Sailing polars
- Thread starter mjmercer19248
- Start date
'Published' polars are theoretical at best. You will find useful information more reliably by actually sailing the boat. Of course all depends on the state of the rigging and the structural condition of the boat. It's one thing to say it should sail at 32 degrees off the wind in weather like such-and-such; when, even for our boats, too much spare fuel in one locker can upset the trim enough that those theoretical numbers are entirely worthless.
Sail that boat, holding identical courses relative to varying conditions and vice versa. Make a chart of your own findings and use that as your reference (updating regularly as you discover more). It's the same thing I did with my 12-speed Bianchi in 1991: made a chart with all the gear ratios on it so I knew the REAL sequence in which to shift and then tested my speeds in gears using RPM in various conditions. Wouldn't matter what someone else used. You need to know what your boat does.
BTW my top speed on that bike with the 53x11 or 53x12 gear combination was 33 or 34 MPH on the flat, though I hit 37 MPH going down the Manhawkin bridge onto Long Beach Island (after a 53-mile, 3-hr solo run).
Not sure what the bike's makers would have published or recommended; not sure I cared either.
Sail that boat, holding identical courses relative to varying conditions and vice versa. Make a chart of your own findings and use that as your reference (updating regularly as you discover more). It's the same thing I did with my 12-speed Bianchi in 1991: made a chart with all the gear ratios on it so I knew the REAL sequence in which to shift and then tested my speeds in gears using RPM in various conditions. Wouldn't matter what someone else used. You need to know what your boat does.
BTW my top speed on that bike with the 53x11 or 53x12 gear combination was 33 or 34 MPH on the flat, though I hit 37 MPH going down the Manhawkin bridge onto Long Beach Island (after a 53-mile, 3-hr solo run).
Not sure what the bike's makers would have published or recommended; not sure I cared either.