Hi all,
I have a 2001 wing keel standard rig with new North dacron sails, roller furling 135% headsail and performance package. I am an occasional racer, and frequently feel I should be able to hold pace with other boats of equal or worse handicap, but somehow they slowly pull away. Very frustrating.
Last season, I began to notice that when my genoa tell tails were streaming straight back I was not getting maximum speed. Instead, letting out several inches of genoa sheet, to the point where the tell tails were flopping all about, seemed to give me more speed. At first, I was highly skeptical of this, given that wind and sea state are very variable, I figured it was just in my head. But, over the course of several races, I carefully observed the GPS speed (we sail on a lake so no current), and confirmed that in fact we could gain a few tenths of a knot by easing the sheets past anything that seemed reasonable.
So, what is going on? Is my rig out of tune? I have a loos gauge, and run 30 on the uppers and 22 on the lowers. This seems to be consistent with various on-line recommendations, but there are a lot of opinions on this it seems. Anybody here have a definitive answer?
Trying to get some improvements before this season's races begin.
Thanks,
Brett
I have a 2001 wing keel standard rig with new North dacron sails, roller furling 135% headsail and performance package. I am an occasional racer, and frequently feel I should be able to hold pace with other boats of equal or worse handicap, but somehow they slowly pull away. Very frustrating.
Last season, I began to notice that when my genoa tell tails were streaming straight back I was not getting maximum speed. Instead, letting out several inches of genoa sheet, to the point where the tell tails were flopping all about, seemed to give me more speed. At first, I was highly skeptical of this, given that wind and sea state are very variable, I figured it was just in my head. But, over the course of several races, I carefully observed the GPS speed (we sail on a lake so no current), and confirmed that in fact we could gain a few tenths of a knot by easing the sheets past anything that seemed reasonable.
So, what is going on? Is my rig out of tune? I have a loos gauge, and run 30 on the uppers and 22 on the lowers. This seems to be consistent with various on-line recommendations, but there are a lot of opinions on this it seems. Anybody here have a definitive answer?
Trying to get some improvements before this season's races begin.
Thanks,
Brett