Personal speed record

[Brian M H23]

Well, I went out for an extended daysail yesterday (total of about 40 miles) and was just messing with my sail trim etc while the "admiral" steered and managed to make 7.1 knots out on lake ontario (mesaured by GPS, no notable current)! new 135 (with the cdi finally set so that the "foil" lines up with the sail) and 22 yr old, no battens blown out mainsail. I changed my traveler to a continuous loop a.la. Peter Suah and I find myself far more willing to use it. Heres a question though - are those of us with swing keels speed-limited compared to the wing keels? in the "up" position, the foil shape is all wrong and the CE is much farther back, but in the "down" position is there a lot of added drag? (compared to not having it at all)..I know most of the boats produced don't have one...is the any benefit to removing it?

 

[Wanderer138]

Congrats Brian

Glad to hear you are reaping the rewards of your traveler modification. I see you also discovered another H23 secret, i.e., you can usually go faster if you concentrate more on trimming the mainsail than on steering.Conventional wisdom around here is that swing-keel H23's have superior upwind performance thanks to the deeper draft. The boat sails closer to the wind and apparently the extra wetted surface doesn't create that much extra drag (I'm told it has something to do with the overall aspect ratio of the keel). Off the wind with the swing-keel up, you have the same wetted surface as the wing-keeled boats. Make the most of it.PeterH23 "Raven"

 

[mmsailor]

swing keel 23

A few years ago when the H23 nationals were held at Indian Lake there was a fellow with your set up .If I am not mistaken he won the regatta .If not he was second . I think his name was Ken and was from around Toldeo Ohio if memory serves me . Thats a great set up and not a lot of them were made . Fair winds . Mike B

 

[Bill]

It was First

The guy's name was Ken Alexander. I know because I bought the boat from Ken in the spring of 2004. The speed factor may depend more on the bottom condition / preparation than on configuration. BUT on the other hand it might smooth out the water flow on the bottom and lower the drag of the keel. I know the board down helps a bunch going to windward in a decent wind. A couple of years ago, I was playing with a J22, board down competitive, up I was toast.