Melges 24 Tuning Guide

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For any question you may have on tuning your Melges 24 for speed, contact our experts:

Harry Melges 262-275-9728 [email protected] Andy Burdick 262-275-9728 [email protected] Jim Gluek 262-275-9728 [email protected] Vince Brun 619-226-1415 [email protected]

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Rev. I0623 The following tuning guide is meant to both in front and in back of the keel. Also just a few inches we are protecting the be a good starting point when setting up packing pre-cut foam between the keel spreaders from possibly hanging up on the your Melges 24. Depending on total crew edges / sides and the keel box will help hoist arm as the spreaders pass the arm. weight, wind and sea condition and sailing prevent any movement of the keel when style you may have to alter your set up trailing. Many teams seal the top of the DECK PREPARATION

slightly from what is given here. As you keel bulb and the top of the keel box with The factory Melges 24 comes ready to read this tuning guide, write down any plastic so that dirt and other debris cannot race. There are a few small class legal questions you might have and we will be scratch or damage any part of the keel modifications that really help with sailing happy to discuss them in detail with you. when traveling. the boat. The goal of this tuning guide is to achieve a rig set up that is fast in all conditions HULL, RUDDER AND KEEL With your spinnaker up at maximum upwind and down. Your new North sails Class rules do not allow re-shaping of hoist mark the halyard with a black are designed with this “all around” these items. permanent marker. philosophy in mind. HULL With your bow sprit fully extended also For trailing the investment of our 3-piece mark the bow sprit extender line. Class Rules bottom cover and 1 piece top cover is well worth the protection it affords. With the bow sprit retracted (to class We have a great set of rules that many maximum extension when sailing upwind) of the Melges 24 owners along with RUDDER we want to put a knot on the bow the International Sailing Federation The rudder should always be removed sprit retraction line. By having the pole have developed over the years since the when not in use and kept in its padded extended that few extra inches we prevent introduction of the Melges 24. The current rudder bag. water from coming in the gasket area of class rules can be downloaded from www. the pole when sailing upwind in larger melges24.com. If you have any specific KEEL waves. Also, add an additional rubber questions about class rules please feel free We just talked about taking care of your gasket to the pole so that when the pole to ask any of our Melges 24 class experts keel when the boat is on the trailer. When is retracted the second gasket retracts over to help you with clarification. lowering the keel either with the keel the one on the hull. Most now do not use crane or by picking the boat up with an the retraction line at all and use the tack electric hoist make sure you have rinsed line to pull in the bow sprit. Pre-Race Preparation out the keel box along with the delrins. Because of the tight fit between keel and Lubricate your bow sprit with a Teflon One of the most important items you and the delrins even small bits of debris can based jelly like compound. Super Lube, your team can do in preparing for high harm the finish of the keel. Vaseline are some examples. Do not use performance racing is to have your Melges a dry Teflon spray because this will not 24 ready to race. Listed in this section LAUNCHING AND RETRIEVING THE lubricate and protect your gasket seal. are just a few items we feel are critical for BOAT success on the racecourse. Believe it or not this is when most damage The addition of a small batten (soft occurs to Melges 24s. When trailer 6”) to the end of your bow sprit will help North E Scow Experts TRAILER AND BOAT launching make sure keel box is well prevent the tack line from dropping over Make sure when transporting your Melges packed, as the keel wants to shift as soon the end of the pole on a take down NORTH SAILS ONE DESIGN ZENDA 24 that the keel bulb always sits perfectly as the transom starts floating. When in the keel bed of the trailer. If the boat using an electric hoist be sure to keep the Mount a Wichard hook or Carabiner on P (262) 275-9728 F (262) 275-8012 the bottom of the boom at the outhaul Sam Rogers [email protected] is sitting where she belongs on the trailer boat level or maybe a few inches down in Andy Burdick [email protected] you will find the bulb resting perfectly in the bow. Again we are trying to protect turning block. We will place the spinnaker Harry Melges [email protected] the keel bed with space in the keel box the keel. Also by holding the bow down halyard tail in this hook for spinnaker Gordy Bowers [email protected] douses. You will find that by placing the Jamie Kimball [email protected] Visit our web site at www.OneDesign.com for the latest Melges24 news and tuning tips. 1 © North Sails One Design. All rights reserved. NORTH SAILS Melges 24 Tuning Guide

Rev. I0623 tail through this hook that the halyard will Rig Set Up the bottom of the hull. This measurement not re-cleat itself when the spinnaker is on should be 36’6+1/2”(11.140). Tighten or the way down. loosen the turnbuckle above the hyfield MAST DOWN lever to achieve this measurement. Make On older boats it is only necessary to As the Melges 24 comes almost sure that you achieve this measurement drill extra holes in the jib track next to completely ready to race straight from the with 16 on the uppers. the third bolt head (from the back of the factory there is very little to do to prepare track). Drill one of these holes just in your boat and mast to be competitive. Tension the lower shrouds so when using front of the third bolt head, between the With the mast down, be sure to mount the Model B Loos gauge and pulled to factory hole and the bolt head. Also, drill your masthead backstay batten and wind the line, you measure 68mm from the the the third bolt head out a little for extra indicator to the top of the mast. We like shroud to the end of the gauge. lead adjustment position and drill three to put a dark colored piece of tape around extra holes aft of the third bolt head each spreader 12” in from each tip. Our Now tighten the uppers 18 turns and in between the factory holes for finer jibs are designed with relatively straight the lowers 15 turns to load up the rig. adjustment. leeches and tighter sheeting angles, thus Measure the side to side as per below and the 12”(305mm) mark. This will be used check for the mast column to be straight PRACTICE - PRACTICE - PRACTICE! later for judging how tight or loose the jib at this point. It has been said that each mark rounding is trimmed. Another thing we like to do is can be worth a minute on the course. tie some light weight shock cord between Finally, with the upper shrouds back Now that is a reference between the first the two lower shrouds around the front at 16 on the Loos tension gauge, group and the last group of boats. That of the mast 6”- 8” down from their recheck to be sure the mast tip is centered is a lot of time and a majority of it comes attachment points. This keeps the head side to side and that the mast rake is at the corners and the first few minutes of the spinnaker from getting jammed 36’6+1/2”. To check the rake it is best to of a race. Knowing how your Melges between the shrouds and mast on hoists. use the tape measure on the main halyard 24 accelerates off the starting line is by taking a 3/16”(5mm) short piece of line and tying a knot in each end maybe something you need to practice. Sets at MAST UP 4” (100mm) apart. Put one knot in the the windward mark are critical, especially With mast stepped and the jib halyard mast tunnel and put the other end of the if you want to gybe right away. Having hyfield lever locked down attach a 50’ line through the end of the tape measure the ability to pass between two leeward tape measure to the main halyard and or the knot in the halyard then put the gate marks absolutely requires that hoist to the top (two blocked). Be sure to other knot in the mast tunnel and raise you and your crew understand all three remove the factory main halyard shackle the halyard to where the upper sidestays spinnaker takedowns, the Mexican, the and run the halyard straight through the intersect the mast. Measure down to the windward and the leeward. You do not end of the tape, tie a overhand or figure deck on each side of the boat at the upper have to have rock star crews in the Melges eight knot in the end of the tape. 24 class to be successful; you do need sidestay position and center the mast side to side. to have a regular steady crew who are Check to see that the mast is close to willing to practice. If we had “Time On centered by measuring to the chainplates The Boat Meters” you would find the top on both sides of the boat. At this point RIG TENSION finishing boats in our class had the most the upper shrouds should be snug (16 on The tension on the upper shrouds is critical accumulated time together sailing the a Loos Model B tension gauge) and the to the upwind shape of primarily the jib Melges 24. lowers should be loose. Tighten/loosen the and to a smaller degree the mainsail. upper shrouds on each side so that the For maximum speed it is important to mast is centered side to side. adjust the tension on the upper and lower shrouds depending on wind and Now measure from the top of the mast sea conditions. For the uppers, which get to the intersection of the transom and quite tight, we use a Loos Model B tension

Rev. I0623 gauge to measure shroud tension and becomes so windy that the mainsail turns that there is enough backstay on! adjust the tension depending on the wind inside out and begins to luff or flog in the strength using the following chart. puffs, then it is fast to tighten the lowers Below is a chart of the settings on the so that the mast falls off to leeward above upper and lower shrouds that we have The lower shrouds control the side-to-side the spreaders. This keeps the bottom found fast: This chart was formulated for sag or bend of the mast and to a smaller section of the mast from over bending fore the Ronstan turnbuckles and the internal degree how much the mast can bend and aft and thus keeps the bottom section wire jib halyard system. For the open forward in the middle. The lowers have a of the mainsail working while twisting body turnbuckles use ½ turn to equate lot of control over the shape of the main open the top half to depower. to this chart of 1 full turn for the Ronstan because of this and it is very important turnbuckles. to be sure they are adjusted correctly. SPECIAL NOTE Because the tension on the lowers is so As you can see from the chart we have When sailing with lowers this tight it light, we prefer to set their tension by a very detailed adjustment schedule. The sighting up the backside of the mast to is extremely important to keep some goal is to be within a 1 step range of the see how much sag the mast has to set the backstay on going downwind. If the correct setting for the given wind range. lower tension. It is not fast except in very backstay is not on, the mast will invert The chart you build for your boat may vary windy conditions to have the middle of and most likely break!! Always have the slightly on the number of full turns on or the mast bending to windward. When it forward crew sight up the mast to insure off to achieve maximum performance.

After you have set up the uppers to the Wind Speed(Kts) Upper Tension Lower Sag correct wind speed, sail the boat on both ¾” leeward sag, tacks checking the mast sag side to side Loosen 2 turns from base 0-6 - Light loosen 1 turn from base and adjusting the lowers according to the wind speed. After you have sailed 6-8 - Light Medium Loos 16 -- Base Setting ¾” leeward sag – Base Setting the boat a while you can create a chart of the shroud tensions and the number 7-10 Plus 3 Plus 2 of turns needed to be put on or taken off the shrouds for each significant change 10 - 11 6 4 in wind speed. Also, create a chart for turnbuckle numbers for each side of the 11-12 9 6 boat. This will enable you to exactly duplicate settings without counting turns. 12-13 12 8 If you have the open body turnbuckles it is best to measure the gap between the ends 13-15 15 11 of the threaded studs with a micrometer and record those numbers when the rig 15-17 18 14 is at base so you have a starting point to return to. 17-19 20 17 Note that in heavy seas you will want to err a little bit on the tight side to allow 19-21 23 20 for a softer backstay and loose mainsheet and in flat water you can err a little bit in 21-23 25 24 the light side to allow for more backstay and a bendier mast. While class rules Loosen forestay 5 turns 23+ 27 allow you to adjust your shrouds anytime Go to 29 during a race we like to set the boat up for Note: All column numbers relate to turns from base.

Rev. I0623 the lightest wind speed we expect to see Sail Trim effects on your pointing ability. There is on the first beat. Then if the wind speed a fine line on having enough tension for changes significantly during a leg we good pointing ability and over-trimming adjust our shrouds according to our chart. MAINSAIL the main. Usually most over-trimming of Like other boats main trim on the Melges mainsails occurs in light air. Having a base setting using your light 24 in keyed off the end of the top batten. medium numbers is a good way to leave In light to moderate air we trim the main Following is an overview of each main the dock each day for the races. It is easy so that the telltale on the top batten is control and how it should be adjusted. to spin up and down from there. Develop stalled about 25% of the time (the second this habit and you will find tuning the rig telltale from the top -at the second batten, BACKSTAY is not such a mystery but actually rather is flying 100% of the time). As the wind TThe backstay controls the overall power simple. increases both telltales will fly all the time. in the sail plan, particularly the main. In light to moderate air the back end of Generally we do not use any backstay the top batten should be parallel to the upwind until about 12 knots true. Then centerline on the boat, in heavy air it will we will start putting the backstay on to be pointed out about 5 degrees. Don’t depower the boat and keep it on its feet. forget that mainsheet tension is how It is vital that every time you adjust the you tension your forestay, which directly backstay you adjust the mainsheet as well. When you tighten the backstay tighten the THIS CHART IS FOR THE FIXED FORESTAY SET UP WITH THE VECTRAN JIB mainsheet to keep the top batten angle HALYARD: the same. In reverse when you loosen the backstay be sure to ease the main as well. Wind Speed(Kts) Upper Tension Lower Sag This is not the case in heavy air, as you can leave the mainsheet more constant and ¾” leeward sag, Loosen 2 turns from base work the backstay to change power. In 0-6 - Light loosen 1 turn from base puffy conditions we find it better to play 6-8 Loos 16 -- Base Setting ¾” leeward sag – Base Setting the backstay rather than the mainsheet. The mainsheet also effects how the jib Loosen Forestay turnbuckle 6 full luff sags so it is faster to keep the main 7-10 turns from base Plus 1.5 Plus 2 on uppers from base trimmed and initially play the backstay in a puff. The jib will not get fuller in the 10-11 5 3.5 puffs and the boat will accelerate faster this way. When it is really windy, you can 11-12 8 5.5 switch back to working the mainsail and Loosen Forestay turnbuckle keeping the backstay on really hard. 12-13 12 full turns from base 7.5 Plus10 on uppers from base OUTHAUL 13-15 12 9 Because the slot on the Melges 24 is quite narrow, the bottom of the main Loosen forestay 18 full turns generally needs to be on the flat side. Keep 15-18 from base 12 the outhaul tight (clew at black band) in Plus 15 on uppersfrom base conditions when the crew is on the rail. 17-20 18 14 When the crew is in the boat you can ease the clew in 1” from the black band. Clew 19-21 21 16 should be 2-3” in from band downwind except in heavy air tight reaching when it Note: All column numbers relate to turns from base.

Rev. I0623 should be tight. to allow the top of the main to twist. In really heavy air when the mainsail tends JIB CLOTH TENSION VANG to “turn inside out” keep the traveler Adjust the small line at the tack of the - We use the vang upwind as soon as the centered or raised to stop the main from jib so the luff of the sail has some slight boat is overpowered. At the early stages luffing and put some power in the bottom horizontal wrinkles coming off it. It will of being overpowered we simply snug the of the sail. In moderately heavy air, with be necessary to change the tension vang with the mainsheet trimmed while lots of chop, you can experiment with depending on the wind speed to achieve going upwind. We do this so that when keeping the backstay on hard to keep the some slight wrinkles at all times. In very easing the mainsheet in the puffs we do headstay straight, and pulling the main heavy air, tension the luff so that the sail not lose control of main leech. As you traveler to windward with a soft mainsheet is smooth and you are pulling out all the become more overpowered we pull the to keep twist in the main. wrinkles. vang harder to flatten the bottom 1/3rd of the mainsail. Downwind adjust the JIB TRIM LEECHCORD vang so the top batten is parallel to the Be sure that your leechcord is not too boom. Generally the vang with the slack Because the jib on the Melges 24 is a tight. It is very easy to put a lot of tension taken out of it upwind will be too tight high aspect sail (tall and skinny) it is very on the cord in heavy air and have it too for downwind sailing. We like to make a sensitive to small adjustments in jib sheet tight in light air. mark on the vang itself for an approximate tension. Tightening or easing the jib sheet downwind setting and then ease the vang 1/2” can have a big effect on boat speed SPINNAKER TRIM to that mark just before rounding the and pointing. weather mark. Spinnaker trim on the Melges is much With the 36’ 6 1/2” mast rake setting easier than that of a conventional poled CUNNINGHAM you should use the third bolt head boat. There are a few tricks that can make We do not use the main Cunningham from the back of the jib track for a you faster downwind and make your sail until the wind gets to over 16 knots. base setting, the next special drilled handling easier. Tack height on the sail Then we pull on just enough to remove hole just forward of that third bolt is important. Generally, we keep the tack any horizontal wrinkles in the sail. Under for ligther wind and the holes just down tight to the pole end when reaching 16 knots be sure the Cunningham is after the third bolt for conditions (broad or beam). Letting the tack up on loose enough to allow for some slight above base conditions. The jib lead reach will just move the sail to leeward horizontal wrinkles in the luff of the main. should be moved aft to flatten the and increase heeling. When we can let Downwind the Cunningham should be off. jib as the wind increases ending up 3 the tack line off when the tack will ride holes aft of base in heavy conditions. straight up or just slightly to leeward. We TRAVELER In choppier conditions you will want have found this setup to be faster in these As a rule of thumb, keep the traveler car to err on keeping the lead further conditions. We will generally let the tack between the skipper foot rests when forward. off in these conditions 12-18”. sailing upwind. Never sail with the car above the windward one nor to leeward of We have placed a telltale on the upper Two other topics that always come up the leeward one. In light air (crew in boat) leech (near the spreaders) of the jib to help are whether to take the spinnaker down the car will be at the windward foot you judge how tight or loose the sheet between the shrouds and the mast or push. As the crew comes up on the rail we should be. The general rule of thumb behind them. The other topic is whether find it very fast to center the car or pull it is to trim the sheet hard enough so to gybe the spinnaker inside it’s luff or above centerline if it is choppy conditions. that the upper leech telltale is just outside. We’ve found that it almost As the breeze continues to build, keep the on the edge of stalling. Just as with the always seems easier to take the spinnaker car centered or up depending on chop. If mainsail it will be easy to stall the telltale down behind the shrouds. This makes it is choppy then you want to err on the in light air and very hard to stall in heavy setting the spinnaker easier as it does not traveler higher with a looser mainsheet air even with the sheet trimmed very hard. have to fit between the shrouds, the vang,

Rev. I0623 the jib and the boom. When setting the SPINNAKER DOUSES the rig and fall on the deck. When the sail spinnaker, it is best to take the whole sail There are three types of takedowns: is 2/3rds the way down release the tack out of the bag prior to setting. This makes the windward, the leeward, and the and stuff the spinnaker in its bag. Practice it much easier to hoist the sail. Normally, “Mexican”. of these three douses is vital to success on we’ve found that it is just as fast and a lot the racecourse. safer to gybe the spinnaker inside its luff. TThe windward douse is used when doing This eliminates any chance that the lazy a port rounding and you are approaching CONCLUSION sheet could fall in the water, it makes for a the mark on port tack. The “Mexican” We hope all of the tips we mentioned are less sheet for the spinnaker trimmer to pull is for rounding a mark to port but your helpful to your Melges 24 sailing program. in, and it allows you to perform any of the approach is relatively shallow on a Let us remind you that these are the most three takedowns at the leeward mark. starboard tack. The leeward douse is for important and obvious helpful hints that rounding a mark to starboard while on we have provided. Our experts will be GYBING THE ASYMMETRIC starboard tack or when you approach happy to go further in detail with you SPINNAKER the mark at a very sharp angle while on anytime. There are two types of gybes. The inside starboard tack and you will have to gybe gybe and the outside gybe. How you quickly around a mark leaving it to port. Many thanks for your purchase of North hook up your tack line to your spinnaker Melges 24 sails. Our goal is to provide tack dictates whether you will gybe inside For the leeward douse, you can either you with the fastest, longest lasting and or outside. By placing your tack line on grab the lazy sheet off of the clew, or easiest to use sails on the market. We top of the spinnaker sheet when hooking grab the sheet just above the lifeline. The are constantly going to regattas and are the tack line up to the spinnaker you helmsperson then must bear off slightly, always learning more about how to make are setting up for an inside gybe, where the clew should be pulled in under the these exciting boats go fast. Please contact the spinnaker passes between the luff mainsail to prevent the kite from blowing us either in Zenda or San Diego if you have of the spinnaker and the furled up jib over the leech of the mainsail, and then any questions and we look forward to on the headstay. Hooking up the tack the tack line must be blown off completely. seeing you on the water soon. line underneath the spinnaker sheet sets The halyard should then be fed down as you up for an outside gybe. Most of the the crew gather the spinnaker. time though, you will see teams gybing inside. On the gybe, the fastest method is For the windward douse, the skipper can to have the trimmer ease the kite as the sail low, while the crew start to trim the boat heads down, another crew starts to windward sheet to pull the kite around trim the new sheet and the forward crew to the windward side the forward crew overhauls the new sheet just behind the should blow off the tack to unload the shrouds. The forward crew then pulls pressure off the kite. The clew should down on the clew to untwist the head as be trimmed all the way back behind the the kite comes around. Almost everyone shrouds, the halyard can then be released is now gybing inside and not using the and the kite stowed. outside gybes. For the “Mexican”, as you approach SPINNAKER SETS the leeward mark on starboard, the We have found that it is best to always set helmsperson should bear off into a slow the spinnaker from behind the shrouds. gybe, the trimmer will over-trim the sheet This does mandate taking the spinnaker as the boat gybes to port. Just as the down behind the shrouds, which is the boat is headed directly down wind and easiest way for all three takedowns. the mainsail begins to gybe, blow off the halyard. The spinnaker will blow against

Rev. I0623 TENSION GAUGE CONVERSION CHART Over the past few year Loos Co. has introduced it's new style PT-1, 2 and 3 professional tension gauges to the market. Since many of us are replacing our older model A and B gauges with these new models we are posting the following conversion chart for your convenience. MODEL A MODEL PT-1 3/32 1/8 5/32 5 6 10 9 15 12 14 20 16 16 25 20 19 28 23 21 30 22 35 27 25 38 30 28 40 33 30 42 33 44 36 45 38 46 39 47 40

Model B Model PT-2 PT-3 3/16 7/32 1/4 9/32 10 11 15 13 18 15 20 16 18 22 18 20 24 19 22 26 21 24 28 23 25 30 25 27 25 32 27 29 27 34 29 31 29 33 31 36 33 6 37 36 7 37 9 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 25

Rev. I0623

NORTH SAILS ONE DESIGN QUALITY CONTROL CHECK

MAINSAIL JIB SPINNAKER Corners Corners Corners Cunningham Battens Leech cord Tack slug Telltales Royalty signed by Vince Leech cord Leech telltales Stamp by royalty Foot chord Foot cord Measurements stamp at head Royalty signed by Vince Leech Chord North Logo Stamp by royalty Clew blocks Bag Numbers Trim line Country Code Royalty signed by Vince Battens Stamp by royalty Batten End Cap Measurements stamp at head Leech Telltales North Logo Insignia Bag Spreader dots Peanuts Measurements stamp at head North Logo Bag

Checked by: ______

Date: ____ / ____ / ____