The range of sailing skill levels found in offshore sailors is broad. At any given anchorage around the world you can find couples who have learned to sail in their 40s and are off on their first journey moored next to circumnavigators who cut their teeth racing offshore as teenagers.

Regardless of predispositions, passagemaking is rarely a race, with easygoing days the norm. Paying attention to some tried and true sail trimming techniques, can save wear and tear on the Dacron workhorses and crew, all while carrying the boat smoothly through most conditions.

Some of the following tips may be second nature. If not, a little reminder will put them into your memory bank and help make long passages a little smootherNORTH SAILS

HALYARD TENSION

If you wanted to tune every adjustment offered for each sail when the wind pipes up or drops off, you would be spending most of your time offshore doing just that. For the passagemaker, with sails set day in and day out, one priority in the daily checklist should be to monitor halyard tensions.

If a halyard is left drum tight after a blow, showing vertical wrinkles, and remains that way even after the storm abates, the sail will naturally become stretched and begin to lose its designed shape. Granted, when there are dramatic changes in wind speed, sails are often shortened or changed, giving opportunities for adjustment.

Keeping halyards only as tight as they need to be to prevent horizontal wrinkles (too loose) or vertical wrinkles (too tight) and keep the draft of the sail in a forward, more forgiving position, will add life to the material and keep the sails driving properly.

The halyard tension on jibs and genoas that are furled is often neglected and should be checked along with main, staysail and mizzen halyard tensions.

DO THE TWIST (JIB LEADS)

Generally, setting your leads for a little bit of twist in your sail will make for an easily driven boat, which translates into less strain on the helmsperson or autopilot.

Using the sailmakers trim line, or the short red tape that angles forward a couple of inches off the clew, is a perfect starting point. Whether you are reaching or beating, using your leads to set the jib sheet angle just a degree or two lower (aiming lower on the sail) will allow the top of the sail to spill off just slightly, leaving power in the bottom half of the sail while allowing the top to still drive the boat and still be forgiving when the wind fluctuates.

DOUBLE SHEETS FOR PROPER TRIM ANGLE

To make adjusting a forward sail's trimming angle easier, use two sheets. Attach a second sheet to the clew to be led to another block on the rail and back to a secondary winch. That sheet can be tensioned to gradually pull the clew outboard as the wind backs or taken up completely by that sheet if needed. This setup also distributes the load of the sail, reducing the chance of line failure, and it can be used to change out a sheet that is showing signs of chafe.

PREVENTATIVE TRIMMING

Set your mainsail leech using a preventer from close reaching to downwind sailing. Just like with the jib, the main should have its top section twisting off slightly unless going dead downwind (here pull the preventer on tighter, since a twisted sail at this point would push the boat too much to weather).

Adjust the preventer for balance, easing it to reduce helm pressure and tightening for more power. Preventers can be as simple as a line led from a reinforced padeye on the boom to a block on the side deck and back to a winch. There should be some form of shock absorber here , like the rubber ones used for dock and mooring lines. Not only does the preventer help control the sail's twist, it also takes strain off the gooseneck that is induced by the boom vang. In lighter winds, use either a solid boom vang or boom topping lift to take pressure off the leach and allow for better air flow across the sail.