Helm (Churchill)

Helm


Determine your destination
Get your bearings set
and steer a true course.
In life, you need a rudder.
In sailboats you don't.


Helm:
There are three types of helm. Windward helm, when the boat wants to
head up if you release hold of the tiller. Leeward helm, when it wants
to bear off. Neutral helm is acheived when the boats steers a straight
course. Small boats inherently are set up with a bit of windward helm.
Too much in fact. While sailing upwind we want the very faintest bit of
weather helm so we have "a touch, of a feel" on the tiller. It's so
slight that only the most sensitive can feel it, that's the point. All
other times you want to sail with neutral helm unless you are trying to
turn the boat. When you do want to turn the boat, the last thing you
want to do is use your rudder. The act of using your rudder is the act
of braking. That's how the damn thing works. You been taught wrong
from the very first day you got in a sailboat because you learned to
sail by using the rudder. If everybody had started without it, you'd be
better off now. So now we have to melt away bad habits and get you to
stop using the brake. When you use your weight and sail trim properly
the boat turns on it's own and the rudder balances pressures on both
sides of the blade and no braking occurs (well, there's still turbulence
and therefore drag). The rudder becomes an emergency backup used
secondary to created helm. It's rarely the first option. So next time
you want to turn the boat, don't just jam the rudder over, feel what the
boat wants to do on it's own. Feel what type of helm currently exists
and do the things you need to induce the type of helm you want.


Creating Windward Helm:
Jib eased
Main trimmed
Heel to leeward

Creating Leeward Helm:
Jib trimmed
Main eased
Heel to windward

Creating Neutral Helm:
Feel what helm you have.
Create enough of the opposite helm to bring the helm to neutral.


Pointers:

Centerboard- One third of the way up (to help reduce the boat's inherent
windward helm).

Weight- The weight wants to be far forward in the boat because the bow
is a lot sharper than the stern and it helps you track much better. If
you're in the back seat, the rounded bottom of the boat likes to turn.
Once it starts turning, it's hard to stop it from spinning out.

Sailing Position- Start at a beam reach and try to steer a straight beam
reach course. When this is mastered, then try sailing closehauled.
Then move on to sailing dead downwind. Next comes tacks, and then
jibes. Now you're ready to sail a whole course.

Crew- The crew should initially sit on the centerboard and do nothing.
The skipper should take the main and jib and use only their weight to
learn to sail straight, then to learn to turn. Only after the skipper
has done this, to we put the crew to work. Then you learn to dance
together.

Once you get the sensitivity down, the balanceing act becomes quite
easy. You'll be embarrassed you didn't take care of this skill much
sooner. Afterall, the rudder has been killing your boatspeed for years.
Time to start sailing in the real world.

-Coach