setting the proper rake isn't just for the racers!
I don't know what the proper numbers are, BUT, the amount of rake affects the handling and the balance of the boat a great deal.if your cruising, why have all the extra work trying to sail a boat that has way too much weather helm. the factory specs are mearly a starting point to set up the correct rake for your boat. on my 1979 30 the specs called for 9" of rake which was way too much and made the boat a bear to sail with all the excesive weather helm.I finally set my rake at 2" and had a very small amount of weather helm, almost neutral. they handle much better and are a lot faster if balanced correctly. think of weather helm as putting the brakes on if you need excessive rudder angle to keep the boat in its groove. with about 7 to 10 knots of apparent wind close hauled you should'nt need more than 5deg of rudder to keep her in the groove. moving the rake forward reduces weather helm , aft increases it. what you are really doing with the rake is moving the center of effort of the sail plan relative to the center of lateral resistance of the boat forward or back. it is almost unheard of to have factory specs call for lee helm. some manuf. will give very good specs if they are a bona fide racer such as a J-24. they have done lots of testing on the water, in varying conditions to find the optimum settings for different conditions.
