How much heel are you comfortable with?
- Thread starter PotomacDaysailer
- Start date
You mentioned beanbags once before and I’ve been meaning to try it. Makes sense if you think about iti carry bean bag chairs on the alden. takes all the lean out of the heel. i can store them in the long overhangs. the racers that crewed for me on the mac races poo hoo ed them at first. then i noticed them fighting over then during the race,i've often wondered why more sailors do not use them. we use them allot both day sailing and cruising. sitting on one on the high side, facing forward, reaching in high winds and big seas is spectacular.
Once you reach hull speed on a keelboat more heel is just overstressing the rig, sails, and hull. Rule of thumb is 20 degrees give or take based on design. Granted you can exceed hull speed surfing on waves. Beating up your boat heeling excessively comes with a cost.
Zero is best. Heel is heat. Wasted energy.
You cant avoid heat on motor, but you can be more efficient with the heat usef.
You cant avoid heat on motor, but you can be more efficient with the heat usef.
We like 15° and feel it's the sweet spot for Evelyn. It's enough to give guests the feel of heeling without scaring the crap out of most of them. We'll go up to 30° for a short time if we have good balance and don't have to fight the helm for it.
so i read the article were buddy says consistend heel at that boats sweet spot of heel. i'd did not read steer in a straight line in that article. every racer knows, "down in a puff, up in a lull". staying in a puff longer and then crossing the lull quicker keeps you in stronger winds for a longer time during a race. i read that easing the sail as the puff hits then retriming to keep the heel steady is fast. just saying
as a boat heels more it has more weather helm, applying more rudder is slowing the boat. by keeping the heel steady you are not putting on the brakes by using more rudder. as a boat heels more buddy says that the rig changes it's position in the wind sheer. need to keep the rig steady in it's presentation to the wind.
I thought that was a technique most applicable to downwind legs, not so much going close hauled when heel angle is a factor. Certainly when going downwind it's faster to go down in a puff to take advantage of faster apparent wind. Going upwind turning down in a puff seems like a recipe for excessive healing and weather helm.
The article agrees with that approach for dinghies and light boats, but adds that "On a keelboat in puffy conditions, where extra hiking may not be so effective and you can’t play the sails as quickly as on a dinghy, steer—carefully and with finesse—to maintain a steady angle of heel until the sails can be readjusted." That's the approach I've always taken on keelboats in a puff - basically let the weather helm turn the boat up gently while giving just enough rudder input to keep it controlled, simultaneously easing the mainsheet.
i bought the Ascow through buddy. he built the boat. i sail the Ascow as he instructs. the scow, also a laser, flat bottomed boats need heel in light air to lessen wetted surface. his comment about dinghies should not be confused to include scows.
as a puff it's the rig the apparent goes forward. driving up more puts the wind even farther forward. that would be slow. crossing the puff quickly is slow.
also, the article is not written by buddy, now was it.
also, the article is not written by buddy, now was it.
who is the guy in the article"s photo? it's labeled as being buddy melges. this is the guy that i know as buddy melges.
https://www.melges.com/?p=pages/bio/buddy-melges
https://www.melges.com/?p=pages/bio/buddy-melges
I think I disagree? Higher true wind speed in the puff will make the wind vector larger relative to the boat speed vector, so apparent wind goes back. (At least neglecting any localized wind shift)
Agree the picture is probably mis-captioned. Picture could be Peter Isler, as it says the article was an excerpt from his book. Might not be Melges but he's no slouch.
i was incorrect , you are right. i misspoke. your technique is correct. i'm a bethwaite fan. he says what you say. i was confused .
.... and what dave said about that it works to drive straight is correct. i was incorrect with what i wrote there as well.