Centre Sheeted?

[orkney]

Can I rig my National 12 to be Centre Sheeted, I just personally prefer it rather than aft sheeting?!

[John Meadowcroft]

Yes

[Helpful (Guest)]

Don’t expect anyone to want to crew for you.

[orkney]

Why wouldn't they want to crew for me?

[John Meadowcroft]

The mainsheet will get in the crews way whilst you are enjoying yourself.  Draw yourself a picture which shows where the mainsheet is on a run or a reach with either set up.  Then work out where the crew might be sitting.  

You can have one though.  The only way that anyone seems to persist with this arrangement is if they always sheet the main from the boom.

And yes I have tried it and I don't have it any more!

[MikeDay]

As Meds says, it just doesn't work for the crew in a 12-foot boat - not only because it's cramped for the crew in their normal sitting position but if they have to move back quickly downwind in a gust, they'll get strangled.  I persisted for a season many years ago before giving up.  Ask yourself why almost no-one in Twelves has one and then commit to learning how to go round corners facing backwards - it's really not that difficult.

Mike D
N3533

[ifoxwell]

Just to balance up the argument...

 

I agree with the dont fit a conventional center sheet system
however sheeting from the boom works fine... as long as you dont have the block
coming from the boom to far forward.

 

Personally I tried aft sheeting and then gave up and went back to
off the boom. I cant vouch for how quick it is but we just sail, and race, for
fun and for me/us its just more fun off the boom.

 

Ian

[Michael]

Well just to  add fuel to the fire I started out with centre on 3525 and liked it very much.  I'm now giving aft a try and seem to be getting on ok.  There is certainly more room for the crew and the boat feels less cluttered.  the centre jammer was great though as it gave me  free hand some of the time.

[Lukepiewalker]

Of course there's always the right along the boom, down the kicker, along the centreboard case, back up under the thwart approach.

[beans]

Off the boom works just fine for me, very immediate and easy to control the power.
FYI I did try fitting a block on the thwart for my daughters when they started to helm, what a laugh!   Our tiller and extension are not what I would call overly-long, but in a 12ft boat the end of the tiller extension came about 6 inches in front of the mainsheet block on the thwart, that WAS interesting tacking!

[Crusader 3244]

I cut my teeth with transom sheeting, first in a Grad and then in an Ent, often team racing. Centre sheeting has never come naturally to me despite having worked with it in several other classes. The thumb on the tiller hand has always served me well for momentarilly 'cleating' off the mainsheet feed from a transom block.

After being absent for more than two decades and entering the 12s with a transom sheeted arrangement my tacking was initially very clumsy. It was a while before I figured why. After being away from transon sheeting and then from being away form the sport entirely I had forgotten the merit in swapping hands before the tack, whereas in centre-sheeted craft like the laser I campaigned briefly I had adjusted to swapping hands after the tack. Even now I don't know what it was I was doing to make matters so clumsy but I suspect I was trying to swap hands mid tack which is pretty darned stupid really! Here's hoping if i get my basic tacking skills up to scratch some other of those three decade old proficiencies might also follow; but we're not holding our breath.

Let's hope we can resist temptation to amend the name to 'Why Can'ty We?'

[Alex T]

I had forgotten the merit in swapping hands before the tack, whereas in centre-sheeted craft like the laser I campaigned briefly I had adjusted to swapping hands after the tack. Even now I don't know what it was I was doing to make matters so clumsy but I suspect I was trying to swap hands mid tack which is pretty darned stupid really!

you have just described exactly what Ive been doing for most of this seasons (very limited) outings in 3223!

Alex.

[jonathan_twite]

I have two boats at the moment, a Laser (centre-sheeted) and a N12 (transom-sheeted).  I usually end up turning aftwards in the Laser, and forwards in the N12, the result of which is getting the mainsheet wrapped around my legs.  This has lead to a couple of capsizes in the Laser, and several times ending up on my backside in the bottom of the N12 with my legs sticking up in the air (to the amusement of my crew)