I have always seen on TV the sailing races with the boats leaning heavily on their sides, but I always see local yatch reducing sail area and using only the genoas as soon as the wind start blowing just a bit, where are the limits, in the crew size and experience, the sails resistance, or the cruising yatch like the hunter 42 would not stand that kind of sailing.....
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Leaning is called Heeling
It is different kind of sailing with different kind of boats, but the same physics are at work. There are lots of good book out on this topic, and there are lots of different opinions on this. Here are some very basic thoughts. For most cruising boats and most sailing conditions, when the wind picks up, you probably won’t want to sail under the jib alone. The main will help steady the boat. When the wind picks up, you shorten your sails, both main and jib, as appropriate. In fact, if you are heeling too much, it could get a bit uncomfortable for some sailors. You can reduce your sails, thus reducing your angle of heel, and you can often go just as fast as before, but more comfortable for the crew on board. As for your 42, sure you can handle that kind of sailing, but how comfortable do you want your crew to be? The 42 is a nice solid boat. In most cases, for most boats, you boat can handle bad weather or strong wind much better than the crew can.
It is different kind of sailing with different kind of boats, but the same physics are at work. There are lots of good book out on this topic, and there are lots of different opinions on this. Here are some very basic thoughts. For most cruising boats and most sailing conditions, when the wind picks up, you probably won’t want to sail under the jib alone. The main will help steady the boat. When the wind picks up, you shorten your sails, both main and jib, as appropriate. In fact, if you are heeling too much, it could get a bit uncomfortable for some sailors. You can reduce your sails, thus reducing your angle of heel, and you can often go just as fast as before, but more comfortable for the crew on board. As for your 42, sure you can handle that kind of sailing, but how comfortable do you want your crew to be? The 42 is a nice solid boat. In most cases, for most boats, you boat can handle bad weather or strong wind much better than the crew can.
not so much heel
We had a Hunter 335 with the tall rig and found that once the it started to go past 15-17 degrees the weather helm startede and we would slow down. By knocking a reef into and keep it a t a max of 15-17 we would actually increase speed. If you are fighting the boat the balance is off and needs to be adjusted. Besides the admiral like it upright.
We had a Hunter 335 with the tall rig and found that once the it started to go past 15-17 degrees the weather helm startede and we would slow down. By knocking a reef into and keep it a t a max of 15-17 we would actually increase speed. If you are fighting the boat the balance is off and needs to be adjusted. Besides the admiral like it upright.
Got my 37.5's rail wet
I have gotten the rail of our 37.5 wet (in the water) many times. It is fun, but the crew were not very comfortable. Your 42 will do just fine.
I have gotten the rail of our 37.5 wet (in the water) many times. It is fun, but the crew were not very comfortable. Your 42 will do just fine.
I think you must be mistaken about the heel of sailboat racing you've seen on TV. The optimum heel angle for most boats is about 20 degrees. Less than that and crew needs to move to the leeward rail to induce more heel, more heel and the crew needs to move to the weather rail to reduce heel. At 20 degrees you will realize the best boat performance. Your boat can handle much more heel than you can dish out, but it isn't the best sailing.
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