Crusing speed

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Dossing
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:11 pm

Crusing speed

Post by Dossing »

Ohoj all,

Just out of curiosity and to get a feeling of if my sails are close to "done" (or if I'm a lousy sailer), what speeds are you able to get out your boat? With head and main going upwind (close to the wind as possible) in 5-6 m/s almost flat water, no current, I get around 5.5 knot's (over the ground). Another question: Can I go closer to the wind using both head and main compared to only setting the head? In more heavy wind conditions I tend to only set the head because of the comfort, but I just wonder if this makes a different in the attack angel to the wind.

Thanks for any input.

cheers
Frank
Grumpy
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:10 am

Re: Crusing speed

Post by Grumpy »

About the boat's speed. I have old sails and I've noticed that while beating I have the boat's speed (in knots) proximately equally to the wind speed (in m/s).
That is, in 3 m/s I'd have ~3 kts, in 6 m/s - about 6 kts. So do you.

IMHO, while beating the main's purpose basically is for sail balance. But if you have a baggy main and a huge overlapping genoa, then you might have excessing heel and a weather helm. That's true in my case anyway. It's a better idea to flatten and reef the main, than douse it completely I believe.

When in fresh wind you use a headsail only, do you have a lee helm?
Dossing
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:11 pm

Re: Crusing speed

Post by Dossing »

Doing family crusing we often just use the head-sail when wind is above 7-8 m/S. That is the big genoa. Mostly for comfort, not for speed. I haven't actually yet tried to reef the main, but need to figure out how to do that.

Thanks for the input.
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