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Fellow Mac'rs... I need a bit of advice. My friend and I took my 26M out on a brisk day (20+ knots) in the Puget Sound, and had some issues with my motor (which turned out to be simply not fully connecting the fuel line to the fuel tank... ugh). As we exited the marina under power, the motor died near the breakwater and the wind was blowing us onto it, so in our haste and with a strong wind on the main slugs, the main didn't go up all the way (jamming about 6 feet from all the way up). Thankfully the main had enough power to propel us away from the rocks on a beam reach. Phew...

What happened next is a bit of a mystery. Upon attempting to turn up wind to tack (or just turn into the wind to fix/reef the main), and with the wheel/rudders cranked (or slightly back a bit to avoid any braking) the boat would not go past about 45 degrees from windward. Baffled, we tried both tacks (after jibing around) and still no luck. Looking back, we did inadvertently leave the 50 e-tec motor down in the water while trying all of this (yep, we are still new to this whole sailing thing), but I didn't think that would have affected us that much. Perhaps there was just too much windage on the bow to allow us to come about? That is what it felt like... Has anyone else experienced this?

Anyways, we got the engine running again after finding out the simple fuel line problem. Defeated, we went back to the dock under power, and loaded the boat back on the trailer. Perhaps this is a newbie issue, but we sure would like to learn from this embarrassing afternoon.

Thanks
JasonDW.

Was your jib up?

To tack, you first want to get lots of boat speed. this might mean bearing off the wind for a few seconds. Then when turning into the wind, release the jib sheet before it starts to backwind, and tighten the other sheet as the bow passes dead upwind. Be careful not to jerk the steering or turn it so far it acts as a brake. Then it is a contest of boat momentum vs the wind to get on the new tack. Any mis-step and you will lose boat speed and the wind will win and you won't tack.

the only time I have been unable to tack was on my X in about 40 knot wind, with the jib down and the mainsail reefed. I couldn't build enough boat momentum to carry the bow through the eye of the wind. Had to use the motor to tack or else go downwind and jybe to the new tack. (wear ship)

You had both rudders down? My X did it once to me when I had a cracked starboard rudder and tried to sail with port rudder only. I could sail on starboard tack only and if i even succeed in tacking it will simply turn me 360 deg back to the original tack. With one rudder down you can sail into the winds only on the tack oposite from lowered rudder (example port rudder down you will be able to sail only on starboard tack).

Zoran

Jib was down (we felt it would provide more lee helm, which was the last thing we wanted). We had about 3.5-4 knots of speed going on the beam reach (b/c of the heavy wind), but still when we tried to punch through upwind, it just wouldn't go. Do you think the motor being down was slowing us too much throughout the tack?

We were going to put the jib up but the seas were heavy (~6 to 8' seas) for us newbies and we really didn't want to introduce any more variables. Additionally, we thought that having only the main up would give us the weather helm we were seeking so desperately.

I will try again soon, hopefully with more success. Thanks for the replies !!

JasonDW.

Both rudders were down and we did consider that we were at times turning the rudders too sharply so we backed off. Frankly, I think the motor being down slowed us too much, and likely also affected the rudder action.

Thanks again !!

JasonDW.

oddly enough, you need the jib to get enough boat speed to tack in high winds

The engine being down will slow you which will make the situation worse. However, without the jib up you will struggle to go about at all unless you have plenty of speed.

Jason,

The simple answer, as already mentioned is you needed the jib. Also sounds like you didn't quite have the main set properly due to your haste and imminent danger. A sloppy airfoil isn't very useful upwind in heavy air. Back to the jib. Don't get too caught up in the notion of weather helm and lee helm. Both sails are needed to balance the boat. When going upwind, you cannot be efficient with just the main or just the jib for that matter. You need the power up front which then helps the main do its job. Think about the two sails as one continuous wing. Since you were in a blow and perhaps overcanvassed, there is also a good chance your main was undertrimmed. Before a tack, you want to be as close hauled as possible, both sails trimmed in hard. Going from close reach to close reach is difficult and often not possible as you lose too much momentum. The proper configuarion for your wind conditions would be a reefed main and reefed jib (if you have roller furling,) otherwise a small jib. Engine up would have also helped but not recommended for beginners as you want that safety backup. Also it's a bear to steer with a tilted engine unless you disconnect it form the steering... but that's a whole different subject. One last bit of advice. Avoid taking the helm hard over. This is a common mistake and somewhat of a natural tendency. In order for your rudders to be effective, they need to generate lift. If you give the rudder too much angle, lift is interrupted and you go into a stall. The rudders then stop acting as a hydrofoil and act as a brake instead, doing little to steer your boat and killing your speed. Take the helm about half way over and hold it there all the way through the tack. Then straighten out.

Good luck and fair winds.
Leon

In heavy breezes over 25+ you may need to motor assist your tacks , especially in bigger wind waves where the waves kill your foward speed. Mac's are light weight boats, not a heavy keel boat where the boat's weight plows thru the waves and doesn't loose momentium when tacking. Everything is a compromise on trailerable sailboats

In heavy breezes over 25+ you may need to motor assist your tacks

That's cheating!

What Delevi said, all points true.
These boats aren't graceful upwind, and you need some jib up in order to pull the nose across the wind.
The force acting on the main is behind the center of lateral resistance, the boat's "pivot point". Without some force forward of CLR it's hard to tack. You sort of get in irons and can't get the wind on the other side of the main without a jib.
I'm impressed you did as well as you did in those conditions.
I've found I'm better off sailing jib only if I really have to reduce sail area because I can at least tack. Main only and about all I can do is a broad reach.
The smaller 100% jib can let you sail a bit closer to the wind than the genny because it can be sheeted in closer to the centerline of the boat, the regular jib sheets are more inboard that the genny sheets.

But still, compared to a more traditional sailboat, my X is sluggish tacking upwind and tends to stall, it's very easy to oversteer and lose momentum. The S and D boats are a much better upwind boats than X and M models. At least the one that smoked me was.

I agree with the jib majority. Also, as you begin to come across the wind, resist the temptation resheet the jib/genoa to leeward too soon. I have found that by back-winding the jib/genny a bit, it brings the bow through the wind much more crisply and with less loss of headway, or chance of ending up in irons. Also, don't try to tack if you are pinching too close to the wind. Fall off just a bit. Your overall VMG will be much better.

~Rich

Sailing in strong winds and waves. I would have the Main reefed. and less than half of the Roller furler Genoa. I prefer to Gibe downwind instead of tacking itnto the wind. If its really windy I will wind the Genoa in most of the way to avoid trouble
.
Macgregors are not racing boat. (Saillboats going in the same direction is a Race) Sailing with other boats I have noticed I lose less ground by Gibing instead of taking a chance of stalling or losing speed while tacking. Once you perfect gibing it beats the chaos of flapping sails and ropes.

Leon's advice is spot on.

I was thinking exactly that when reading you post.
Then I read Leon's.

nuf said.

G

Gibe rather than tack?? I am usually singlehanded and I will avoid gibe any time I can, especially on heavy winds, It is way more dangerous maneuver than tacking and more things can go wrong. To sail I have to have at least a 1/3 of jib out even with the reefed main. X will go nowhere with main only (at least mine will not) and I tried it many times. Boat is just not balanced well without front sale. I never had problems tacking if I had both sails (or portion of sails, but still both), centerboard and both rudders down. I believe that lack of jib is a reason for not being able to tack, motor down should not stop the boat from tacking.
Zoran