Jib techniques for H-16?

Just looking for advice and confirmation on a few things.
As I've mentioned before, I'm new to beach cats but been a leadmine sailor since '09.

1. When do I want the jib cars set to the outboard positions?
It would seem to me, that I want them inboard when sailing close hauled in a decent breeze, and outboard when reaching/running.
Yes? No?

2. I was sailing in increasingly blustery conditions. I defaulted to the middle hole on the jib clew for the sheets. As the breeze piped up, should I have moved down to the lower holes to flatten the jib?

Just an FYI- My boat is an '81 and the hardware is hm... shall we say, "original"? I don't have "shift on the fly" jib cars. They're pin-stop.
I have those little, Aussie twin-blocks on the jib.

Thanks

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Is it sailing time yet?!?!?

As far as the Jib Cars, you want them inboard for upwind, and out for downwind. (but not necessarily all the way out)

The farther out you put them the lower the pressure on the jib, and the lower the chance to pitch pole.

If I am just reaching I put the traveller maybe 2-4 holes from the fully inboard position...

The middle hole in the jib clew is what I use as default. If that does not allow you to get enough tension on the jib, you can try putting the shackle through the second hole from the back and the pin through the middle hole - that helps a get a little more tension.

djshad0w has it basically right. Inboard for upwind, outboard for downwind - you want the slot between the main and jib to be as even as possible (same width, top to bottom, or at least constantly increasing width). In heavy air upwind, you want to travel out to relieve some of the back pressure on the main, which will help keep the mast from counter-rotating - a very bad thing if it happens when everything is loaded up.

The clew/sheet attachment position affects the twist of the jib going upwind. Bottom hole = flatter jib, more twist. Top hole = fuller jib, less twist. The best way to determine if it's set right is to have three tell-tales about 1/3 back in the jib in the middle three panels, like this:


Sheet the jib in all the way and slowly head up and watch to see which windward tell-tale starts flipping up ("breaks") first. If the top one breaks first, then the sheet is attached too low. If the bottom one breaks first, then the sheet is attached too high. If they all break at roughly the same time, then it's just right.

Nice. Thanks, guys.

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Is it sailing time yet?!?!?

For others that also have the older pin/stop style jib traveler, when do you think about changing it in anticipation of an upcoming course change? I had my first taste of racing this past weekend (a blast) and found that as crew I definitely wasn't anticipating the fact that the traveler position was going to have to change. Even in day sailing it seems like it would be good to have things set up before hand.

Let's say you're approaching a downwind marker on starboard tack (mostly traveled out), and you'll be gybing around it to change course and head back upwind (close hauled). Once you're headed back upwind (let's say on port tack now), you'll want that starboard traveler car to be brought back in. Do you do this before you gybe (in anticipation) or just as a part of finishing the course change?

I guess the added wrinkle with the old style system is that the crew member is going to have to reach across to do this, which in very light or very heavy air is probably going to either cost you some speed or be a little bit hairy.

And I suppose if you're solo you just end up doing it all yourself! Thoughts?

In general, if you are going downwind, make your setting changes before you round the leeward mark. When you make that change is a judgement call. Make it too soon and you slow a little earlier than necessary during the last bit of your downwind leg. Make it too late and you will have a poor mark rounding and might not be able to get it set for the upwind (very bad). Better too early than too late. The lazy traveler car (the one not currently in use) can be set for the upwind as soon as you know you are not going to use it for downwind anymore.

If you are going upwind, wait to change your settings until after you have rounded the windward mark.

Everything I'm learning about sailing my new passion ('88 H16), I'm either learning by failure or reading here. If counter-rotating my mast is a "very bad thing", I want to avoid it. I am not fond of "very bad things" and prefer to avoid it before I learn the hard way. What is a counter-rotated mast and how do I avoid it? Logic dictates the the mast would be rotated away from the sail plane. How does this happen and what happens if ignored?

Masts will counter rotate for a few reasons.

1) You have the main travelled out to far and then sheet in. Don't ease the main past the footstraps when sailing to windward.
2) Too much rig tension. This is not usually the sole cause but will make the mast more prone to counter rotating from the other reasons.
3) Too much downhaul can make the mast want to counter rotate.
4) Jib sheet cars to close to centre. When it is blowing hard if you have the slot between main and jib too closed wind will hit the jib and backwind the main causing the mast to counter rotate. This can happen very fast if you get a big puff....

Might be some other things I have not thought of....

The mast should rotated in a way that the sail track is pointed away from you. Below is a photo of about the worst possible thing to do to a mast.

Oh and if you leave the mast like this you will likely put a permanent bend in it or snap it.....

Ah, that makes a lot of sense as the mast is bending in an axis it is not designed to bend. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Much appreciated.