The one in which I learn about traveller settings...

A little while back I wrote about converting my Solo to something I called "Kirby Sheeting" ie the Laser mainsheet system. But one thing I didn't do was put any limit on the traveller. So when I was beating, the traveller slider went as far to leeward as it could - exactly as it does in a Laser.

Now I assumed that was a good thing. But I was wrong.

In a Laser, the pulley on the traveller is supposed to go out to the leeward corner of the boat when beating. I never really questioned this. I assumed that having the mainsail sheeted close to the centreline is only good for boats with a jib and that somehow the slot between the two sails was the only thing that mattered for upwind performance. On a singlehander with just a mainsail I thought a wide sheeting angle was faster.

But the Laser has a narrower transom than a Solo and a taller sail - I guess that is why Laser sailors don't see any issue with setting the traveller as they do? Also they don't have much choice as the traveller can only be loosened or tightened which raises and lowers the pulley, it doesn't prevent the pulley sliding to leeward (though it limits it a bit).

After I converted my Solo to Kirby Sheeting I noticed it was more comfortable to sail and easier to handle in lots of wind. The only time I felt I was slow against the other competitors was upwind in light winds. Initially I thought maybe it was my sail - after all, it is a 15 year-old Purple sail and Purple are no longer in the sailmaking business. But it is a sail designed by Jim Hunt who is now part of championship-winning sailmakers HD Sails (he is the "H" of course) and Jim is a very good Solo sailor. And the sail is in good condition, so I was uneasy blaming the sail. 

I am not the best helm in light wind conditions either, though it did appear to me that I just could not point as high as the others. That made me grumpy 😕

After a bit of thought and looking at the other boats at my club, it occurred to me that everyone else pulls the main in to very near the centreline of the boat unless the traveller controls are loosened (and in light winds they did not loosen them). This didn't seem to slow them down, in fact they were pointing higher than me and going just as fast. I felt an experiment was needed.

I put some string through the top rudder fitting and tied it around the slider on the traveller track. It was a crude solution, but good enough for my test as it stopped the slider moving much from the middle of the track.

And it worked! In the race the boat felt much quicker to windward and one of my fellow sailors even told me afterwards that I just seemed to be going faster and higher than him upwind 😎

So lesson learnt. My next Solo upgrade is to restore the controls on the traveller track I removed during the conversion and put cleats on either side so I can adjust the slider when sailing - a lot better than the bit of string.