{"id":73153,"date":"2021-10-19T14:56:27","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T18:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=73153"},"modified":"2023-05-07T00:00:02","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T04:00:02","slug":"how-to-do-a-late-main-jibe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/how-to\/how-to-do-a-late-main-jibe\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Do a Late-Main Jibe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"spinnaker <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The late-main asymmetric spinnaker jibe is an essential technique, especially in light air. The steps to a successful jibe are straightforward. The \u00adspinnaker trimmer eases the clew to the headstay while taking up slack on the weather sheet. Once the clew is around and at the shrouds, the\u00a0main trimmer can start pulling the mainsail across. The spinnaker should be full and pulling before the main fills on the new jibe.<\/span>\n Andy Horton<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

The problem with conventional jibes, where the main and spinnaker cross the boat simultaneously, is that the mainsail acts like a big wall, pushing air the wrong way across the spinnaker. That makes it harder to fill the spinnaker on the new jibe. And the longer it takes to fill, the longer you\u2019ll be sailing slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Picture this: You\u2019re about to execute a conventional jibe, from starboard to port. The wind is flowing from right to left across the spinnaker\u2014from luff to leech. Jibe to port and the wind now flows from left to right, still from luff to leech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s consider the mainsail. While on starboard jibe, the wind flows across the main from right to left\u2014again, from luff to leech. But as you jibe, the main starts pushing air ahead of it as it crosses the boat. That pushed air hits the spinnaker, which is also trying to fill at that moment, from luff to leech\u2014in this case, from left to right. That means that, until you settle onto the new jibe, the flow moving across the spinnaker is countered by the flow created by the main. The net result? It becomes much harder to fill the spinnaker\u2014no flow, no drive\u2014meaning the sail is not working at its potential through the jibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Enter the late-main jibe. As its name suggests, you jibe the spinnaker first, then the main. Done right, the spinnaker is not affected by the main and can keep you on a faster track downwind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how it\u2019s done. As the boat bears away into the jibe, ease the active sheet so the spinnaker is just curling. Typically, that ease is a little ahead of the turn. Keep the sheet tensioned until the clew of the spinnaker is at the forestay. Simultaneously trim the new sheet. For a few seconds, the new sheet will be pulling slightly against the old sheet. The idea is to create a direct load transfer from the old sheet to the new, so don\u2019t just let the old sheet go before the clew reaches the headstay. Do that and the spinnaker will go out in front of the boat, luff, and you\u2019ll lose speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Rapidly trim the new sheet until the clew reaches the new leeward shroud. At that point, the boat should be pointing just by the lee, and the spinnaker should start filling. You might even end up wing-on-wing for a second. The helm watches the spinnaker clew, and once the spinnaker starts to fill, they will typically say, \u201cFinish it off!\u201d That is the cue to jibe the main.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The key is to initiate the flow across the spinnaker and get the spinnaker full and pulling before jibing the main. Done right, the main should almost float from one side to the other. Jibing the main a little late is always better than letting it cross too early. If you let the main hit the other side before the spinnaker fills, you\u2019ll end up back in conventional jibing territory. It\u2019s even OK if you\u2019re wing-on-wing for a few moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"spinnaker <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Still doing conventional asymmetrical spinnaker jibes? There\u2019s a faster and much \nmore efficient method.<\/span>\n Andy Horton<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

In light air, your boom is probably not going to be all the way out because you\u2019re reaching a little. When you turn down into the jibe, ease the main. That not only aligns the main with the new wind angle, but also allows you to bear off farther yet before the main wants to cross the boat. If you end up sailing by the lee, or the main wants to cross the boat early, have someone hold the boom out, especially if it\u2019s bumpy. As a general rule, if the main wants to cross too early, try easing the mainsheet more before the turn down to jibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

As the breeze increases to around 12 knots, a late-main jibe is easy because the apparent wind drops as you bear off into the jibe, reducing pressure on the main. Now when you bring the main across, the boom should land gently on the new leeward side. It\u2019s not pushing any air, and throughout the jibe, the spinnaker is pulling you dead downwind, at speed, toward the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

At 15 knots, you\u2019ll be sailing deeper, so the boom is going to be pretty far out when the jibe is initiated. If the main comes crashing across, bring the boom in a little as you go into the jibe. At 16 to 17 knots, when you turn down, trim the main instead of easing it. If the boom is over the leeward corner of the boat and the driver turns down to where you\u2019re almost by the lee, the wind on the leeward side of the boom will help it across. In stronger winds, tail the mainsheet 100 percent of the time when bringing it across. When it lands on the new side, be sure to ease it immediately to avoid shock-loading the boom and mainsheet tackle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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RELATED: <\/b>How to Use Jib Telltales<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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The top windspeed for a late-main jibe depends on your boat. If you have running backstays, when it gets windy, you\u2019ll probably need to do what\u2019s called a \u201cpriority main jibe.\u201d That\u2019s where the first goal is to get the main across. Above 20 knots, you might not be able to pull the main across, and sailing wing-on-wing might be really difficult, so there\u2019s an upper limit, but it can be pretty high. If you lose control coming out of the jibe, you\u2019re over the limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

For the helm, a late-main jibe is great because it\u2019s a slow jibe. It gives you more time to find the correct exit angle, and there are clear indicators of how the turn is going. Turn down until you\u2019re by the lee, keep the boom out, see the spinnaker fill on the new side, and then say, \u201cJibe the main.\u201d The landing is pretty easy because the full spinnaker helps keep the bow down, and the main just kind of flops across. \u03bd<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The technique is simple, but the perfection of a late main jibe comes all comes down to timing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Andy Horton","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20211019","hydra_display_updated":true,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"156","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"How to perform the late-mainsail jibe for a boat with an asymmetric spinnaker.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"IKK62OACQVDAZHBFSX4YUQ5A4Y","arc_website_url":"story\/how-to\/how-to-do-a-late-main-jibe\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":true,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[174,1572,177,178,184],"class_list":["post-73153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-how-to","tag-print-fall-2021","tag-racing","tag-sailboat-racing","tag-strategy"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}