How much do you fiddle with things

When my wife and i go sailing she is always telling me to sit down and enjoy the sailing whereas i like adjusting things to try and get a bit more speed or get the boat pointing a bit higher

Just wondering if other forum members are fiddlers like me or are happy just leaving things alone, sit back and enjoy the sailing

Regards Don

If one might not fiddle, one might as well stay home.
We are going there to fiddle.
Aren't we?

It drives my mates nuts, constantly tweaking and making fine adjustments.
I'm not sure it ever makes much difference but that's boats, just messing around on boats

I love the granularity of sail trim, the precision and benefits of fine tuning never ceases to amaze me.
A few months ago we were in a race on a 5nm beat to windward, close hauled, narrowish channel. It was blowing approx 20 knots, so loads of horsepower on tap, everything sheeted on hard, the crew are all on the rail. An Inglis 38 is no more than a boat length to windward and slightly ahead, and because I can't point as well, I'm trying to drive past to leeward without losing ground.
Every time we tried, we'd run into the dirty air and get spat out the back, and when I got alongside and try and luff him up the Inglis would merrily lift a few degrees to windward and just sneak away.
Grrr.
I tried everything I could and I just didn't have the pointing ability to get past. After about 20 mins of watching the grin on the Inglis helmsman getting wider and wider, one of my seasoned guys jumps off the rail, and sitting down to leeward, he peers up at the headsail, then eases the barber hauler an inch, then grinds on the sheet, so still hard on but moving the clew up a fraction.
The transformation was remarkable. I gained 5 degrees of height, we drove over the back of the Inglis and within a couple of minutes we're 80mtrs to windward and leaving them behind.
Turned out we'd slightly oversheeted the headsail and closed the slot too much between the main and the headsail, stalling the airflow. Mick simply trimmed the headsail to match the curve of the main, opening the slot by lifting the clew position vertically a wee tad.

I marvel at how fine sail trimming can be, I see boats sometimes making large scale adjustments, when it really is a game of inches.
Good fun!

I second that thought!

The boat l race on is helmed by a fossil, who sets up the sails " the way those sails should be set" regardless of the wind, set, current etc.
Few weeks ago we mutineered and trimmed the sails the way they should be trimmed and we were sitting in fourth place. Then he took over and we came dead last.
It was embarrassing.

I've really been enjoying learning how to get more out of the boat. It's been a real eye opener to have some great crew on the boat making the fine adjustments that make a massive difference.

I'm either very lazy or fiddle incessantly. Usually once I have the basic trim about right it's a case of the more I fiddle the slower I go. Typically with racing I'll almost catch up to another boat by touching nothing (including the wheel) then ruin everything with inane attempts toto constantly trim the boat a bit better and drop of the pace.

As the wind and waves are always changing, a fast sailor will always be fluid with helm and trim. All good racers are constantly changing gears, even for each gust and lull. In the end it becomes second nature and the boat will talk to you and let you know what it wants.
Get on YouTube and watch the TP 52 races, quiet talk and lots of motion all the time.

On my laser balance and constant trimming was everything. On a fully crewed race boat I found balance and constant trimming were everything. Single-handed on my keel-boat my attempts at constant trimming end up being a bit slow and reactive after the fact to extract much benefit over just following wind shifts. I still can't stop myself from fiddling though.