mast rake vs weather helm

[louismolly]

I have always had a lot of weather helm on my Passport 43. A rigger working on another boat looked over and said my mast was raked at least 3 degrees aft which he said would explain it. Is this right? If so, and I wanted to straighten the mast, what would be the procedure. I have a Harken furler on the forestay which hides the turnbuckle. Upper, middle, and lower shrouds. Backstay is not adjustable.

[H/V Vega]

Just a thought but in this day of mass produced boats the rig is standardized to the point where no one really trys to see how the boat sails. Try a few experiments before you start twisting that poor piece of alu all over the place. First take a reef and see if she sails better / more balanced. Then try fiddling with the genoa a bit giving her more or less sail area till you find a balance. If I was going to bet I would say your mast is a bit too far aft or your main sail is too big. Don't laugh mate you may find that the boat sails just as fast with a bit of a reef and no rudder dragging along as she does with her full main and the rudder fighting the imbalance. In sailing more is not always better. Play with her and get to know her. The boat will talk to you and tell you what she wants/ And believe me she's like any woman give her what she wants and she will happily give you yours. Don't listen to her and you can have no ends of trouble })

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
You might also take a look at fore-and-aft trim; if you're even a bit down at the bows you'll pick up weather helm. Also, do you have a Cunningham? Do you let the traveler down in higher winds? Have you checked your outhaul tension? Do you have low-stretch halyards? Is the rig properly tuned? Do you have an adjustable backstay, and know how to use it? All of these are more powerful determinants of weather helm than mast rake.
There are boats with chronic weather helm issues, but I don't think the Passport is one of them. If it were, we'd likely be talking about moving the entire mast forward, or otherwise radically reproportioning the rig. Main and Genoa size, per se, should not be the issue, either; an "oversize" is simply one that moves better in light airs, and must be reefed sooner. Not the same thing at all as imbalance. Putting a permanent reef in either sail just results in a less-unbalanced, underpowered rig.
As for the boat being like a woman, it's a salty-sounding sentiment, but with no grounding in logic, and offensive to boot.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss