Weather helm

[Webfoot]

What can be done to zero out the excessive weather helm in a sunfish? I'm thinking a big part of it is the Cat rig. Can't move the daggerboard so that leaves the rudder and goose neck to play with.

 

[Bill Siler]

You can't do much with the rudder, or the daggerboard. That leaves the gooseneck and your own weight. I somehow accidently moved my goose neck and it did a world of good. Shifting position helps too.

Of course, having enough wind to generate a lot of weather helm is a good thing.

 

[DanB]

What can be done to zero out the excessive weather helm in a sunfish? - - so that leaves the goose neck to play with.

Install a quick release gooseneck bolt and you can tune the sail's CE to the wind velocity. Leave a touch of weather helm so when you are righting the boat she'll round up instead of trying to sail away without you.

http://www.sunfishforum.com/showthread.php?t=5014

http://www.myrc.org/Library/centeref.htm​

.

 

[Wavedancer]

What can be done to zero out the excessive weather helm in a sunfish? I'm thinking a big part of it is the Cat rig. Can't move the daggerboard so that leaves the rudder and goose neck to play with.

In addition to the advice in prior posts, keeping the boat perfectly flat will do a world of good towards counteracting weather helm.

 

[Fred P]

Sitting well back in the cockpit can help weather helm when on the fly. Otherwise the other suggestions can help with tuning your set-up.

Fred

 

[DanB]

Looks like my original picture got lost in the shuffle. Here's the one that makes sense --