Weather helm - part1

[Alan]

Nice N Easy

Let me try help.At 10 kts true on a beat my target VMG is 4.348 kts. If I foot off I will gain speed but sail a greater distance and my VMG will go down. If I sail higher the boat will sail slower but a shorter distance and my VMG will go down. Both will take longer to sail the to the mark. By sailing at my target I make the "best" combination of distance and speed.Does this help?

 

[T37 Phil]

Welcome levity

I can just picture myself trying for that last thousandth of a knot. Ok crew, face forward, bend over, on my mark, pffffffft...

 

[Don Guillette]

Alan - So Don:

Alan: Yes, it did turn out I was full of crap but I never realized by how much. Doing the prep stuff before the proceedure I lost 5 lbs!!!!!!

 

[sailaway78]

My point was

Alan, my point was maybe not stated properly. You of course are correct in the speed/distance. But the point I was trying to make was this. On most boats I have been on, pinching up by say, five degrees, or even less, cuts the boat speed way down. On my 28, you don't need to look at an instrument, pinching it up a couple of degrees too much, you will feel the boat slow down. Not being a racer, I just head up till I hit the point where the boat noticably slows, then fall off 5 degrees and hopefully I can hold that. I also might add, that contrary to what many post, I have found very few if any helmsman, who can maintain a course with less than 5 degrees of error. I am not talking about a short lake stint, where you have a landmark to sail to, but offshore on a dark night, when you have to rely on the compass. But once again, I don't race, and I know that is a totally different ballgame.

 

[T37 Phil]

Drained feeling

Don - that's just water weight. You're still stuffed mainly with sail trim knowledge and advice!

 

[Alan]

Nice N Easy

As for steering, I think you may have the wrong idea about that. Sure if you are motoring you can pick a heading or landmark and steer by it. When sailing however that is not at all how you steer. If by some miracle the wind velocity and direction were never changing you might be able to get away with that. However in the real world this is rarely the case. As a result the helmsman must be ever mindful of lulls, puffs, wind shifts and waves. All of these require the helm to 'drive' the boat correctly. It is no simple matter to drive a boat correctly. I have found it takes enormous concentration and fortitude to get it right.I have spent many hours learning to drive my bus correctly. As a result we have won more than our share of races against boats that were bigger and faster. I find that driving is the most difficult job on the boat due to need for concentration the entire time you are at the helm. And any time the helm makes an error, the entire team looses.Your procedure for finding the sweet spot and sailing to it sounds pretty close and should serve you well. In a race environment where you are trying to capitalize on every moment, close just doesn't get it done.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Distance speed ratios

For me it is all about the extra distance verses the extra speed. If the ratio of new distance / old distance is greater than the new speed / old speed then I know that it will take me longer to cover the new longer distance. If the new speed/old speed ratio is greater then I know I am going to cover the new distance faster and I'll cover the new distance faster than the old distance. I use a pilot E6B flight computer which makes it very easy to tell if you are getting better or worse since you know that by turning it clock wise the speed ratios are increasing and counter clock wise the speed ratios are decreasing. Then it is just a tactical decision of when to tack and which tack to be on so you are in a favorable position to take advantage of the predicted shift in the wind.