How do I set the sails on a cruising sailboat for different wind conditions?

Use full sails with moderate depth in light winds, flatten them as the breeze builds, and reduce sail area before excessive heel makes steering hard. Set the sails for your course, then adjust their shape so the boat sails steadily with modest heel and light pressure on the helm.

Set sails for your course

Check wind direction and sea room, and make sure the halyards, sheets and reefing lines run freely. A snagged reefing line or an overtight mainsheet can stop the main reaching full hoist.

With a conventional slab-reefing mainsail, bring the bow towards the wind, support the boom with the topping lift, ease the mainsheet and kicker, then hoist and tension the halyard. Ease the topping lift once the sail supports the boom. For in-mast and in-boom furling, follow the system's specified boom angle and deployment procedure.

Keep hands clear of loaded blocks and winches. Keep everyone outside the boom's sweep when hoisting, trimming or changing course.

Once sailing, ease each sheet until the sail's leading edge starts to flutter, then pull it in just enough to stop the flutter. Repeat whenever you change course.

• Close-hauled: bring the sails towards the centreline, but stop short of sheeting them so tightly that the boat slows.
• Reaching: ease both sails as the wind moves towards the beam.
• Broad reaching: ease further, keeping the mainsail from pressing hard against the spreaders. Use the kicker to control the boom's rise.

Watch the headsail's windward and leeward telltales. Both should stream aft. If the windward one lifts, bear away slightly or ease the sheet; if the leeward one stalls, head up slightly or ease an oversheeted sail.

Light winds: keep airflow attached

In roughly 4 to 6 knots, or 2 to 3 m/s, use the full mainsail and a suitable genoa. Give the sails a gentle curve. Very slack, baggy sails can stall in weak airflow.

• Ease the mainsail outhaul slightly to give the lower sail some depth.
• Use enough halyard tension to remove major wrinkles without pulling the luff bar-tight.
• Keep mainsheet and kicker tension modest so the upper leech can open.
• Position the genoa car so the upper and lower luff telltales respond together as you slowly head towards the wind.

On a conventional keelboat, moving crew gently to leeward can establish about 10 to 15 degrees of heel and help the sails hold their shape. This does not apply to cruising multihulls. Avoid pinching: bear away a few degrees to build speed before trying to point higher.

Moderate winds: flatten the sails

As the breeze builds through roughly 7 to 15 knots, tighten the outhaul and increase halyard or Cunningham tension enough to keep the mainsail's deepest curve forward. Adjust one control at a time, checking boat speed, heel and steering pressure.