Hi guys I have just set up my yacht with uncut windsurf sails and I have been experimenting trying to get the set up right, yesterday we were sailing in light winds on concrete and at times I was struggling to get going and certainly not doing as well as conventionally rigged yachts, I was left with a couple of issues that I would appreciate some advice on.
With previous set ups on the beach balancing the yacht has always been straight forward skittish steering more mast rake, loosing the back end less, on concrete with the terrific grip has made me question what I thought I knew. What ever I was doing yesterday I was scrubbing rear tyres but without breaking away so my question is this is, is the break away either front or rear a result of higher lateral forces or is it as a result of lift from the sail making it easier to drift the back or front end, if the latter I would need to alter the set up I had yesterday with much more rake to ease the load on the rear tyres and make more efficient use of the power. The mast step on the yacht is well forward compared with a lot of minis where it is on the pilot's side of the steering bar.
The second is about getting the sail right, the sail is a 6.1 and not cammed, in the light winds it was a struggle to get the battens to pop around the mast but if I put more downhaul on the sail lost the shape and was depowered, do I have to give it more outhaul also am I simply relying on tightening up the battens, inducing camber for initial power? When the wind picked up a little it did sail reasonably well. Any advice would be appreciated.