Heavy crew set up

[Liz Few]

Hi All, my husband and I are new to National 12s and have recently purchased N3344 (Ella), a Final Chapter design. We have the option of sailing with our children as crews but would really like to do a bit of racing together. We realise we are a bit on the heavy side at 25 stone all up but wondered if anyone could give us some hints and tips on how to best set the boat up to take a heavy crew weight. Thanks.

[darebarry]

When I built my first Final Chapter whilst Chatting with Mike he sais the most important to keep the for and aft trim level. If you have a little extra weight on board it should not be too much of a problem, nice boats to sail.
Dare N3547

[gbr1918]

I'm sailing a chapter, too, and really enjoying it!   At a guess me and Mouse are probably getting on for your total crew weight (Mouse's actual weight is a state secret, apparently!).  As well as Dare's advice about getting the fore & aft trim right (we can easily tell if we're trimmed too far aft - the boat sinks because the flaps don't seal all that well!), I'd suggest that keeping your rig powered up is pretty important:  I was quite bewildered initially that in breezes where we were just about hiked, the boat seemed slow to windward, but eventually I realised that I had the kicker on to de-twist the mainsail and get the boat to point, but because I didn't have enough mast ram pulled, the mast was bending too much and de-powering the main.   Similarly, it took me a while to realise that letting off lots of outhaul made the boat reach much faster,  and dumping both shrouds down the run so that the mast goes right to the front of the gate is pretty speedy too! 
On the plus side, chapters are supposed to be the boat if you're a crew at the top end of the weight range, so at least we're sailing the right thing!
Dave Cooper
N3405