Ep 14: The Downside of Excessive Heeling 

Thanks for the comment Gordon. I’m delighted that you agree and enjoyed the video

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, I appreciate the support.

Thank you Mark. I completely agree and have a video on shortening sail or reefing coming up. Thanks for the kind words.

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Looking forward to that.

Thank you so much Capt David, I appreciate it. Good luck with your channel 👍

Thanks for sharing!

Glad you think so!

Thanks for the kind support 👍

Glad to hear it! Thank you!

Thank you for your kind comment. Easing sheets to heading up will reduce heel but it is not the right thing to do. Easing sheets in a short gust is also called a Fisherman's Reef but it is hard on sails so I avoid it. Heading up will also depower sails but will cause them to luff which similarly is hard on sails. Best to shorten sail properly by reefing.

Thank you for your comment Petr. You sound like you might have an engineering background. I don't understand the physics as well as you do so thank you for explaining. I also wanted to keep things simple - the boat heels too much, the boat rounds up - and offer solutions for keeping the boat flat. I have not found on my personal boat that the CE makes that much difference. I sail to windward and point well in heavy air with just a jib, even though theoretically I should have too much lee helm. My own belief is that the heeling causes enough turning moment to counteract any lee helm.

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Thanks for the reply Marco. You are right, I'm much more of an engineer than a sailor :) I've actually got my baseline sailboat license only recently (but I must say that for an inland country, the knowledge of physics background of sailing required here in Czechia even for the basic license is reasonably deep). Anyway, as you speak about the CE, you are talking about its fore/aft position (as determined by the combination of sails, their reef etc.), which is the typical way of thinking about it. My point is that the CE (being a point in space) can also move side to side, which is exactly what happens when the boat heels. Imagine the sails propelling the boat forward as if it was pulled by a rope tied to the mast, say 2 meters above the water. When the boat stands straight up, the pull is in line with the hull (when viewed from the top) and no extra force on the helm is created. When the boat heels (say 45°), the point where the rope is attached moves to the leeward side (by approx. 1.4 meters) and is no longer in line with the hull. So the propelling force is now offset from the hull to the leeward side, thus turning you against the wind. As a result, you get exactly what you describe - even though the fore/aft CE predicts lee helm, the side-to-side effect can balance it out, allowing the boat to be balanced with the jib alone in strong winds. It's of course not necessary to know all of these details as long as you know how the boat behaves, but it brought me a lot of joy and confidence to understand the reasons for the weather helm rather than just accepting it as "magic", so I wanted to put this concept "out there" if someone finds it useful too. BTW I really enjoy your videos, your channel provides one of the most straightforward instruction on sailing on the internet IMO.

@@PetrHosek, hi, I like your physics approach. And yes it helps to understand the basics of the mechanisms in play. Greetings from Mauritius.

Glad you like them! Thank you!

Best of luck! Thanks for the kind comment!

Thanks again!

I appreciate that!

Yep the only thing it’s good for is trying to make sailing more “exciting” and photo ops.

Thank you Marco. I appreciate it.

Thank you for the kind comment BK D. Thank you for the great suggestion. I will get to it as soon as I can. I'm delighted that you are finding my videos helpful.

Welcome aboard Ted. Thanks for watching.

Hi JC, thank you for the kind comment. If you’re interested in becoming a sailing instructor check out Sail Manitoba’s website sailmanitoba.com/

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine I have taken their courses but non of the instructors offer more training than I already have acquired. I was told I will have to go to BC to do any further training. I love the teachers here just very old and not willing to do much on water.. it's a darn shame. at this point I'm just going to get my captions license from transport canada and charted people and if the want to informally learn under me then I guess that's the best MB can offer. if there is any other avenue you can think of I would greatly greatly appreciate a point in the right direction!!!

According to North Sails more than 4 degrees of weather helm means your boat is out of balance. There is a formula for every foot of tiller length but I can't remember it right now. I will try to find it and get back to you.

This from North Sail U book of trim: Feel of the Helm Weather helm is a key trim guide. A nearly balanced helm is fast in light to moderate winds. In heavy air most boats can tolerate about 8° of helm without stalling. (Note: on tiller boats 5° of helm is about 1” of helm per foot of tiller length. Ie. For a four foot tiller four inches of helm equals 5°. On wheel boats you will have to measure the ratio of wheel rotation and rudder turn

Modern sailboats with flat bottoms, beam carries aft, and deep fin bulb keels, sailing as upright as possible is the recommended technique

A good portion of sailboats begin to struggle at 15 degrees of heel. I sail in strong winds quite often. My main is almost always reefed. Easier to shake it out reef it back in.

You and me both!

Very good point. Haven't been on a Hobie in years I remember how slow flying a hull really was. It was kinda fun in it's own way but definitely slower.

To correct heeling in a gust, ease the main, easing the traveller is best but mainsheet works too. Bearing away and easing the sheet will not work unless you bear away far enough to be on a broad reach. Heading up would also work but is not ideal. If the heeling persists reef.

Hi Josh. It depends. The best way to stop heeling over the long term is to shorten sail (reef) progressively and balanced between mainsail and headsail. In the short term in strong gusts if you are being heeled you can ease the mainsail for the duration of the gust or what I prefer, lower the traveler for the gust and then bring it back up again. Hope this helps.

Thank you!

Technically he's right that keelboats can't capsize, but what's more right is that they won't capsize by wind alone. Many have capsized in big seas but that is because they are rolled over by a breaking wave. Once rolled over they should come back up. That is all besides the point in this case. As you saw in my video a very few, older full keel boats might go faster heeled over. The majority of boats actually go slower. It's an illusion that you are going faster. If he says that the knotmeter says he's going faster that may be through the water but on a beat it's all about VMG (velocity made good) and no boat heeled over at 45° is going to haver good VMG. Thanks for the comment

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Thank you for your video!