Back winding the main... but just at the hounds?

[ifoxwell]

So is it just me, and wants the deal.
Whats it telling me
Ian
3162 
Bicycle Clips

[Antony (Guest)]

Ian,
It sounds like the mainsail is not flat enough, but i might be wrong without seeing it.  I am guessing this is in a decent breeze. I would try a little more prebend, either from angling the spreaders or by letting off the strut, and see if that makes it go away.  It is certainly not ideal, I would rather have my sail flatter.  Final thought, although probably not relevant to this problem, is that when you do line up against other 12s you might be shocked at how hard some people pull the kicker and this obviously bends the mast too.... they seem to pull about as hard in the Lark but not as hard in the Merlins.
Antony

[? (Guest)]

Do you mean that the top batten is inverting, or is it lower down the sail than that?

[ifoxwell]

Ahh
Good question. No
Its actually just below the hounds then having now looked at a picture of the boat and it can happen at any wind strength. I posted this as during Sundays sail in a rainy F2 with the jib tell tails glued to the jib I was using the effect to help me judge our pointing angle as it would start to back just before the jib.
It could easily just be that the sail is knackered, the jib is oversheeted or not twisted enough. Could be as Anthony suggested above that the mast is too straight at this point and i will indeed give the spreaders so attention when i see it next.
I take it that its not a standard problem or some one would have said so as its something unique to us I guess I'll have to keep playing.
Cheers
Ian