Tuning based on Richard Estaugh's training session of 20/9/03

Full details of the way he sets up a boat for Flying Fifteens can be found on his Speed Sail's tuning guide but to summarise what he said based on my memory:

Jib: Adjust rig tension to about 400lbs as a starting point. Different makes of sail may need different tensions, but the idea is that the tighter the tension, the less the jib luff falls away (falling away makes the jib fuller), and so you can point higher. Letting off the rig tension will effectively make the jib fuller, so more speed, less pointing, but it will also allow the mast to bend more, so will prove advantageous in heavy and very light winds (Flat mainsails work well in light winds) by opening up the leach of the mainsail, depowering the rig. He also showed that the tension on the sailcloth down the luff of the jib (with the wire already set to correct tension) also affects the fullness, and that pulling it tighter brings the flow forward, reducing pointing. Having a slack luff tape makes the jib entry fine, allowing for high pointing, but making it hard to sail. As a rough rule of thumb, if you grab the luff tape near the tack, and pull it down, about ¼" movement is good before it becomes hard to move.

Jib sheeting angles should be approx 45 degrees between the foot and leach, though again will vary from sail to sail. Use the three tell tails to guide you here, and change the sheeting angle to get them all flowing evenly. In windier conditions, you could change the setting by perhaps 1" aft, though dropping off the rig tension also effectively makes you sheet more on the foot. This de-powers the rig. He also advised that perhaps adjusting the jib by letting out the sheet say ½" will help depower with not too much loss of pointing. He advised us to mark your jib sheets, so that if you are going well on one tack, when you tack you could replicate the setting. Try to note what settings work well for different conditions. Also, when the crew moves in from sitting out, he would expect the jib sheet to be freed off a little (again we are talking ½" or so) to keep up speed and stop stalling.

Sail upwind with jib tell tails lifting on the windward side at approx 45 degrees most of the time. That does not apply to very light winds. This allows maximum pointing, and depowers the sails a boat without loosing speed.

Mast: Check mast rake. He uses about 24' 10" (or just over) from the top black band to the transom, with the rig tension set to standard setting, and the pusher / puller released (you can set the measuring tape to the top black band by attaching it to the main halyard, then hoisting it, and setting it with the tape set at 20' 6" to the black band at the gooseneck). He does not tend to rake the mast back by changing shroud positions for heavy winds, pointing out that if conditions change you will get caught out with wrong settings. Better to loose power other ways. For light crews it may be worth raking the mast using shroud settings in very windy conditions. With no pusher or puller on, he measures the mast bend by stretching the halyard from tip to deck, and then checking the gap between the halyard and the back of the mast at spreader height. He aims for 1". Adjust spreaders to achieve this. He has suggested settings in tuning guide.

With the rig tension set to full (400 lbs) and the pusher / puller off, mark the mast and deck where the mast goes through the deck so you can have a "neutral bend" setting. When sailing, in medium conditions he sails with the mast at deck level maybe 10mm behind neutral, and in light pulls it forward of neutral by 10mm or more. As you become overpowered in a blow, let off the puller (ram) to allow it to bend perhaps 10 mm in front of neutral.

Mainsail: When you hoist the mainsail, be careful not to over hoist in light winds, or it has the same effect of pulling on the cunningham, which brings the flow of the sail forward, and is not helpful in light winds. Depending on sail, it may need to be ½" lower than the top black band. This does not apply when windier.
For boats with stern mainsheet twin strops, make sure the double rope is long enough to go in the block on end of boom. If not, you will have trouble setting the main right for light winds. In light winds, you want the boom to be near the centreline, but do not oversheet. He showed us how oversheeting hooked up the leach, which will stall the sail.

Set the mainsheet (or kicker in windier conditions) so that the top tell tail on the main is just breaking away about 30% of the time. When overpowered, pull on kicker and free mainsheet. You can also drop off rig tension, and let the mast ram (pusher) off as stated above to lose power. Cunningham should only be used when very overpowered, and do not take all the creases out of the mainsail with the cunningham, or it will open the leach too much and that will lead to losing pointing. Try to keep the mainsheet in your hand, not cleated, so you can adjust the sail quickly to changing conditions. As with jib, if the wind drops light, you let out the mainsheet a little etc.

He keeps the clew outhaul pulled as tight as possible in all conditions for upwind (possibly letting off ½" in medium light winds when choppy sea), but off the wind lets out 2" approx. for reaching, less for running. Put a knot in the rope to stop it being able to be freed off too much, so you can just "whack it off" and not have to worry about settings when mark rounding.

For reaching, let off the kicker when windy (it should not be on for light sailing at all), and a good guide for running is that the kicker is right when the top batten is roughly at 90 degrees to fore / aft. Adjust to keep it at that approx.

Keep the boat flat off the wind, and it seems to go all right if slightly heeled upwind.

Please advise if you remember this differently from me (SR).

Steve Goacher's guide

Brett Dingwall's guide (on Bax site)