One of our fans asked the following question about the Laser MKII complete Trimguide video:
I really enjoyed watching your video about trimming a laser sail. I noticed a crease in the sail from the clew towards the middle of the sail. It also appears that the lowest sail batten is opening too much. Is this a problem and can it be solved? Maarten, NED206439Before we will answer this question have a look at the video below to see what Maarten is talking about.
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How to get the creases out of the sail
Thank you Maarten for asking this question. You are absolutely right about the crease in the sail. The new laser MKII sail is a big improvement. Unfortunately the ideal setting of the sail will still be a result of several concessions, as we only have very little options to adjust the sail and mast settings. With the old laser full rig sail we used to have a big crease from the point of the mast towards the clew. Now we seem to have this issue on a different place in the sail.
You have to realize that the problem is the biggest when the sail is brand new. After sailing a couple of days with the new Mark2 sail, most of the creases will be smaller or disappeared completely. It is not always possible to get rid of all the creases in a laser sail. As long as the leech of the sail keeps a nice shape the problem is not too big. In the video below you will see the same boat. You will notice that despite the creases the shape of the leech remains nice.
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Possible solutions
As long as the crease in the sail is not too big, it won’t disturb the airflow in the sail. If the crease is too big or you notice several big creases next to each other, you need to solve it. There are two quick fixes:
The first thing you need to check is your outhaul setting. You can decrease the creases in the sail by easing the outhaul. As we have discussed in our Trimguide video: that the new MKII sail is deeper than the old sail you can easily end up with a really deep sail. Therefor easing the outhaul will not always be an option.
The second option is to ease the mainsheet. With the old laser sail this was never an option. However with the new sail it is very well possible to ease the mainsheet (max 10cm between the blocks). The shape of the sail will still be good and the creases will disappear.
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Sailing upwind technique
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