Sail trim

How to fly an Asymmetrical Spinnaker

The “Flasher” and “Gennaker” are their trade names for an asymmetrical cruising spinnaker.   We used to call ours a “reachaway”.   I now use the more generic “asymmetrical” term because since they were used in the America’s Cup a few years back, most people are now familiar with what they are. Although there are differences in […]

Mainsail trimming guide

Mainsail trim made simple This is a quick guide for racers or cruisers to give you the proper mainsail trim for the majority of sailing conditions: Set halyard tension –  Pull up mainsail halyard and remove 95% of the horizontal wrinkles along the luff of the sail.  The exception is in very heavy air, remove all […]

Headsail Trimming Guide

Genoa trim made simple Set halyard tension – Pull sail up hard enough to remove 95% of the horizontal wrinkles along the luff of the sail for a laminate sail, and for a Dacron sail tension halyard enough to just barely remove all the horizontal wrinkles. Set Jib/Genoa leads – Use these guidelines for proper lead location.  […]

Lightning Tuning Guide

VSP Lightning Tuning Guide There are many proven methods for tuning a Lightning.  The measurements and the settings included in this guide are ones that I have found to be the fastest for VSP Lightning sails. Since crew, wind and sailing conditions and boats vary, you may find that slightly different settings are best for […]