J109 special tricks

Sail trim, rig tuning, and related topics.

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shubrook
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon May 20, 2019 8:53 am

J109 special tricks

Post by shubrook »

I've recently started sailing on a j109. The boat is in great condition and in under 10 kts it is about a half-knot over the polars.

This weekend, it was gusting up to 20 and we had a really hard time going upwind. We had no other 109's to look at, but 3 105's who appeared to be much flatter than us.

Looking at the boat, there is this humungous car track, but the marks for the jib car only went ~10 inches back from the shrouds. The marks were made by a sailmaker, but at #10, in 18 kts true, the top of the jib was still generating lift. Should I turn it up to 11?

At 18 kts, we had the backstay about 40% on. Was that enough?

I know the rig was tuned for about 8 kts. Alas there was no time between races to tighten up.

One weird thing: The main trimmer, who I've just met, but has done a lot of J boat sailing, kept the traveler up high. He said that it was a J109 thing. I am skeptical, but he did a great job on main in light air. It is entirely possible the jib was just misbehaving and screwing everything else up.

Overall it was a fun regatta, even though we didn't win. But winning is also fun.

It got me thinking:

What are some weird tricks that you do on a J109 that would feel wrong on other boats.
spelunkerd
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:34 pm

Re: J109 special tricks

Post by spelunkerd »

The main thing I've noticed through the years is how a big genoa can depower the J109 main and make pointing very difficult. With a 105% jib and barber haulers I do much better upwind. In some races with big wind we fare pretty well with just the main for the windward mark leg. Yup, in big wind the backstay is on tighter than I would have thought, but you have to experiment with your rig.
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