Can you slack the jibsheet to reduce weather helm in a gust?
Whoops, I wrote this BACKWARDS! To reduce weather helm, one needs to slack the Mainsheet. Or, tighten the jibsheet, or do both. Sorry.
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Sloops can be harder to manage than squareriggers when the vessel turns into the wind due to excessive heel: The long boom of the mainsail will hit the water, limiting the skippers ability to spill wind from the mainsail. I see this all the time with my sandbagger sloop. But squaresails can be squared in, spilling wind, even if the lower yards are in the water. I see this (with barque Pamir and brig-rigged Aldebaran) whenever I carry too much sail for the wind/gusts, and have to contend with a knockdown or near knockdown. The heel of a moving vessel automatically turns the bow into the wind due to the asymmetric thrust of the bow wave.
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When designing a hull/keel to match the scale sails and scale mast locations, I try to align the Dynamic Center of Effort of the sails (dCE) and the Dynamic Center of Lateral Resistance of the hull+keel+rudder (dCLR). When the centers are aligned, the rudder is most effective.
Many builders don't appreciate that the static CE/CLR is not in the same place as the dynamic CE/CLR. When the ship is moving, the dynamic centers rule, not the static centers. While the static values are at the geometric centers, the dynamic values are shifted forward to the 1/4 chord point. Example: static value for a 4 ft hull CLR is at the center, ie 2 ft aft of the bow. But the dynamic CLR is only 1 foot aft of the bow. This is per aviation practice; since sails and hulls and keels operate as lifting bodies, anything you know about airplanes will help you fix boat balance/maneuverability problems.
The common method used by modelers to find the CLR is to push the hull sideways. Where their finger is placed to get the boat to move w/out turning is the Static CLR. Now, to find the dynamic CLR, measure from the bow to your finger, and cut that distance in half. This will give you the 1/4 chord point, a good starting place for your endeavour to get the CE lined up with the dCLR. dCLR can be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 chord point, per aviation experience. Its never at the 1/2 chord point, though, which I've seen gets builders in trouble if they don't know that.