steve: as already stated you have to much sail up. yes, a LOT of fun, but you are working hard (ie, having to fight the tiller) and sailing slower. the M15 'can take it' as Jerry Montgomery designed a seaworthy boat ... but once you are healing more the 20ish degrees you are slowing the boat down. put in a reef the boat would be more manageable and sail faster. my rule-of-thumb was first reef about 12ish knots. second reef about 17ish knots. above 20ish knots go to a smaller headsail. i discuss my opinions on the M15 and how to sail her here - http://www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred/aboutthem15.htm :: Dave Scobie :: former M15 owner - www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred :: M17 #375 SWEET PEA - www.m17-375.webs.com :: Sage Marine - www.sagemarine.com --- On Mon, 4/9/12, Steve Varley <eutah10@gmail.com> wrote:
I have a new, used, M-15 and it seems to have more weather helm than I'm used to or that it needs. Sometimes it's ridiculous. I was thinking I needed a bigger rudder but I probably need to tune things a little better. Maybe I need to reef earlier too. Someone here recently suggested putting the 2nd reef in 20 mph wind. That's about where I've been putting in the first. Is there a procedure for tuning out some of this weather helm?
Thanks! Steve M-15 63