Why is the Traveler so important?
The traveler works with the mainsheet to control the shape and position of the mainsail when going to windward in different wind conditions. Without a good traveler, we won't go well to windward!
In light air, a Day Sailer moves to windward best with the boom centered or very nearly centered. Without a traveler, we could tighten the mainsheet very hard to bring the boom in, but this would put excessive downward pressure on the leech of the mainsail, distorting its shape. With a traveler exerting some pull to windward, we can bring the boom into center with just enough downward pressure to properly shape the main.
When a puff hits or the wind picks up, the boom must be able to move to leeward without moving upward. The pressure pulling the boom to windward must remain. The mainsail will keep its shape as it moves to leeward, and the tendency of the boat to heel and require more weather helm will be reduced.
The travelers we have seen and will describe here will enable us to control the main properly in light and in heavy air. They are fairly simple to set up and easy to use.
The McLaughlin Traveler
Jerald Skeen's article in the Summer 1991 quarterly describes the
traveler system delivered on the McLaughlin boats. Because of its
simplicity and effectiveness, this traveler has been copied on many other
boats. It is shown in Figures A and B. Figure A includes the
Harken part numbers for each block and cleat. These same parts can
also be used for the other travelers.
This traveler has two components. The first is a triangle
which is sized to control the height of the boom. The triangle must
be high enough to allow the boom to be pulled to center without causing
excessive downward pressure on the leech of the main, but not so high that
it makes the mainsail leech too loose. We'll see how we set this
height later in the article.
The second part of the traveler consists of the lines which are used to pull the boom to center in light air and allow it to move to leeward in heavier air.
There is a long control line which can be adjusted from either side of the boat, and a short line with a single block to connect the control line to the triangle.
When the long line is tight, it pulls the moveable block and the short line tight, causing the triangle and the boom to be centered as shown in Figure A. When the control line is loosened, the triangle can move, allowing the apex of the triangle and the boom to move to leeward as shown in Figure B.
This traveler can be set up with the bottom of the triangle and the control lines below the deck, or with the entire traveler set above deck. For clarity, we have shown the control lines aft of the triangle, but they are usually placed forward of it.
There are several advantages of this traveler:
1 It is easy to rig and use.
2. It provides excellent control in most conditions.
3. It doesn't require resetting every time you tack.
There are also some small disadvantages to this traveler:
1. The height of the triangle must be readjusted if you change
the mains or retune
the boat. Most of us who have
used it haven't found this to be a big problem.
2. Since the height of the triangle is essentially fixed, this
traveler may not be as
effective as some of the others when it
comes to making the small adjustments that
very experienced sailor makes when going
upwind. It is, however, an excellent
traveler to start with and many of us have
made it work very effectively over a
long period of time.
The SLI Traveler
The racing models of the SLI Day Sailers used a light modification
of this traveler.
Instead of attaching a block for the mainsheet to the apex of the
triangle, the ends of
the lines which formed the triangle are spliced into the mainsheet
at that point. The
splice is small enough to pass through the mainsheet block at the
end of the boom.
This allows the height of the triangle to be adjusted by simply
tightening or loosening
the mainsheet. To make up for the leverage lost by going to
one part of the mainsheet
at the end of the boom instead of two parts, an extra part was added
to the mainsheet between the boom and the top of the trunk. See Figure
C.
The major advantage of this traveler is that it has the ability to adjust the height of the triangle easily. It has two possible disadvantages:
1. The small spliced lines tend to twist. (This doesn't
seem to be a problem unless they
twist very tightly.)
2. The downward pressure exerted by the extra mainsheet part
to the trunk could cause
excessive tension on the leech of the main,
but this does not seem to be a problem
with North sails (which came on the SLI
boats). In any case, Peter Johnstone used
this traveler to win the Mid Winters and
the NACs in 1992.
The Traveler on Cherry Bomb
For the 1996 NACs, Jonathan Foot, after some discussion, rigged our boat with a somewhat different and very effective stern traveler. The first part of this traveler is an adjustable triangle. It consists of a line which is dead-ended on one side of the afterdeck. On the other side, it runs through a block and then forward to a two-part tackle and a cleat. A block called the traveling block is free to run on this line and the block for the mainsheet is attached to the traveling block. This part of the traveler is shown in Figure D.
This provides a triangle which is easily adjustable in height, thereby controlling the height of the boom.
The rest of this traveler consists of the control lines, which adjust the position of the traveling block, and thus, the position of both the mainsheet block and the boom. These are set up as two-part to give the necessary leverage and run to cleats set between the skipper and crew. See Figure E.
There are significant advantages to this traveler:
1. The height of the boom is easily adjustable by just changing the triangle adjustment.
2. In light air, this traveler can be set to bring the boom
to center and leave it there, or
it can be used to make fine adjustments
on each tack like a mid-boom.
3. It can be used to make very small adjustments in sail shape as conditions change.
The disadvantages are very small:
1. It requires a bit more hardware than the other stern travelers.
2. It has a narrower range of horizontal adjustment than a mid-boom traveler.
Setting up the control lines for Stern Travelers
Control lines that are easy to use and stay where they are set are
critical to the successful use of any traveler, and we had a problem in
this area. We originally mounted the turning blocks and the cam cleats
for our control lines on the side of the wooden coamings. We found
that we were knocking the lines out of the cams as we moved about in the
boat. We then moved the turning blocks to the inner side of the carlin
(the structural member to which the coamings is fastened), bored holes
in the deck for the lines to come through, and moved the cleats to the
deck as shown in Figure F. We had no further problem, and the traveler
was still very easy to adjust.
We also found a convenient way to bring the control lines through
the deck near the stern. Our boat is an old O'Day, with raised areas
for the stern cleats. We simply drilled through the rear side of
these areas as shown in Figure G and led the lines through these holes
and forward to the turning blocks under the deck on the carlin.
The Mid-Boom Traveler
Any discussion of travelers must include the mid-boom. Where does it fit in? Many (among them people with names like Blake, Braese, Dickson, Fiock, Foster, and at least one Skeen) prefer it to any stern traveler arrangement. The mid-boom has several advantages:
1. The horizontal and vertical position of the boom can be adjusted precisely and easily.
2. The mainsheet can be shorter and all the parts of it can
be grasped to throw the boom
over when jibing.
3. You can get a wider range of horizontal adjustment than
with a stern traveler. This
can be very useful when reaching.
4. There is little hardware, other than the track and car.
The afterdeck is completely
clear.
There are also some disadvantages:
1. In light-to-moderate air, the traveler must be pulled to
windward after every tack.
This can keep you very busy in a tacking
duel, but the Harken car which releases
the leeward line can help.
2. The traveler bar forms a barrier that you have to climb
around in the middle of the
cockpit.
The mid-boom traveler works best when mounted far enough forward to allow the skipper to sit aft of it. Although this puts more strain on all parts of the traveler in heavy air, may consider this to be the ideal traveler system. Since this traveler can also put a lot of bending pressure on the boom, the mainsheet blocks should be attached at two different points (unless you have a very strong boom).
Which traveler to pick?
Which one is best? Many serious racers will only be happy with Johathan's traveler or the mid-boom, but the McLaughlin should also be seriously considered. Although it is very simple, you can quickly set it for the conditions at hand, reset it when they change, and then concentrate on sailing the boat. So, pick the traveler you like, rig it thoughtfully, and use it!
Setting the height of the Stern Traveler
OK. Let's assume we have selected and installed a stern traveler. Now-how do we set the height of the triangle so the mainsail is shaped properly? The basic procedure is not so complicated, and is somewhat like balancing the boat.
Adjusting the triangle height must be done out on the water. We sail upwind in light, about 5-8 knots in fairly smooth water. While sailing upwind, we bring the mainsheet and the traveler control lines up tight so that the boom is at or very near the centerline of the boat. We then lean down under the boom, looking up the windward side of the mainsail at the top batten. We want to see how the top batten aligns with the boom:
1. If the top batten is parallel to the boom, the tension on
the leech of the main is correct
for these conditions and the height of
the triangle is also correct. We can leave the
triangle adjustment as it is.
2. If the top batten is not parallel to the boom, with its
outer end hooking to windward, the
is too tight and the triangle is too low.
We must adjust the triangle to make it higher.
3. If the top batten is not parallel to the boom, with its
outer end falling off to leeward,
the leech is too loose, and the triangle
is too high. We must adjust the triangle to make
it lower. Or, like the mythical Clancy,
we must lower the boom.
You really need a minimum of 4-or-5 knots to make this adjustment. If the wind is too light, the weight of the boom will pull the sail down regardless of the triangle settings, so be patient and pick the right day.
If you're using the McLaughlin traveler, set the height so that you get the batten parallel to the boom and normal tension on the mainsheet. When you pull really hard on the mainsheet so that the mainsheet blocks at the end of the boom jam together, the batten should hook slightly to windward. This will enable you to vary the position of the batten slightly by making small adjustments to the mainsheet. You'll find that you will want to do this as the wind varies and your feel for the adjustment improves.
The above procedure is the starting point for good windward performance. Using it with a good traveler should get you moving in the range of conditions which we most often encounter.