Solo sailing modifications on the Oughtred Gannet dinghy

Dad and I take the Gannet out to explore possible changes to make her easier and safer for dinghy cruising solo, or with children aboard.
We try to balance her lee helm, tune her rigging and work out sail controls.
Intro music: Upbeat Indie Folk Guitar • Uplifting Indie Folk G...

[@thebrizrobbo]

Thanks for the tips about "lee helm". Always a tricky thing to understand, and you presented it so simply.

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

Glad it was helpful! There is so much more to it, as I’ve been learning, but it’s been a great exercise to go out and actually play around on a light day to see how it impacts performance.

[@user-zl5nn2dv1n]

Good stuff Holly. Short, to the point and beautifully presented.

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

Thank you kindly!

[@Mark-vd4gg]

Great ideas to improve efficiency Holly!

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

Thanks Mark! Hopefully there will be further videos with the how-to side of things as we actually move controls around etc.

[@DinghyCruisingKingfisher]

Hope the mods are progressing well. I love the halyards running back to the tiller- way more convenient.

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

Me too. I’m trying to replicate how things were laid out on the Springbank. That was a fantastic little boat! How is Trim’s restoration progressing?

[@DinghyCruisingKingfisher]

At Glacial pace.

[@neilhenderson5782]

Certainly a good idea to remove/reduce lee helm especially if sailing solo. My Gannet has weather helm which I like. I fitted a Huntingford tiller impeder so that I could leave the helm an slide up to the mast to adjust halyards etc - it works really well. I have also tried heaving-to and that also works well. Good luck with the planned improvements 🙂

[@afloatinawoodenboat]

I do have a tiller impeder but on the way home from sailing a few weekends ago we had a real blow out and with a panicking child on board it simply didn’t pan out with the tiller impeder vs current, headwinds and cross-chop.