Excessive Weather Helm - Our Experience Dealing With “Round Up”

Having been sailing in the bay for almost two seasons now, we certainly made our fair share of text book mistakes. One of them was the excessive weather helm due to either the change of sea condition or the puff. The boat began to heel excessively and round up to the weather. Weather helm increases as heeling increases. In another time when we were beating with the heeling constantly above 30 degrees, the helm was surprisingly well balanced.

After some research on this topic, the consensus is that the weather helm is caused by the imbalance of the center of effort (CE) and the center of lateral resistance (CLR). CE is generated by the power of the sails and CLR is the resistance of the hull, keel and rudder to the water pressure. The more the boat heels, the more is submerged on the leeward side leading to the more water pressure that turns the boat into the wind. The reduce the weather helm, reduce the heel.

In our limited sailing experiences, we need to take care of weather helm in two different situations. The first is the sudden ‘round up’ caused by the change of sea conditions, in this case, the eddy or the most common culprit - the puffs. Just before the puff hits, lower the traveller or ease the main with the vang tensioned. Good mainsail trimmers ease and trim the main according to the wind change and actually drive the boat upwind without frequently adjusting the wheel. The challenge to avoid ‘round up’ is really how to to read the puffs. We are not there yet. Reading the weather on the fly is definitely on the top of my list.

The second is the constant weather helm the boat experiences with the helmsman fighting with the rudder degree more 6 to 7 degree or in a typical boat, the wheel more than a half turn to the leeward. The most common reason in my experience is the imbalance of sail power between the main and jib. I used to furl the jib the smaller size before reefing the main when the wind starts to increase cause it’s easier. Weather helm increased in all three type of boats we sailed. Now my go-to setup in wind between 20-30 knots is double reefed main with full or partially furled jib. I found this imbalance gets worse with the higher wind speed increasing the depth and pushing the draft position aft. The leech is more closed. It is amplified with the aged sails that are easier to be stretched. So flatten the sails and keep the draft forward are usually the first step to fix the constant weather helm.

Last but not the least, when the jib gets blown out like this with the deep pocket, the boat heels more leading to weather helm even the main is eased. Reef the jib to flatten it. The boat will heel less, sail faster with less weather helm.

Ok, that’s all for today’s video. I’ll see you in the next one. Until then, enjoy the Golden Gate in the fog.

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Sailboat -
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 Twin Rudder
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Videos were shot by GoPRO HERO 9
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Background music is licensed from Artlist
Dream the World created by John Coggins
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#sailing #sailinglife #goldengatebridge #sanfrancisco #bayarea #PropWalk #Docking #unDocking #standingturn #nightsailing