Sail trim

It is important to trim the sails properly when going to windward; the sheets must not be jammed in too tight.

Few boats will stand the mainsheets desperately taut, and none can stand it right hauled flat if there is any jump of sea. As the sea begins to jump ease the sheets, and especially the mainsheet.

It is quite impossible to lay down any precise definition as to how close a boat's sheets should be trimmed when she is going to
windward.

Boats differ considerably in the way they like their sails trimmed on the wind. It can only he ascertained by trial.

If the boat feels "sticky" ease the sheets a little. If she will not eat her way into the wind, try her with the main sheet harder and see if she does better.

But useful as it may be to know how to trim the sheets of a yacht properly when sailing to windward, the distance lost owing to any nicety of sheet trimming is as nothing compared with that lost by bad steering. This is why we speak of steering to windward.