovenia for the 1st event of the M24 Euro sailing series! North Sails teams finished 1,2,4,5,7,9,10 in Portoroz, Slovenia for the first event of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series. A fleet of 33 entries from 15 nations showed great representation from all over Europe and the United States. Beautiful spring weather blessed teams with sunshine, clear skies, and fair winds. Very close racing within the top, but the teams that got out ahead early were untouchable once in place. Andrea Racchelli and his team on ‘Altea’ came out 20 points ahead, with unbelievable teamwork and boat speed against their 32 competitors. ‘UpUpUp’ followed behind in 2nd, and ‘FGF Sailing Team’ came in third position. This is event 1 of 6 total regattas within the 2017 Melges 24 European Sailing Series. The next event is held on Lake Garda in Italy, followed by Marstrand, Sweden in June, and Helsinki, Finland in July/August, where they will award an overall World Champion. The 5th event is taking place in Medemblik, NED just before the series ends with the 6th and final event in Luino, ITA in late October. Some very competitive racing out there in Portoroz, we can’t wait to see who comes out on top at the end of the series! ‘Altea’, first place finisher in event #1 of M24 European Series © Mauro Melandri Link to final results READ MORE

A beautiful weekend in Charleston welcomed teams who traveled across the country to compete in one of the biggest regattas in the nation Charleston Race Week 2017 saw 213 boats registered, which made for a fun and exciting week of racing! The J/24, J/70, and Melges 24 fleets were the largest this year with a lot of familiar faces ready to hit the water in one of the most exciting venues south of the mason dixon line, the Cooper River! With different locations and courses for each racing circle, current and land factors come into play and can make or break your strategic plan around the course. Day one was a day to remember, with picture-perfect conditions for the OD courses inside Charleston Harbor. A building breeze made for fun racing later in the afternoon, especially in the J/70s who were up and planing for the last race. The current switched as the wind became shifty and puffy, which kept the sailors attentive to tricky course dynamics. Keeping track of the current direction in the different parts of the course was very important. “The best way to figure this out was to look at the marks and the committee boat to see which way they were sitting. The race committee boat is very helpful in determining just how strong the current actually is, and in what direction it is flowing which is helpful for starting techniques and calling the lay line,” said North Sails expert, Zeke Horowitz, of the J/70 class. “Constantly looking outside your boat is important as the angles are so apparent, and shifting rapidly,” he continued. “Having someone in the boat to keep an eye on fleet management makes it much easier to tell whether you have chosen the tack to get you ahead, or if you, in fact, need to tack.” On day two, the J/22 and J/24 fleets were sent to a different location to race, south of the Cooper River Bridge. With the new location and new factors present in that area, it seemed that the leaders were successful by choosing their own destiny. “Looking beyond our current position, and thinking a step ahead allowed us to make gains in this area of racing,” said North Sails expert, Mike Marshall, who skippered J/24 USA 5208. Mike remarked on a solid showing in the J/24 and J/22 fleets this year, noting great competition and camaraderie in both fleets. A front moved in slowly on Sunday and turned the big breeze on, which kept competitors on their toes while settling into the new pressure. The J/70s had a hard time starting together in both fleets, resulting in two general recalls which lead to the black flag. “Things got interesting when the second fleet finally got off to a good start, and the first fleet was already sailing downwind against the upwind sailors,” recalled Brian Janney of North Sails in San Diego, who sailed on 3 Ball JT. Brian noted the biggest factors of the final day were consistent, “Keeping your head out of the boat and staying in phase was an important part of maintaining confidence in your decisions. Tacking on each small shift made for big gains, as the fleet leaders dug closer and closer into shore.” With relatively flat water and consistent pressure, sailors reported a flatter sail plan worked well. Another great race week in the books, with outstanding attendance in the J/70 division! Melges 24 Team ‘SlingSHOT’ catching the perfect puff © Tim Wilkes Joel Ronning’s “Catapult” coming around the offset mark-ready to roll downwind © Tim Wilkes READ MORE

SEB MENZIES WINS 6 RACES AND THE CROWN OF THE 2017 NEW ZEALAND OPTIMIST NATIONALS Seb on the North MZX4: “Always good in all conditions – You can rely on it!” Our Optimist specialist Derek Scott caught up with Seb Menzies for a quick interview after winning all four New Zealand Ranking regattas and the Nationals championship. Seb used the North Sails crosscut design MZX4 which he describes as: “Good pointing and fast downwind”. Enjoy the interview! READ MORE

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Easter Challenge is an annual event on the Solent off of Cowes, UK. North Sails is proud to sponsor the regatta and was thrilled to offer the Regatta Services program for the third year in a row, including on the water coaching and organized fleet debriefs. The event was composed of three race days, kicking off with a high of 20 knot winds on Day 1. Temperatures were around 15-18 degrees celsius, which made for pleasant sailing conditions, and the pressure was pretty consistent in terms of speed from the Southeast. As day two came along, the breeze shifted toward the North and became significantly lighter. This made it very shifty and the water became much flatter. The fleet was postponed on Day 3 with WNW winds making for flat conditions again, yet so shifty it was nearly impossible to set an accurate course. Finally, the pressure filled in and was more consistent, allowing the RC to get races off in the best sailing conditions possible. Tide has a major effect on the racing in this area. Race strategy is a huge part of pre-race set up and practice, which makes it key to get on the water a little early to figure things out. Starts are very important as it is very hard to catch up in a fleet like this. There are lots of experienced local sailors that compete at this event each year, which is obvious in the races as the competition is quite tough, and teams really know their way around this area with the crazy tides and current! The fleet completed windward-leeward style races with three longer distance races around buoys that toured the Solent. Not the typical conventional racing, but it kept things interesting and was a lot of fun to sail all around the Solent. The event concluded with 8 total races, making for a successful finish for North Sails clients who secured places in the top five in all divisions. Daily debrief with North Sails © Paul Wyeth © Paul Wyeth © Paul Wyeth © Paul Wyeth © Paul Wyeth READ MORE

Thursday before the event, North Sails Tim Healy ran a J70 clinic with practice races, and on-the-water coaching followed up by a well attended debrief. READ MORE

TED FERRARONE AND MEREDITH KILLION WIN INTERCLUB NATIONALS The top ten finishers-all powered by North Sails The weather is starting to warm up in the Northeast United States, and that means it’s time to pack up the boat for the summer! Sounds a bit strange, right? But for diehard Frostbiters, especially Interclub sailors, spring’s arrival and the penultimate event, Interclub Nationals, mark a close to the winter sailing season. This year 27 teams made their way to picturesque Cottage Park Yacht Club in Winthrop MA, for the 2017 edition of the event. Ten races were completed in the waters just north of the Logan Airport runway in shifty, nearly perfect spring breeze. Ted Ferrarone and Meredith Killion found the secret formula for success; consistency. Team Ferrarone-Killion compiled a scorecard with a single race win and no finish worse than sixth. Their 37 overall points were enough to best Steve Benjamin and Daley Brooks by 19 points to secure the championship. North Sails is honored to sponsor and support the 2017 edition, and we are proud to celebrate our clients’ successes with ten spots overall. The products of choice were the North RadIC or RadIC 12+ mainsail. Next fall will come fast. Contact our Interclub experts for more information on our Interclub sails and ways to prepare for the next frostbiting season! Complete results Champions Ted Ferrarone and Meredith Killion © Cedric Adams © Cedric Adams © Cedric Adams © Cedric Adams READ MORE

ENGINE ABOVE DECK In 1997, North Sails designers and software engineers were given a mandate: to create a package that could model the forces of sailing, specifically those above the deck. What ensued was the process of synchronizing the capabilities of North Design Suite software, allowing a sail designer to link the design of a sail to that of a rig, and measure how they affect the performance of the boat. READ MORE

LES VOILES DE ST BARTH 2017 Celebrating a week in paradise for the 8th edition of Les Voiles de St. Barth Spending a week on the island of Saint Barthélemy for the Les Voiles regatta is a not-to-miss opportunity. Keeping the competition level high and the ‘island feels’ strong, the sailors are welcomed throughout the town of Gustavia for a long week of sailing in the sunshine, authentic French indie cuisine, and warm salty air that would make any sailor want to stay forever. With races that span up to 30 miles long, Les Voiles de St Barth puts forth very challenging (and rewarding!) racing that keeps a wide variety of sailing teams coming back year after year. The regatta incorporates both IRC and CSA racing rules, motivating teams to challenge their ratings with modified rigs, hulls, and sails. Challenging and fun, each race is scored with the ‘time on time rule’, where a boat’s rating is converted to a corrected time factor, which is then used to convert her elapsed race time. In some racing, being the first across the line doesn’t achieve the ultimate win, as the boat’s time correction factor is multiplied by the elapsed time from start to finish. It’s not always about crossing the line first, but putting the most time between you and your competitors, which make this Caribbean event quite special and truly one of a kind. With a selection of twenty courses to pull from, the Race Committee chose wisely according to sailing conditions. Winds were between 8-15 knots early in the week, which made for competitive timed finishes amongst all divisions. On Friday the wind was much lighter, ranging between 6-10 knots, and tapered off drastically during the last two legs down to 5 knots which made for a very challenging ending to what would be the last race of the event. The selected courses were between 17-26nm, which made for long days out on the water. On Saturday, the wind did not live up to its promise and, at around 11:30am, racing was called off for the day. North Sails Regatta Repair was on site with an overnight service loft. Certified Service Director, Ben Fletcher went to work with a small staff assisting sailors needing repairs, including some advanced sail modifications. The team completed overnight repairs Wednesday – Saturday, allowing competitors to make the utmost of the long distance round-the-island racing. Congratulations to our clients on a job well done! READ MORE

ROAD TO NAS & WORLDS: ETCHELLS MIDWINTERS WEST Congratulations Tom Carruthers, Chris Bush and Andrew ‘Dog’ Palfrey Twenty eight teams descended upon San Diego Yacht Club to participate in the West Coast version of the Etchells Mid-Winters. After the great team at SDYC got everyone checked in and weighed on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the stage was set for a great weekend of sailing. Super race committee chairman Bill Stump was able to hold all 11 races over the three days in some very trying conditions. The breeze was generally 6 to 10 knots with some really large swell which made for some interesting driving and spinnaker trimming conditions. Tom Carruthers with crew Chris Busch and Andrew ‘Dog’ Palfrey prevailed for the weekend with great starts, solid upwind speed, sharp crew work and excellent downwind tactics—a very strong combination to say the least! They used the standard PC-F mainsail, the VMG spinnaker, and the LM-2L radial head jib. This is a new jib Norths Sails has been developing and they have been testing it for the past year. The goal of this sail is to fly exactly the same as the very well proven LM-2L jib, but this model has a radial head to go up range a few more knots and to help with longevity. It has a little smoother transition in the lower section but is still very powerful to help drive the Etchells in light air. However, Team Carruthers have also used it in up to 15-16 knots of wind and are very happy with their speed. In fact this past weekend they were able to win 5 races and they complimented the sail’s smoothness and versatility throughout the wind and wave conditions. Bruce Nelson and Eric Doyle fought it out for 2nd overall with Bruce prevailing in the end. The top 7 teams all used entire North Sails inventories. Some teams with softer masts opt for the PC+ mainsail which has more luff curve to accommodate the softer masts, the LM-2 light was the jib of choice, and the VMG spinnaker was in range pretty much every run. We actually never pulled the heavy jib or the full runner spinnaker out of the bag. Big thanks to regatta chair and fleet captain Xavier Sheid and the whole team at San Diego Yacht Club for a great weekend. This was the first regatta in the West Coast Spring Series with the next event being the Pacific Coast Championships on April 28-29 and the series culminates with the famous Orca Bowl on May 28 and 29. All this racing and the summer One Design Weekends will be great practice for the North American Championships which will hosted by San Diego Yacht Club in August. It is shaping up to be an amazing year for Etchells sailing on the west coast and our entire group is looking forward to a great year. If you have any questions about the latest developments we are working on or need more information for your clients please contact Eric Doyle or Skip Dieball. North Sails San Diego Team, 3rd place – Eric Doyle, Patrick Powell & Pike Harris READ MORE

NORTH R-2 RADIAL DESIGN POWERS MARIA PERELLO TO WIN THE SPANISH NATIONALS “I Really Love the R-2!” A short video-interview with Maria Perello READ MORE

North Sails Design Suite Software Expands with Flow™ and Membrain™ Among the tools most commonly used by North Sails designers are the Membrain and Flow modules, which apply wind pressure to a sail’s surface and calculate the load forces created. Designers pressurize their sail shapes virtually to discover what their flying shape will be in the intended range. Flow and Membrain work in tandem with the sail shape moving back and forth between them. Designers first analyze the structure in Membrain and continue by applying pressure to see how the shape deforms when pressure is applied in Flow. They continue this feedback “loop” of testing and correcting until they are happy with both the sails’ structural integrity and flying shape. Take a shallow dive into the technical and often intriguing world of Membrain and Flow with the screen captures below. Begin to understand the many ways design horsepower keeps North Sails at the forefront of sailing technology. This image illustrating “Tip Vortex” was captured in North Design Suite Flow. When wind passes over a sail, the flow is disturbed more at the foot and the head of the sail, where it gets sucked from the high pressure side to the low pressure side, initiating the “vortex” which expands downstream. Flow Panel Code was introduced in 1984 and is still in use for upwind sails today. While this early version of Flow is less accurate than OpenFoam RANS, it is much quicker. Designers can run this type of analysis instantly, whereas RANS takes hours. At left: This image of a Dubois 58 sail model was captured in MemBrain and demonstrates “Major Strain” or the amount of stretch occuring under applied pressure. The green areas signify the most amount of stretch in the sail (.0857%), whereas the deepest blue signifies no stretch. The small white lines represent the direction of the strain. At right: This capture shows a slightly different view within MemBrain, of strain analyzed per 3Di tape, measured in the direction of the tape. In this view, designers look at which tapes could potentially be removed (those deep, deep blue), and which will need additional reinforcement (red). They do this by adjusting the density of the tapes in those areas. This Membrain capture shows the effect of pressure calculated in Flow (left image) and OpenFoam RANS (right image). Specifically, it shows the pressure distribution between the different sails on the rig, which all work together as a double slotted foil. Green and blue indicate high areas of pressure. This image from Flow shows the close interaction between the headsail, mizzen and mainsail on a classic boat. The tip vortices merge and roll-up together in the downstream, illustrating the amount of induced drag. Captured in RANS, this image illustrates the partially separated flow over the gennaker. One concept North designers work with is attached vs detached flow – where attached flow indicates areas of lift, and detached flow indicates areas of primarily drag. In this image, red indicates the area of the sail with attached flow, followed by areas where the flow detaches from the sail, marked by the zone in yellow. READ MORE

From sail selection to rig tune, a lot happens before you leave the dock. Follow these tips to help your team get race-ready before casting off. 1. Building a Crew It is good to have the right number of crew onboard, but if no one can do bow, you aren’t in great shape! Ask yourself, do you have the key roles covered? Know who is responsible for what, and keep a roster of crew contacts on the back burner – these are the people you’ll call when someone can’t make it. Help your team by networking to fill open spots, spread the word and confirm new members as early as possible before an event. (Tip – try out a free service like Google Forms to get needed information, such as availability or gear requirements, organized and in a central place). 2. Weather & Sail Selection Ask your navigator or tactician to inform the crew a few days out on what the forecast is expected to be. Helpful information about courses, start time, and how soon you want to get out on the water are important so everyone is on the same page. Include what time to meet at the boat (not the coffee shop) . Setting a specific dock call time will help the crew plan accordingly and get their gear and spare equipment onboard so dock-out time isn’t delayed. The weather forecast and course information will also determine your sail choices for the day. Whether windward – leeward courses, round the cans or offshore distance racing is in your future, consult with the skipper, tactician and navigator to make a collective decision on the day’s inventory. Often, the biggest impact on sail power is the choice of genoa. Sail selection can be a tough call and North Sails is happy to help, so don’t hesitate to ask your local contact. Each sail has been designed for a specific range of wind strength and sailing angle, due to its size, weight or structural capacity (DPI). Batten up the jibs you will take for the day and stow the extra sails onshore in a safe, dry place. Extra sails are extra weight, so crucial decisions need to be made prior to leaving the dock. Meanwhile, One Design sailors must remember class rules – Fast 40 rules allow sail changing each day, while J/109 rules require all sails to be carried. IRC events require you to have the same sails on board from the start of the event to the finish, and PHRF and ORR may also have separate restrictions. 3. Rig Setup Tuning your rig is not a dark art but it is a whole job in itself. You will need to adjust your rig as the conditions change to get the best performance from it. Find out if your class, or boat, has a tuning guide, and follow it! As your team gets more experienced, practice fine tuning for your boat and see what feels fast. Work toward finding that little extra speed, it will make all the difference. Always carry a wet notes pad to make notes onboard. Record everything from the conditions, rig tune, and fast trim, and be sure to include TWA and TWS for reference. After racing, revert your rig back to base settings overnight so you can start with a clean slate the next day. 4. Leave time to Warm – Up Maintaining communication with the crew on when to meet and being prepared can save you time so you can get out early and practice techniques, decide on which sails to use, and help the skipper get an idea of how long it takes to get the boat up to full speed off the line. Being able to sail around prior to the first race will help the tactician determine lifted tacks, where the holes are on the race course, and get the crew coordinated to get “in the groove” and up to full speed. Getting out there early will also allow for a quick snack and hydration before the warning signal. Something that can easily be forgotten, food and hydration helps focus and energy levels, which are key to doing well. 5. Notes on Sail Care First rule of thumb, never walk/stand/or lay on sails. This crushes the materials and is devastating to your boatspeed! Just like an engine, your sails must be treated well and taken care of as you depend on them. When putting sails onboard, make sure they are properly flaked so that the bowman can easily hook them up and hoist them. Although a leech flake gives the best possible flake with the battens in, the luff flake is best for your teammate to prevent the luff tape from tearing during the hoist. When hoisting the mainsail, always slowly “back down” or reverse. This will take the apparent wind out of the sails, reduce flapping, and help prolong the life of the sail. This is a great method to practice, added bonus is it will clear any seaweed from your keel to limit drag. Extra precautions need to be taken in heavier air. When hoisting the jib, you always want to do it when you are head to wind, or when you are dead-downwind. Never hoist your jib on a reach. Not only is it difficult for the guy on the halyard, it is not good for the sail if it gets dragged over the lifelines. Make sure there is slack in the sheets to avoid any friction on the hoist. After sailing, it is a good habit to ease the batten tension. Sails tend to shrink a bit overtime, so tension will increase. Roll or flake your sails for storing , and lay them on a flat surface whenever possible. Taking care of your upwind sails is just as important as tending to your kites. Make sure your spinnakers are dry and remove any luff cables before storing (tip: mark the cable where the luff should end to help when you go to use them next time). Flake the furling sails to make it easier on yourself, especially if it’s a top down furl. If laying a out to dry, make sure it is secured at the head and tack so they don’t escape! 6. Debrief Often the best way to prepare for the next race (or the next regatta) is to review the race you just finished. This can happen on the way in, or upon return to the dock. What worked, didn’t work during the race? Review upwind and downwind tactics and boat handling. How can maneuvers be smoother, or boat speed be improved? For some crews, the discussion may happen organically. For others, you may want to develop a post-race checklist, or debrief outline, to encourage communication and keep the crew on the same page. READ MORE

GUL B14 TT SERIES ROUND TWO STOKES BAY So, April arrives and the joker has been played. What did we do to Blue Badge and Team Marlow at Rutland. Both teams have doctor’s notes due to physical injuries to their helms, so both had to sit this one out, but will hopefully be seen again soon However, Chapter two saw the resumption of the battle royal between Team P&B (Jasper Barnham/Ollie Wells) Wonkey Donkey (Mark Watts/Kathy Sherratt (Watts) (standing in for Bish) and Team GUL/North Sails (Mark Barnes/ Amir Shamuddin (standing in for Char). To add spice Torq (Gerry Fermor/Leakey Fermor) light airs specialists were in the mix. Day 1 was all about the strong tide and shingle beach. The course was set in a SE force 2 – 3 and easterly tide. Russian roulette and holding one’s nerve would be a good way to put it. Over the first two races, places changed a lot both upwind and downwind with B14s skimming the shoreline with slightly raised boards. Go offshore and you lost places. All teams touched to varying degrees as did several RS800s. Wonkey Donkey in race 2 shook a leg and hit a rise hard, damaging their board and chipping their nice new B14. Alas end of race 2 and the 3 legged donkey, after capsize inspection retired to the grazing to be had ashore, not to be seen again over the weekend. GBR 789 (Henry Metcalfe/Jasmin Husband) also hit hard and bailed out with a capsize to save the kit which must have surprised the spectators but other than that, they held onto the coat tails of Torq, P&B and GUL/North Sails who battled throughout with little to chose at times. GUL/North Sails Held the lead by a nags head overnight from Torq and P&B not far behind. The classic fleet also fought their own battle between White Cover/GUL (Alex Horlock/Tim Pearce) and White Stilletto (Liam Willis/Abby Keightley-Hanson) with one point gap overnight. Throughout the fleet there were battles with some new faces attending their first B14 TT. So it was to Dan Vincent’s quiz night and the mini Easter egg hunt. All great fun and the Mustos were hounded by the B14s. With little to choose between them, the B14s played their joker, 45 chickens eggs which would have won it. After the judiciary had sat, they were excluded and the B14s conceded to the Mustos and others Sunday dawned bacon butties were consumed and more of the same once the breeze set in. Jousting commenced, and the runners and riders hit the shore in the westerly tide and SE force 2-3. As race 4 closed out it came down to a resurging GUL/North Sails doing a crash gybe drop with P&B a nose ahead, then the sprint to the finish with kites gathered on both teams crew’s laps, both driving hard. P&B got it by less than 0.5 m. More was to follow, with hopefully Torq not mounting the windward mark again as she was swept onto the mark in race 4. Torq led race 5, but spent most of the race shadow boxing GUL/North Sails over the three laps, whilst the B14s chased down the bulk of the RS800s, who then became the pawns in the battle for supremacy in the race. In the dying breeze GUL/North Sails closed it out from Torq and P&B. White Cover/GUL also managed to close out White Stilletto with one advantage to each team In the fading breeze, Mike the R/O and his team called it time before the breeze completely died and all retired to a well earned lunch and cold drinks. So another nice sunny weekend and close racing with quick turn arounds and good catering ashore with Dan and co as the ring masters on Saturday night, and to GUL for the tokens that the fleet appreciate. The Merit prize went to James and Anne Gardener. After a couple of the steeds including Wonkey Donkey have been refreshed by Solent Boatworks, they’ll be on their way to Porthpean for round 3 over the bank holiday 29.04.2017 to experience great Cornish hospitality. Those looking to training, there will be training events going on in May with the first at Whitstable Yacht Club on the 5 – 6 May. So if wanting to be included, you need to let the class know ASAP. North Sails Results 1. Mark Barnes & Amir Shamsuddin 2. Gerry Fermor & Leaky* 4. Henry Metcalfe & Jasmine Husband 5. Alex Horlock & Tim Pearce* 6. Liam Willis & Abby Keightley-Hanson 7. Alex Cappon & Tyler Stonebridge* 9. Mark Watts & Kathy Sherratt* 10. Barry Price & Gareth Lincun * Denotes partial inventory READ MORE

EXPERT SAILMAKERS TRIPP FELLABOM & JOHN BOWDEN JOIN NORTH SAILS Charleston sailmakers join forces to strengthen North Sails support in the Southeast Newport, RI (April 11, 2017) – North Sails is pleased to extend its global network to a new location in Charleston, South Carolina. With the addition of local experts John Bowden and Tripp Fellabom, the world’s leading sailmaker will offer state-of-the-art products and certified service to the diverse sailing community in Charleston and throughout the Southeast region. Both John and Tripp bring a wealth of industry knowledge to a newly established loft in the Charleston City Marina, offering solutions for boats and sailors of all types. A lifetime sailor with nearly 40 years experience in sailmaking, Tripp brings a strong foundation of knowledge to the North Sails team. His time on the water has earned recognition in classic southern regattas such as the SORC, the Charleston to Bermuda Race, and MORC International. Tripp won Key West Race Week in 1991 and has also tried his hand in competitive one design racing, especially in the J/24. “Joining North Sails presents a golden opportunity to offer the best sails on the market to our current and future clients,” said Tripp. John, who opened his own loft in 2008, will rejoin the group after a nine-year hiatus. “I am excited to be back with North Sails, and I look forward to increasing support for sailors throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Northern Florida,” said John, who’s experience bridges hard work in the loft with fair play on the water. During his time at College of Charleston, John received the ICSA Robert H. Hobbs Sportsman of the Year award, and since then has achieved a number of notable sailing victories, including National Championship wins in the Melges 32, Melges 20 and J/88. John topped the 2014 Melges 20 world ranking as the tactician/trimmer on The Portobello. “Tripp and I are fortunate to work in a healthy sailing community, filled with great people and competitive sailing,” said John. “North Sails is committed to improving our presence and providing more sales representatives and sail care lofts to the thousands of sailors in the southeast,” said Pete Colby, Director of Service Operations in North America. “We look forward to setting a new foundation in Charleston and trust that the wealth of experience between John and Tripp will put the region in great hands.” Tripp can be reached by calling 843-722-0823 or by email: tripp.fellabom@northsails.com John can be reached by calling 843-754-9547 or by email: john.bowden@northsails.com READ MORE

John Harrop reports on his 3Di RACE sails after a year of use on Flying Tiger 10m Justice A well known Southern California sailor, John Harrop spends his days off the water practicing as a licensed paralegal. His Flying Tiger 10m Justice was recently fit with a new set of gold North Sails 3Di RACE upwind sails, which John has repeatedly used to bring his competitors to “justice” on the race course! We caught up with John after he raced in the San Diego NOOD regatta to get his impressions on the sails. “The 3Di RACE sails are truly awesome, a great plug and play product.” John reported that he and the crew on Justice had been able to try the new set in a variety of conditions over the last few months. “The sails are very sensitive and receptive to rig tune and setup. Halyard and headstay sag adjustments give the jib a great range of power and point through all conditions.” The latest application of North Sails proprietary technology, 3Di RACE is designed to be a practical and durable option for racing sailors. “In theory, one of the main user benefits of 3Di RACE is sail longevity. These sails have proven to hold their shape longer, and shrink less than a laminate. This is what I’ve noticed that makes the product unique in its own way, in its construction and materials. It is innovative and has proven itself to work exceptionally well for me and my boat.” With a 100% corinthian crew, John describes their sailing style as somewhat conservative, especially at starts. The Justice crew appreciates the reliability of 3Di RACE, coupled with its ability to perform well throughout a wide range. “After almost a year of use, the main and jib look great, they trim well and produce results that keep our boat at the front of the fleet. We are not a pro team, and we don’t really practice. We trust the confidence gained by a well prepared boat and great sails like these.” READ MORE

THE ‘KING OF THE SOUTH’ WEARS THE CROWN ONCE AGAIN! It was in the early 1990’s when the moniker “King of the South” became attached to Ched Proctor in the Lightning Class. By then Ched had been making waves in the Lightning Class for over a decade and, by 1995 had won the Lightning Southern Circuit four times over a nine year period. Fast forward to 2017, Ched recently secured his 7th Southern Circuit crown, a feat that no one, in the 70 year history of the Southern Circuit has accomplished. This year he and his team also managed to win his 4th Midwinters title (in Miami) and 2nd Winter Championship (in St. Petersburg). Ched (middle) after winning the North Americans in 1991 for the first time as crew To say Ched is knowledgeable about making Lightnings go fast is akin to saying “water is wet.” It’s unbelievably obvious that even mentioning it may make someone question your sanity! The fact is, Ched has been trying to help make everyone go as fast as him for decades. A bit of a “speed savant,” he has made a career out of trying to figure out how to make sails (and boats) go faster and has always been quick to share his thoughts and tips with anyone who asks (and sometimes even when they don’t). Ched, while generally a man of few words, has always been the guy in the parking lot, helping a competitor tune his or her boat, explain pre-bend and headstay sag or trying to explain why he trims the sails the way he does. Through his incredible comprehension of sail shapes and tuning details, he has likely helped more people understand how sails and boats work together to maximize efficiency better than anyone over the past 30 years. Ched’s advice spans everything from giving insights on how to trim in big breeze to how to play your backstay, and even providing intel on what cleaning methods he uses on his boat during major events. A legend to the Lightning Class and One Design sailing, his fellow competitors always enjoy competing against him, and if you do manage to beat him, you know you can compete with anyone because you will have managed to beat the best in the class! Miami 1997 The Lightning resume Ched has produced over the past 30 years shows a consistency and commitment to excellence that is arguably unmatched and clearly locks him in as one of the top Lightning sailors of all time. In addition to his unequalled record on the Southern Circuit, Ched has won 4 North Americans (1993, 1994, 2000 and 2011), the International Masters Championship (2013), North Americans Masters (2013), and the Canadian Open National Championship (2000, 2009). He has also won multiple Atlantic Coast Championships, Districts, regionals and local events all while doing his best to help others in the class learn to get faster and enjoy Lightning sailing that much more. It is fair to say, for decades fellow sailors have looked to him for advice showing their admiration and respect for him. Ched is a role model both on and off the race course. He is an intricate part of the Lightning Class and has been sharing his amazing adventures with sailing enthusiasts over the last 30 years. In November of this year, Ched and his team head off to the World Championships in Salinas, Ecuador to chase down the one title that has eluded him in his illustrious career. We wish him luck and know that he has the skills, experience and talent to get to the top of the podium. Miami 2017 St. Petersburg at the Winter Championships 2017 READ MORE

DIGITAL SAIL DESIGN Lowell North diverged from the traditional, artistic approach to sailmaking by closing his eyes. Lowell listened to the numbers. Historically, sailmaking depended on the eye of the craftsman, who drew from experience and tradition to create beautiful sails in a classic shape and style. From the beginning, Lowell embraced a scientific approach to making sails, and North Sails has followed a path of increased development in sail design and production ever since. Remaining at the forefront of design is possibly the clearest example of how Lowell’s core values enabled his company to prosper well beyond his own tenure. This photograph from the mid 1980s shows the strength of Lowell North’s design team. It was taken at one of his regular meetings, which he hosted to foster the exchange of ideas and experience. *Names at base of page. It started with testing raw material properties. The early North Sails team in San Diego pushed innovation in sailmaking to new heights by contriving devices that would apply measurable wear and tear to cloth samples, eventually introducing controlled environments with wind tunnel testing and model sails. The process took a digital direction in 1977, when North transitioned from shaping broad seams on the floor to generating 2D curves with a computer. Working from North Sails in New Zealand, Tom Schnackenburg based the software on a library of designs selected by group consensus. For a given sail order, a designer would select a curve type from the library, and the software would generate the broad seams for every seam in the sail. The term “consensus” was an important item of discussion at every design meeting, because it would ensure the same sails could be produced at every North loft. At the same time, Tom pioneered 3D design software for sails (insiders call this the “Tin Sail Program,” due to the sail shape being fixed in space), which he used to derive the 2D broad seam curves. Prior to the arrival of common computers, a designer would run both the 2D and 3D programs on a dial-up service to a main frame. Essentially, they were connecting via a phone line to a computer the size of a hotel room. The first in-house computer arrived at the loft in San Diego in 1979. It was a Cromemco, presumably considered the Cadillac of desktop computers if only because of its size. Tom had just opened a loft in Auckland, and a fellow North programmer, Michael Richelsen, brought the computer to New Zealand as checked luggage. Tom started to port his 2D and 3D design software from the main frame to the Cromemco, which was running an early version of Microsoft DOS. Lead programmer, Michael Richelsen, works on a Norputer (large box underneath the Xerox matrix printer), which was a self-assembled desktop. This photo was taken at the North Sails loft in Milford, CT, in 1983, prior to the last America’s Cup in Newport, RI. It was in the early 1980s when Michael began focusing on the work that would eventually expand the North Design Software to what it is today. By 1987, Flow™ and Membrain™ made it possible to apply wind pressure to a sail’s surface and calculate the load forces created. Designers could pressurize their shapes virtually to discover what the flying shape would be. This was the beginning of the Virtual Wind Tunnel™, which models air flow on upwind and downwind sails. By the early 1990s, the addition of the VPP (velocity prediction program) would allow designers to further quantify the performance of the flying shape. Meanwhile, progression in design evolved into computer-driven production, with large plotter tables drawing and cutting panel shapes to the design spec. This required North to collaborate with early plotter table manufacturers such as Lawson; later the team would build their own and install them at central lofts throughout Europe, North America, and Oceania. 1977 was an important year because it put North Sails on the map in the earliest days of digitalization. Steve Jobs finalized the Apple 1 in the same year. The first microprocessor was only introduced by Intel in 1973. The first computer to use the standardized user interfaces of today, such as icons, a mouse and a desktop screen, was introduced by Xerox in 1975. Today, North Sails Design SuiteTM (NDS) is the most powerful and diverse sail design tool in the industry. A family of 14 specialized software modules, NDS delivers unprecedented power and flexibility to sail design and rig/hull analysis. The modules interface with each other to make it possible for North Sails designers and engineers to virtually test a boat and sails in an infinite variety of conditions before the boat is even built. NDS significantly expands a designer’s ability to compare different sail and rig combinations and accurately measure results. Thanks to North Sails’ heritage and design experience, we know that our software models accurately replicate how sails perform on the water. For 40 years this analysis, data and insight has been an integrated and crucial tool for clients all over the world, from huge new concept projects through to habitual cruising and racing sailors. North Design Suite enables designers to generate realistic flying sail geometries, which puts them in a unique position in the marine industry with regards to computing sailing loads and undertaking VPP analysis. Soon the design suite will expand with hydrodynamic CFD (computational fluid dynamics) capabilities, assessing the load and displacement properties of a hull moving through water. North Sails Designer, Dave Hirsch, at North Sails in Milford, CT, early 1980s. Dave is using an Olivetti portable – or “luggable”, as it was the size (and weight) of an overly stuffed carry-on piece of luggage. The keyboard he uses fits onto the screen end of the computer, to protect the monitor when traveling. *Group photo: back row from left to right: Paul Davis, Keith Lorenz, Lowell North, Peter Mahr, Dave Hirsch, Albert Schweitzer, Angus Melrose, Larry Herbig, Jay Goebell (second from right). Front row from left to right: Joep Strauss, Mike Schreiber, Steve Reid (behind), Rick Sternkopff (in front), Steve Grover (behind), Michael Richelsen (in front), John Marshall, Monica McCantz, Tom Schnackenberg, Peter Kay, Robert Hopkins, Bill Bergantz. READ MORE

VEGGIE SUB WINS LIGHTNING MIDWINTERS IN SOUTHERN WINTER CIRCUIT FINALE The Lightning Midwinters ended Saturday with four races in windy conditions of 15-22 knots on beautiful Biscayne Bay in Florida. The Coral Reef Yacht Club race committee, led by Jane Anne Pincus, kept the fleet of 30 teams in the northern end of Biscayne Bay and ran flawless W4 and W5 courses in challenging but consistent breeze. There proved to be a definite left side advantage in the first three races, which gave those who got left early a chance to break free and gain a nice advantage on those who went right. In race 1, Ched Proctor’s team Veggie Sub, consisting of Ben Cesare and Jay Lurie, was pushed hard by David Peck, his wife Nina and son David on 15215. Peck led around the windward mark in Sunday’s first race and benefitted greatly from Ched’s “nose dive” into a wave just after the weather mark that nearly filled the cockpit to the seats, which allowed the Peck team to run away with that race as Ched narrowly fended of Jeff Linton’s team on xx. The left corner shifts seemed to pay off for Veggie Sub in the second race, working their way to the top mark in first place and avoiding all downwind hazards to win the race. The third race of the day was a close battle between the top three teams. Ultimately it was the Cristobal Perez and his team from Chile who caught the last big gust of the race, and surged ahead just before the finish to take the win. Jeff Linton was close behind until a mishap caused a capsize just before the finish line. The last race of the series presented the fleet with a 15 degree right shift that made it hard to get out of the left corner for those who committed early on, although Dave Peck’s 15215 pulled off the feat by over-standing the windward mark and reaching in on port tack full speed, to just barely make it across the bows of the starboard tack lineup on the layline. Team VeggieSub, with North Sails expert Ched Proctor at left, wins the Lightning Winter Championship, Midwinter Championship, and Southern Circuit Championship of 2017! The final standings for the Midwinters saw North-powered teams in the lead with Ched Proctor’s Veggie Sub taking the overall win, the Peck family on 15215 finishing second, Chris Perez sailing No DesesPerez in third, and Jeff Linton with team xx finishing fourth. We are very proud of all the North teams that performed so well this year on the Southern Circuit and dominated the results at all the events! The Midwinters marked the end of the Southern Circuit events, which also included the 70th annual St Petersburg Winter Championship that finished earlier in the week. In the Southern Circuit overall results, North clients placed 1-14. Top five are Ched Proctor and team Veggie Sub, Cristobol Perez and team No DesesPerez, Jeff Linton with team xx, Tom Allen with team 9, and Neal Fowler with 11346. Congrats to Ched and his team for winning the Midwinters, Winter Championship and overall Southern Circuit titles and to our clients for participating in and dominating the results in the Southern Circuit series events! Complete results for the Southern Circuit HERE Results for Miami Winter Regatta HERE READ MORE

Classe Blu 26 - One Design Suisse Newsletters Cliquez ici pour obtenir les dernières news de la classe (blog officiel en anglais et en allemand) Référent pour cette classe > Julien Monnier Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 32 22 Mob. : + 41 79 574 11 15 julien.monnier@northsails.com Liens utiles - Classe - Chantier - Bluboats READ MORE

NEW 470 MAINSAIL DEVELOPED BY MAT BELCHER & NORTH SAILS JAPAN The New N14- L18 Mainsail The N14-L18’s powerful depth in the head of the sail, gives an ideal twist for driving the boat to speed and for quick acceleration in planing conditions. Lower drag is created by the shape from the bottom to the middle which works for both speed and pointing performance under full power conditions, where you need to keep the boom completely at center. “I am very fond of the N14-L18 Mainsail, which was developed during our last two Olympic campaigns. It is very special to us. We used this sail to win 6 world titles and 2 Olympic medals. The sail is fast in all conditions and easy to trim, which has enabled us to focus on racing and has helped us get out of a lot of tight situations.” – Mathew Belcher, Silver Medal Rio 2016″ Contact our 470 Class Experts for further information. READ MORE

Classe Ventilo M2 - One Design Suisse Newsletter 21 septembre 2016 : Infos classe M2 Référents pour cette classe > Michel Vaucher Mob. : + 41 78 898 20 24 michel.vaucher@northsails.com > Julien Monnier Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 32 22 Mob. : + 41 79 574 11 15 julien.monnier@northsails.com Liens utiles - Classe Ventilo M2 - Chantier - C-SYSTEM READ MORE

Classe Toucan - One Design Suisse Référent pour cette classe > Bernard Schagen Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 39 43 Mob. : + 41 78 803 60 58 bernard.schagen@northsails.com Lien utile - Classe ©TrisDesign READ MORE

Classe Luthi 870 - One Design Suisse Référent pour cette classe > Bernard Schagen Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 39 43 Mob. : + 41 78 803 60 58 bernard.schagen@northsails.com Liens utiles - 3DL 600 performance - 3Di 760M READ MORE

Classe Esse 850 - One Design Suisse Guide de réglage / Tuning guide - Quick tuning guide (Fr. / Eng.) Product list - Tarif Esse 850 Newsletters - 14 septembre 2015 : Saison 2015 et nouveautés pour 2016 - 3 septembre 2014 : promos d'automne, bilan positif pour la 1ère saison du 3DL en Esse 850, palmarès 2014, nouveautés 2015 & accessoires, trucs & astuces. Référents pour cette classe > Daniel Schroff (North Sails Schweiz) Zelgstrasse 1 8280 Kreuzlingen Tél. voilerie : +41 71 686 85 25 daniel.schroff@northsails.com > Julien Monnier Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 32 22 Mob. : + 41 79 574 11 15 julien.monnier@northsails.com Liens utiles - Classe Esse 850 - Chantier - Schuchter Sportboot AG - Chantier - Chantier Naval de Vidy READ MORE

HOW TO TRIM LIKE A PRO Everything You Need To Know One of many key positions on a race team, the sail trimmer takes responsibility for optimizing sail performance. While the most important time to shine is during the race, a good trimmer knows that success starts before the boat leaves the dock. Read these tips from North Sails expert Sam Richmond, who moonlights as trimmer on Maxi 72 Jethou and Fast40+ Ino, and learn why attention to detail makes the difference between “good” and “great” in every situation. Guidelines for Good Sail Trim Power from your sails comes down to three sources: Angle, shape, and twist. A trimmer’s job is to achieve the most amount of power, while keeping in mind the balance of trim between sails. Angles: Pull the sail in to add power and ease the sail out and to reduce power. Heading up will also reduce the power, whereas if you trim on or bear away you increase this. This is a common technique for the starting line. Sail Shape: deeper sails generate more power. Flat sails generate less power and also create less drag. Depth is adjusted in a few different ways; sheet tension, forestay and backstay tension and lead/jib car position. Twist: A closed leech will generate more power where as a twisted, open leech spills power. Twist is controlled with lead/car position and sheet tension. Calibration Always carry a wet notes pad to make notes onboard. Record everything from the conditions, rig tune, and sail trim, and be sure to include true wind speed and angle for reference. This will give you a foundation to base your decisions on, and provide a guide for making changes and improvements with your team. Every line that can be adjusted needs a mark – use your marks to re-create settings that were fast. Aside from your sheets, think of your jib car position, in-hauler, outhaul, cunningham, halyards, traveller and backstay. These all affect the way your sails behave so try different settings until you find the sweet spot. Once you’ve found the groove, mark the line so you have a place to work from, and you know where to set it without hesitation. When using an asymmetrical spinnaker, mark your sheet at the point where enough is pulled forward to prevent the windward sheet from going tight on the hoist. On a symmetrical chute, mark the guy so you know the foreguy/pole can still go up. Mark the inboard end of the pole on the mast so you can gybe as soon as possible if if you need to. At the leeward mark, remind the pit person to hoist the jib and set the backstay to the mark you’ve made. This will allow for a smooth, clean mark rounding. Thinking about these things ahead of time allows the crew to focus on boat speed as soon as you round, while other competitors are struggling to get the set up correct for the next upwind. Best Practices The headsail trimmer should be constantly monitoring performance by using comparison tools onboard. Comparing your boat to other boats, target boat speeds and angles, how are “we” doing compared to just when we last made a change, and the feel of the boat. A good trimmer can feel a loss of power in the boat before it shows up as a loss of speed. Take photos of your sails and send them to us so we can analyze the sail shape, compare them to new ones, and show you where improvements can be made. It is much easier to do this in the pre-start routine and shouldn’t be done during the race. Communication is key. Making constant trim adjustments to improve or maintain performance, the trimmer must also communicate the current state of performance to the crew, suggesting how to improve, and reporting progress as adjustments take hold. Constant communication will keep your team attentive and working together. For example, if you encounter a lull in pressure, it would be common for a trimmer to call for the backstay to be eased. The mainsheet trimmer knows he needs to ease the sheet and the jib trimmer will ease too, while the helm “falls off” to help get the boat going again. Perhaps at the same time, the crew moves their weight to windward to help bear off. Small efforts make a big difference in getting your boat back up to speed first. These constant changes or “transitions” in sail trim and crew weight placement can be the difference between the best and the rest. Sail Changes When conditions put you at a crossover between sails, a few extra factors come into play. Most notable are sea state, trending conditions, and past experience. In waves or chop you may opt to use the larger of two headsails for extra power when driving up and over waves. In flatter water a smaller sail can enable you to sheet harder and therefore point higher. Consider the weather forecast and the conditions you have experienced up to the decision point. Are you anticipating the breeze to build up, drop off or shift? Also keep in mind that in a building breeze the sea state may remain flat, but in a dying breeze there will be leftover swell and power may still be needed. As you gain experience with a specific boat and sail inventory, your notes on past performance will inform your decision on what sail to use. For example, in flatter water you may choose to use the J2 down to 8 knots, but as the chop builds, the J1 may be a bit faster with the slight increase in pressure. If time allows, you can try both options before the race and choose based on how the boat feels when testing your straight line speed. Never Relent A trimmers job is never done. Don’t cleat it and certainly don’t hang out to leeward! The jib trimmer will be the last of the crew to the rail, so only stay to leeward if conditions allow. Once the crew is fully hiked out, the trimmer should hike too, and take the tail of the sheet with you so you can ease quickly if you need to without leaving the rail. Keeping the boat flat in pressure allows the foils to do their job. READ MORE

Classe Grand Surprise - One Design Suisse Référents pour cette classe > Pierre Ratajski Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 32 22 Mob. : + 41 78 870 60 95 pierre.ratajski@northsails.com > Julien Monnier Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 32 22 Mob. : + 41 79 574 11 15 julien.monnier@northsails.com Liens utiles - Association suisse des propriétaires de Grand-Surprise - Chantier - Archambault - Chantier - François Séchaud - Chantier - Léman Plaisance (Philippe Raphoz) READ MORE

CHED PROCTOR WINS LIGHTNING WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP Ched and team ‘Veggie Sub’ in the lead! Day one of the winter champs began with a front that brought NW breezes in the 8-12 knot range and built throughout the day to 22+ knots. The fleet successfully completed four races as attrition took its toll on the fleet. Capsizes, bent spreaders, and one broken mast resulted in very sore and tired sailors! Day two was primed to be “moving day” with many teams set to work their way up the leaderboard. Unfortunately the wind wasn’t in the mood to get “moving” until late in the day as the fleet waited onshore until 3pm for the sea-breeze to build. Patience was rewarded with a very nice 5-leg race in a pleasant 8-12 knot westerly breeze, which was challenging to the fleet because of the shifty and puffy wind behavior. David Starck on ‘Team Patstrong’ got out early in the first beat, never looked back, and took the race win. The rest of the top varied throughout the race and changed every leg with several teams moving into and out of second through fifth. In the end, Jeff Linton got to the right of Marvin Beckman and Mike Holly on the final beat to take second place. James Taylor was there to round out the top 5. Fleet lined up ready for the start of the race Once sailors got to shore, the ‘Lutz Rum Party’ at St. Petersburg Sailing Center was a nice way to end a solid day of racing. The final day was a test of patience as the 40 teams were postponed onshore waiting for the promised afternoon seabreeze. After a little over four hours postponed the fleet headed out into the building breeze, which finally turned southwesterly. While the majority of the fleet turned right after the start to chase the expected wind shift, event leaders Ched Proctor and David Starck got out to the left side of the course where they found a bit more pressure. This enabled them to get over the top of the boats on the right and round the top mark first and second again, with Ched holding a one-boat length lead on second place. From there it was protect and extend for team ‘Veggie Sub’ as they covered ‘PatStrong’ throughout the race to earn their third victory and overall regatta win. The Starck team crossed the finish line in the final race in second, followed by Tom Allen in third, Jeff Linton in fourth and Cris Perez in fifth. In the overall result, team “Veggie Sub” with Ched Proctor, Jeff Eiber and Tim King won the 70th Winter Championship. This was Ched’s 2nd Winter Championship victory The teams of David Starck, Marvin Beckman, Cris Perez, Tom Allen and Jeff Linton rounded out the top 6 places, all powered by North Sails. Congratulations Ched Proctor and team ‘Veggie Sub’ for taking the overall win at the winter championships and to our clients for sailing well! Full results can be found HERE READ MORE

CLASSE SURPRISE - ONE DESIGN SUISSE Guides de réglage / Tuning guides - Tableau récapitulatif - Livret de réglages complet (en français) - Full tuning guide (English) Référent pour cette classe Julien Monnier Tél. voilerie : + 41 22 782 32 22 Mob. : + 41 79 574 11 15 julien.monnier@northsails.com Liens utiles - Association suisse des propriétaires de Surprise - Association française des propriétaires de Surprise - Association autrichienne des propriétaires de Surprise - Chantier - Archambault - Chantier - François Séchaud - Chantier - Léman Plaisance (Philippe Raphoz) - Blog - CER - Blug - CUST READ MORE

We caught up with Bruno Pasquinelli who is owner and helmsman for J70 “Stampede”. Bruno won the J70 Winter Series held in Tampa, Florida at the Davis Island Yacht Club this year. The J70 Winter Series is composed of 3 events between December-February with one overall series winner. We asked Bruno how he prepares for events like this, and how it contributed to his success. What are the three most important factors that helped you and team Stampede win the 2017 J70 Tampa Winter Series? Boat/Sails/Crew I have great ground support from Jay Vige. The boat is well prepared and maintained when we get to the regatta and need to go sail. The electronics have batteries, the radios work, preventive maintenance has been done, the rig is set to the micrometer settings, etc. “We have confidence that our boat is ready for the event and are not distracted by boat issues.” Work on my skills Stampede sails each big event with a top tier team of sailors. I am the weak link on the boat. I am an amateur sailor with no formal training. I try and learn things every time I sail. I keep a detailed journal about the boat/rig/sails/conditions for each race we sail. This is helpful when we meet as a team prior to an event and then every day before we sail to make sure the boat is going out to the course with an effective setup for the conditions that day. I also put notes in the journal about skills or situations I don’t execute well. I have sailed with some great people over the last year and the first thing I tell them when they get on board is that this is recreation(fun), I want to do well, and that they are my coach. I want feedback on things that will up my game. These things go in my journal. Some of my notes over the last year include entry/exit angles for mark roundings, tiller movement on tack/jibe/mark rounding exits, slowing down at the leeward mark to not get stuck outside the pinwheel, starting techniques, etc. I draw diagrams in the journal and study them before I sail at each event. I have GoPro footage from every race and I review the footage on the plane while traveling to the events. The camera is mounted directly over the tiller and the video clearly shows when I drive well and when I don’t. I review the video of the “incidents” in my journal. Sail a big event every month This helps me retain the skills I am learning from each event and raise the performance of the boat. “Trying these three things together gives me the confidence to concentrate on my job on the boat and leave everything else to the team. It is working.” We had a great Worlds in San Francisco and won the Davis Island Winter series. Lastly, our sails are awesome, thanks North Sails! READ MORE

2017 SAN DIEGO NOOD REGATTA: WEST COAST RECAP The San Diego NOOD was an all around success. Beautiful conditions gave sailors the opportunity to enjoy the fresh west coast air and all the things southern California has to offer. Coronado Yacht Club welcomed the fleet Friday, with heavy fog that cleared by the early afternoon allowing for a light breeze to fill in. North Sails assisted sailors with a weather briefing just prior to the skippers meeting, providing local insights to visiting sailors. Dock talks for the J70 and Ultimate 20 fleet featured photo and video and gave fleet members the chance to notice opportunities for improved speed, fine tuning, and steering. North Sails Saturday started with the Rally Race for cruisers. 11 miles were sailed in fresh breeze inside the harbor. Drew Belk’s Melges 32 ‘Precepts 3.2’ was awarded North Sails Boat of the Day. Sailors collected daily awards and viewed photos and video from racing at the North Sails tent after each day on the water. 1st place in Rally Race division A went to Corsair 31 ‘F- Bomb” with Lawrence Adams. 1st place in Rally Race division B went to 6m ‘Sprig’, with Greg Stewart. Congratulations to our clients for taking 1st place in the J70, J105, Flying Tiger 10m, J120, Viper 640, and Rally Race fleets. Congrats to overall NOOD winner, Argyle Campbell with Etchells team “Rock n’ Roll”. “Sanity”, 1st Place J105 with Rick Goebel First Place – North Sails Rally Race- Greg Stewart’s 6m “Sprig” Kym Kapalla’s “M2”, Melges 32 – 1st Place in ORC North Sails Boat of the Day Winner, Drew Belk on “Precepts 3.2” 1st Place J70- Jeff Janov “Minor Threat” North Sails Saturday- Rally Race! 1st Place Rally Race Winner Lawrence Adams “F Bomb” READ MORE