Racing the 450
We were previous racers that bought a 460 for cruising. Although we probably won't race the boat, I have a few inputs that may help. 1) Don't try to sail as close to the wind as possible with a boat as heavy as a 450. I believe the boat goes much faster and make better velocity made good (VMG) to weather if you don't pinch the boat. 2) Reef the mainsail as soon as the boat starts heeling more than 20 degrees. If the boat is overpowered, it heels too much and makes a lot of leeway. You think your pointing OK but your actual ground track will be poor. Get a good start, be at the proper end of the line and tack with the wind shifts. Be sure there's at least a 10+ degree header before you tack onto the favored tack because you'll lose a lot of ground tacking due to the weight of the 450. Do you have a PHRF rating for the 450. Also - do you have a roller furling main or the full batten version. I think to have much success you probably need a full batten - full roach main and a featering or folding prop. But you'll still have fun if you don't have those items. As for the spinnaker, for true downwind legs, you need to tack downwind and stay in phase with the wind shifts, i.e as the true wind moves to lower magnetic headings you want to be on Starboard and then jibe to port when the wind clocks to higher magnetic headings. In addition, you want to sail want to sail higher angles relative to the wind as the wind speed gets lighter and sail deeper as the wind velocity increases. If you can find polars for the boat, you can determine the optimum angle for any condition to maximize you downwind VMG. If you have the wind direction instruments on your boat they may provide upwind and downwind VMG readouts which may help. Try sailing higher and lower angles and determine what angle maximizes VMG downwind. Keep notes for future reference.
