sailing with the centerboard up

[Guest]

does anyone have any experience with sailing the daysailer with the centerboard up? I'm thinking of buying one but one of the places that I spend a lot of time has very shallow water.I was told by someone( who doesn't own a Daysailer) that they thought it would sail with the board up but that it wouldn't have much in the way of "directional stability".I wonder if that means you mostly spin in circles.Any voices of experience out there?

jim white (whitejs-at-earthlink.net)

[Guest]

Just how shallow is the water where you sail? A Day Sailer draws 7" with the board up, 3' 9" bd/dn. You will only be able to sail downwind if the board is up all the way, and then you won't have much directional stability, that is fine as long as you are not heading for anything!
The DS will sail with the board part way up, but you will find yourself slipping sideways as well as forward and the boat will not point as well as with the board down.

Rod Johnson (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)

[Guest]

You can sail upwind w/ the centerboard up--I do it all the time when my crew forgets to lower it after a downwind run. In med winds, it is not always immediately apparent that the CB is still up until you see another boat out pointing you by 5-10 degrees.

What you really want to know it seems is how deep does the water need to be for reasonable sailing performance. I'd say you need the centerboard down at least a foot below the hull for acceptable upwind work. This means you need at least 2 feet of water. As for lateral stability, having a CB straight down certainly makes the boat more stable, but this is 6 ft wide boat and it is reasonably stable w/ the CB all the way up.

Kevin Clark (clarkr-at-aud.alcatel.com)

[Guest]

I have not launched my DS1, but if you have a DS1 with the handle used for raising and lowering the centerboard, there is no intermediate stops for the centerboard, only all the way up or all the way down. I have a line that is tied to the end of the centerboard and then through into the cockpit. This allows me to raise and lower the centerboard to any position. Is this a standard feature on a DS 1 or a custom job?

Eric J Nelson (nelsonjnelson-at-msn.com)

[Guest]

Eric,

What you have is definitely an aftermarket addition, and you shouldn't need the line to hold the handle in place. If the 3 screws that hold the CB handle are properly tightened, the CB will stay in any position between all the way up and all the way down. Every so often I'll notice my CB wanting to come up a bit while I'm sailing... A quick 1/2 turn on each of the 3 crews is all that is needed and then it will stay in place.

Kevin Clark
Dallas, Texas
DS 11791

Kevin Clark (clarkr-at-aud.alcatel.com)