Sailing with dodger/bimini?

[Pete]

I never had a dodger or bimini before, but this year I will have both. Leaving aside the issues of visibility, comfort and ease of putting them up and down, will either affect performance in light or heavy wind conditions? For example, will they provide extra drag to slow me down in light wind conditions or make control difficult in heavier winds? If it matters, the boat is a C 320.

 

[John K Kudera]

Unless you are racing

there is no reason to concern yourself except maybe in a storm situation. We keep our dodger up in all conditions, use the bimini on hot sunny days.

 

[Rich Stidger]

OK up to 50Kts anyway

We have a h40.5 with both a dodger and a bimini. Both are in place 24/7 the entire season.I wouldn't be without either of them. The dodger and bimini overlap and provide dry entrance in rain and the bimini gives great protection from the sun while sailing.If I am suffering from a performance hit due to the canvas, I am ignorant of it. I don't race, so I really don't care. The comfort and features of the canvas are the most important thing to me.RichWe were hit with a 10 minute squall peaking at 50 kt winds with no damage. However, I have removed both of these when a hurricane threatened.Rich

 

[Brian Ranniger]

Racing

We had a guy, Ron Chandler, if he's reading this, who won a 60 mile race here on the Salt Lake. He has a C-30 with dodger and Bimini. Winds were 30-50 I believe. He beat a Schock 35 and a Santana 35. 12 started, 3 finished. He probably got a boost on the down wind leg from the Dodger/Bimini chute effect!