Beneteau 323 Performance Tips

[hfxns]

I am considering racing my B323 this summer (cruising class, we bought the boat last March), and I am wondering if anybody has any performance tips, equipment upgrades, which would help me get the maximum performance out of my boat. Specifically has anyone upgraded to a adjustable split back-stay? Is this possible? How much? Suggestions for rig tuning?

Any help we be greatly appreciated.

 

[DougM]

323 tuning

Neil Pryde Sails has some B323 tuning tips on their website...

Let me preface this a bit by saying that my 323 has the classic main rather than the furling version, so i'm working with a little bit more sail area.

I've found that it pays to have a Loos gauge. The backstays have to be quite tight to keep the forestay . That causes some rake in the mast, but it doesn't adversely affect the helm.

Initially, tension the upper and lower shrouds equally and snug. I usually run a measuring tape up on the main halyard so that I can measure side to side while I'm tensioning to be sure that the mast is straight. Then, go sailing on some flat water, and start taking any slack out of the leeward shrouds on each tack.

The boat likes to sail flat. So that means once you have yourself set up going to weather, you will want to play the traveller in puffs. I don't use much vang tension unless it gets really breezy. I try to use the main halyard to flatten the forward sections of the main, since I don't have a downhaul. A little bit of outhaul tension helps as the breeze builds as well. Because the boat does like to sail flat, it makes sense to reef sooner rather than later. That includes rolling in the jib to its respective reef points.

I've marked my jib tracks so that I can set the cars for the wind conditions I'm sailng in. That takes a little experimentation. The further back the cars are set, the flatter the jib. Over sheeting it will obviously backwind the main.

 

[hfxns]

Thanks Doug

Doug, I will have to revisit the Neil Pryde tuning guide before this summer, I haven't looked at it for a year, but I have it somewhere on my hard drive. We have classic main also, I couldn't imagine forgoing the 15% of sail area that goes with the furling main. The stack pack makes life easy, its almost as easy as furling.

This will be the first year that I will have the opportunity to tune the rig, as my broker did it last year. I will make sure that I give the mast enough rake, to give us an opportunity to do well upwind. I have found with our current setup there is only the slightest weather helm, so I don't think adding rake would really be an issue.

I have sailed my whole life, but I have never heard of a "loose gauge"? What do you mean?

She definitely likes to be sailed flat, and my family (Dad, Brother-in law and I) are all big guys (over six feet and over 200) so we should be able to keep in flat.

I didn't play with the vang much this past year, but I find the traveller very user friendly, and it is great in puffs. I find that I need to reef at around 14 knots, because she is a bit tender, but we had her out in 18-25 knots of wind couple of times and found she handled well with one reef up until about 22 knots.

I remember the Neil Pryde tuning guide mentioned that marking the genoa car at multiple points is useful for quick changes to sail shape and when reducing sail area. I will have to do that this summer. What did you use to mark the spots on the car?

We have found that we have gotten pretty close to the theoretical velocity values that were outlined in the polar diagram that I downloaded from the Beneteau website.

Do you have the 4'9" shoal draft or the 5'11" optional? How do you find your pointing ability?

We are still getting used to the boat, and I share it with my Dad and my brother-in-law, so I still feel that I need time / experience in different conditions to get the setup right. Looking at the split back-stay, I can't quite figure out how a back-stay adjuster would be setup - and it may be more hassle than needed. It also may limit access to the transom, which would be a pain. I plan to mostly day sail, do 2 or 3 long weekend cruises and race 4-6 times a year. I also crew on another friend's race boat on Wednesday nights so I don't need to race her every week - and don't really want the wear and tear of semi-weekly racing.

Have you thought about adding a geneker or an asymmetric? My Dad is really keen on getting a Geneker, for light air, as the 116% genoa isn't very big on those lazy 5-8 knot kind of days. It might also be useful for racing, depending on class rules. I plan to start in cruising class (no spinnakers).

I really appreciate your input, and I will play with the setup this spring and pass on any feedback.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[hfxns]

Re: Thanks Doug

When you talk about "loose gauge" are you talking about level of stay tension?

 

[Ron20324]

When you talk about "loose gauge" are you talking about level of stay tension?

That's "Loos", a rig tensioning guage. It measures tension of the wire rigging on a numerical guage. You would need the model "90F" or the "Pro PT2" to have the 3/16 & 1/4 inch wire capability the 323's have. $80/120 at West, page 1170. I have one, and it works decently.

Ch, Sc , Doug, and Da on the 323 web site have racing in their veins. The first three may have access to another 8 323 owners who are into PHRF numbers and all that serious stuff for racing. Once the 323 site is in full bloom I'll email the 8 again about joining in.

 

[hfxns]

Loos Guage

Having trouble responding to you, this is my 3rd attempt, I don't know what is wrong.

I grew up in a cruising family, and rig tuning and racing were never a priority. This past year was really my first year racing (I joined my neighbours crew onboard a Tartan Thomas 35), but I really loved it.

I will definitely buy a loos guage, and I have been actively reading different sources on tuning, racing trim, and racing tactics.

I am really looking forward to the new website, how is it coming along Ron. Is there anything I can help with. I am looking forward to getting to know the guys you mentioned. Still have 3 feet of snow on the ground, but I am really looking forward to the sailing season. Still 3 months away though. When do you usually get the boat in the water - or do you ever take it out for the winter?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Ron20324]

Dan, were you responding to that question I emailed to you? No problems here with email that I know of.... I have seen the next (final?) version of the site. It looks like what we wanted. It should be up in a few days if the webcaptain can ever stop shoveling snow. After the site is up we can figure out if there's something else we'd like. I don't know if/how more than one person can program it at the same time?

For the Loos guage you would want to know the rig tension in pounds, which I guess Beneteau would have to tell you. It's not in the owners manual that I could find. There is a listing of boat specs on the new site, and the right tension would be a good one to add. Of course if you have an adjustable back stay, it all changes anyway.

I have 5 more email addresses of racers that Doug sent me that I do not feel privy to giving out, but maybe he can, off-forum. When the site is fully up, I'll again invite them to join.

 

[Ron20324]

And remember to look at the Knowledgebase for the Pryde trimming guides.

 

[hfxns]

Yes, hopefully the link is still OK, I noticed that several of the links that I placed there were broken. I e-mailed the administrator of beneteauowners.com and asked to remove them - but I haven't heard back. I can re-load them once they remove them.

 

[DougM]

to hfxns. I receieved an email that you were attempting to contact me, I couldn't link up. Please try again.

 

[hfxns]

Bob, I can't remember now what I was e-mailing you about. It was a supplementary question about the stuff we were talking about in this post about performance. I did, by the way, go back and read a bunch of your archived questions / posts from 2005 & 2006 where you were getting a lot of good answers to performance related questions. They were helpful.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers,

Dan