If you have passengers (a crew), let them know what you want from them in advance of any maneuver. If they need to move their weight or help with the sails on a larger boat, explain what you want and give a warning. For tacking, the traditional hail is READY ABOUT and for jibing, PREPARE TO JIBE. Many beginners have trouble trimming sail because one hand appears completely occupied in steering the boat. Use your thumb and fore finger of the tiller hand to grasp the sheet temporarily when you have to haul the sail in. Many sails have yarn taped to both sides of the middle of the sail just back from the luff. These SAIL TICKLERS are used to gauge wind flow along the sail, and when they are working ideally, they will be parallel and stream back toward the leech. If the windward yard is spinning about, the sail is about to luff and you should trim in or, if already trimmed into close-hauled, turn the boat away from the wind direction. If the leeward yarn is spinning about as you observe it through the translucent sail, your sail is in too tight and should be eased or your course altered toward the wind.An improper sail set is a sure sign of an inexperienced sailor. On the Tech it is very important to get the sail to the top of the mast. If the BOOM VANG is tight or the DOWNHAUL made fast when you raise the sail, the sail will not go to the top of the mast. If the sail is not to the top, your boom will be lower than it should be, and there will be insufficient room between the tack of the sail and the gooseneck to apply tension to the luff of the sail. The downhaul should be tensioned enough to remove any wrinkles that radiate from the luff toward the clew of the sail. These wrinkles indicate the DRAFT (the maximum point of curvature in the sail) has moved too far aft. The stronger the wind, the more tension you will need on the DOWNHAUL to keep out the wrinkles when the sail is full and pulling. The OUTHAUL should also be adjusted according to the strength of the wind. For light winds or rough water you want to develop more drive in the sail by leaving 6 to 8 inches of curve between the point of maximum curve of the foot of the sail and the boom. As the wind increases and the boat becomes overpowered, continue to tighten the outhaul and reduce the curve in the sail to reduce the heeling force. Even if possible, it would never be desirable to completely flatten the sail since, the sail would not work if it was completely flat. The purpose of the BOOM VANG is to prevent the top of the leech from twisting too far off to leeward and spilling the wind. A little twist in the leech is desirable in light winds, so the vang should not be set up tight in these conditions. The vang will be most important on reaches and runs when the main sheet isn’t effective in applying a downward force on the sail. As the wind increases, continue to tighten your vang to control leech twist. The TRAVELER line should always be light enough so the traveler blocks never come close to the boom blocks, and in actual practice, most sailors will set the line tight enough so the traveler blocks just clear over the top of the tiller on tacks and jibes. Diagrams and Text courtesy of Sailing and the Tech Dinghy Permission granted by: Harold "Hatch" Brown, MIT. Black and white clipart were provided by arttoday.com Created by: Nondini Naqui '02 Maintained by: Bonnie Dix Date Created: 7/27/00 Last Modified: 8/9/00