Best VMG
Feathering and sailing the wrong angles will make you miss the point/reef/mark. It pays to know the speed your boat sails when making the best progress to windward. To illustrate the point: Wind 10; Boat speed 5.0; VMG 4.0 Wind 12; Boat speed 5.25; VMG 4.2 Wind 8; Boat speed 4.75; VMG 3.8 You are sailing along in 10 knots of wind, the boat is sailing at 5.0 knots and the VMG is 4.0 knots. A gust of 12 knots hits what do you do? At 12 knots, the boat should be sailing at 5.25 knots. If you head up and feather, the boat slows and the VMG is lower, what you should do is ease the sheets and get the boat up to 5.25 knots to increase your VMG. When the wind drops from 12 to 8, you are sailing at 5.25 knots. Now is the time to feather up, gain some distance to weather as the sails luff a bit and you hit the new 4.75 knot target. It is counter intuitive, but the proper response to gusts is usually holding course and accelerating the boat rather than heading up and feathering. The proper response to lulls is not falling off to keep the sails full, but to head up as the boat slows to target speed, then coming back down to your heading. An average breeze has 10-15% variation gusts and lulls every 45-60 seconds. A gusty breeze has 20+% variation gusts and lulls. If you sail an entire weather leg doing the right things and your competition heads up in gusts and down in lulls you will have maximized the distance made good to weather and have several boat lengths on the other boat.
Feathering and sailing the wrong angles will make you miss the point/reef/mark. It pays to know the speed your boat sails when making the best progress to windward. To illustrate the point: Wind 10; Boat speed 5.0; VMG 4.0 Wind 12; Boat speed 5.25; VMG 4.2 Wind 8; Boat speed 4.75; VMG 3.8 You are sailing along in 10 knots of wind, the boat is sailing at 5.0 knots and the VMG is 4.0 knots. A gust of 12 knots hits what do you do? At 12 knots, the boat should be sailing at 5.25 knots. If you head up and feather, the boat slows and the VMG is lower, what you should do is ease the sheets and get the boat up to 5.25 knots to increase your VMG. When the wind drops from 12 to 8, you are sailing at 5.25 knots. Now is the time to feather up, gain some distance to weather as the sails luff a bit and you hit the new 4.75 knot target. It is counter intuitive, but the proper response to gusts is usually holding course and accelerating the boat rather than heading up and feathering. The proper response to lulls is not falling off to keep the sails full, but to head up as the boat slows to target speed, then coming back down to your heading. An average breeze has 10-15% variation gusts and lulls every 45-60 seconds. A gusty breeze has 20+% variation gusts and lulls. If you sail an entire weather leg doing the right things and your competition heads up in gusts and down in lulls you will have maximized the distance made good to weather and have several boat lengths on the other boat.
