Having you ever seen the photos of racing boats beating to the windward? They are generally “rail
down” with heeling constantly around or above 30 degrees. It’s not for show, but necessary to
“force” the boat into the windward. Having said that, beating is hard on the rig and
crew. We usually carry less sails and sail a few degrees lower aiming for more comfort, not speed.
But once in a while, we flattened the sails as much as we could,
trimmed as hard as we could to sail in high VMG mode using manufacture polar diagram as reference.
Halyard and outhaul were tightened to the max due to the age of the main. No traveler. Boom
was centered with mainsheet tight. The leech was closed with top batten parallel to the boom. The
sailing groove was not wide. We were at the high end of the groove with windward telltales lifted
and dancing periodically during feathering. Jib lead track is not installed. Instead, a barber
hauler is installed. It can move in and out board, up and down by adjustment, but not fore and aft.
True wind is around 15 knot, the main is on the 1st reef with completely unfurled jib.
I trimmed the jib as hard as I could. The plan is to flatten jib more, but the barber hauler
is not capable of moving aft. So the sheet was pulling down the leech, not the foot. The heeling
was mostly around 28 to 30 degrees, the helm was neutral with little to no weather helm. I
think the twin rudder setup helped with one rudder always in the water even in the excessive heeling.
Apparent wind angle is stable around 28 degree and speed average 7 knot ranging from 6.8 to 7.4.
Instrument had trouble displaying true wind angle and speed. So I did my own calculation. True wind
was around 14 knots and 42 degrees. We were quite happy with both pointing and speed. At one point,
boat heeled to 32, 33 degrees that was a little too much. I eased the jib an inch without touching
the main, instantly the boat heeled less to around 25 degree, but pointed 5 degrees lower
with apparent wind shifting from 28 to 33 degrees. The speed was barely increased. Keeping the jib
and luff entry flat definitely helps to point higher. Here is the side by side comparison.
After tacking to the port tack, I decided not to trim the jib as hard to keep the
heeling under 25 degrees, as expected both pointing and speed decreased.
Ok, that’s all for today’s video. I’ll see you in the next one. Coming
up next are fantastic windsurfers in the Bay Area.