Down wind with B&R rig

[Bill Fullaway]

Last couple of races the winds gave us perfect windward leward races. (not a favorite of my boat) I have a 28.5 with a B&R rig. The winds were strong (15 plus) and I had to use the 110 to make it up the windward legs. Since I can not find polar diagrams I am looking for some seasoned results and rules that people are using for going down wind with a B&R rig. My VMG sems to be better when I come up 45 degrees and not go wing on wing and pole out the jib and jibe my way to the mark. I currently have hank on sails and a sail change is costly. Looking forward to some feedback

 

[Bill]

Tack Downwind

I find that tacking downwind works better than a whisker pole. Haad to do it yesterday.

 

[Mark]

Gybe down wind

Gybing down wind is the way to go. Your speed is a lot faster than going dead down wind. That is exactly the theory behind the asemetrical spinakers. They will gybe down wind 3 and 4 times. While the non-B

 

[Gail Moorehead]

GPS

My inexpensive Garmin 128 GPS calculates VMG. I realize that would not help in an actual buoy race but would be valuable in long races and could be used in practice to confirm your techniques.

 

[Eric Lorgus]

VMG and SOG aren't the same

It is my understanding that VMG (at least, as calculated by my Magellan Color Trak) needs to have a reference waypoint, because it's the net speed over ground you're making towards a mark (your straight-line distance to the mark divided by elapsed time to reach it).SOG is an instantaneous readout of your speed over ground, and will vary from your knotmeter because of current and/or wave height.So, if you're tacking upwind to a mark, your SOG could be 6 kts but your VMG might only be 4 or 5 kts, reflecting the fact you're not able to sail directly to your mark.In assessing boat speed on different points of sail, I always use my knotmeter to judge effect. This is the only instrument that tells you how fast the boat is moving through the water, which is what I concentrate on.