Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

Chapter 5: Getting Underway for the First Time
negative angle, which means the lower section tilts beyond vertical toward the transom.
This boosts the transom up and pushes the bow down, which is what you want for a quick
takeoff or hole shot.
You also trim in to make a series of tight turns at speed. This holds the stern better, preventing
it from sliding sideways.
Those Are the Brakes
Trimming in can help you slow down quickly as well. Rapidly dropping the lower unit
creates drag to slow the boat and also drops the boat off the optimal running angle, further
reducing speed. It’s the only “brakes” on a boat until you drop off plane.
Once your boat is at a speed of under five miles
per hour, the reverse gear becomes your brake.
Just like reversing the engines on a landing jet,
kicking the gears into reverse quickly pulls the
boat to a halt. This doesn’t work at higher
speeds—the prop simply ventilates or grabs air and
makes a lot of noise, but the boat keeps on going.
Softening the Waves
Look Out!
Never shift the motor
into reverse at high speed—it
can damage the gears.
Because it drops the bow, trimming in brings the sharp forward vee of the keel (the
“entry”) into first contact with the waves, splitting them and softening the ride.
All vee and semi-vee boats have a sharper bottom at the bow than they do near the stern.
If you get this sharp vee into the water, the ride is improved, like a knife going through
the water instead of a rounded spoon slapping down on the surface. This slows the boat a
bit, but it greatly improves passenger comfort.
Trimming down too much at high speed may cause the boat to “bow steer,” meaning the
bow digs in while the transom slides around on turns. You can tell if you’ve trimmed
down too far because the steering starts to feel heavy and the white water rushing out the
sides of the boat moves forward beyond amidships. Trimming down too much also lowers
freeboard at the bow, decreasing the distance from the water to the gunnels, which you
want to avoid in high waves.
77