Down wind gybing

[David Murcott]

I just raced my '84 H31 for the first time last night. I have read here that it is faster to gybe down wind instead of running. I tried that last night, but found that running wing on wing, even without a pole was faster VMG. The '84 still has a masthead rig, so the genoa is alot bigger. If I continue to race I will invest in a whisker pole. Does anyone have any comments?

 

[Bill O'Donovan]

Depends

If the wind is over 15 mph, you probably will do just as well wing-on-wing. But it's more dangerous, since you can broach badly. Typically, gybing is easier, safer, faster in winds under 15. To find out more, enter "gybing" and "wing-on-wing" and "spinnaker" in the forum word search to pull up archived articles that will pinpoint your interest.

 

[RIK]

Gybing angles on Hunter 31

I haven't raced non spin since 93 but with my Hunter 28.5 onthe Long Island Sound in a competitive fleet (City Island)I found that in any sort of wind the optimimum VMG wastypically DDW (dead downwind). This applies to non-spin with awhisker pole only. With a chute gybing angles are the way to goin anything but moderate to heavy air where going deep againis optimal. Also make sure you get your main way out (with the aft swept shrouds put on enough vang to keep the top from spilling and you should do well.