Wing on Wing or Reach?

[Scott T-Bird]

Another fun day racing on Barnegat Bay on Saturday (but too few boats). This time, wind was about 12 to 15 knots from the southeast (mostly east). Nice cool ocean breeze on a hot day! The race crew set another Olympic course with a middle windward start & finish. The first lap was around the triangle and the second lap was windward-leeward and then the short windward finish. We're matching up very closely with a Morgan 30 and a Bristol 32 in each of our races, where we seem to be close to each other throughout the race. Thunderbird has PHRF 188 vs 212 for the Morgan and 218 for the Bristol, so we give up time for corrected finish. The length of the windward-leeward leg is 1 mile (one direction) so the entire course was about 4.4 miles to do 2 laps.

We were leading these 2 boats after the reaching legs, but the Morgan caught up to us and just inched us out at the windward mark turning to the leeward leg. We were right on their heels rounding the mark, leaving it to port side. Both of us gybed the boom over, but left our genoas out to sail wing-on-wing pretty much dead downwind aiming straight toward the leeward mark, one mile ahead. I think that I had them covered at first so I pulled even with them pretty quickly but then couldn't gain any more. We sailed pretty much dead even for 1/2 mile and we were only about 50 feet apart! The Bristol did the same thing only they followed us about 50 to 75 yards behind. The Bristol may have gained a little bit but it was hard to tell.

I was mindful that we needed to put the Morgan behind us if we were going to have a chance to finish ahead of them on corrected time. I was thinking that we would need to put the boat on a reach if we were going to gain on boat speed, but I was worried that if I tried that and failed, we would lose it right there. I figured that I could not reach toward my port side because the Morgan was in the way (not knowing whom was the leeward-stand on boat in this circumstance). After 3/4 of a mile and we were still dead even, I tried to drift to my starboard side and then change the genoa over to the same side as the main. I was hoping that with enough distance apart, we could then reach toward the mark with enough boat speed to leave the Morgan behind us. We tried it and it failed. The genoa just flopped around in the wind shadow behind the main and we ended up trailing the Morgan around the mark, right on their heels again.

With the benefit of hindsight, I'm wondering if we should have just left our sails on the port side after rounding the windward mark and bearing off on a reach, rather than chasing the Morgan wing-on-wing. The wind was enough to fill the sails going downwind, but there was a ton of power boat traffic all over the bay and the water was pretty churned up. I know that a reach would have been a faster point of sail, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving them alone on a direct line to the leeward mark. I also thought that I would gain on them if I just did a direct dual.

 

[jssailem]

Tactical decisions require information.

What is missing is you lack the knowledge of your boat speed on a reach vs Dead Down Wind and VMG (Velocity made good, or "VMG", in sailing and specifically yacht racing, is the speed of a sailboat in the direction of its destination.). With out this data making the decision over a 1 mile run is very difficult. You can guess and try it in a race, but do it immediately as a race tactic. Then record the results. Or you can go out on the water like the Olympic racing teams do and actually run the course with varying tactics to see which works the best with the boat and the various conditions.

 

[Stu Jackson]

With the benefit of hindsight, I'm wondering...

Ain't that always the case?
It sounds like you're continuing to have fun out there.
AFIK, that's all that counts.
Remember, you're still a beginner at this, right?
Give it some time, and John's right, go out and practice. Do the course a few times. The wind won't always be the same, but I'll bet you could find a day with similar winds (forget the direction) and do a STD on W-W vs reaching down and see for yourself and your boat. Forget the other guy for the time being.
Good luck.

 

[Meriachee]

A reasonable approach to "other boats" is that if you're chasing, you're behind. Race your own race. You'll discover real fast what works and what doesn't.

 

[jon hansen]

a general rule of thumb for displacement boats is that you only sail in a run if the wind is strong enough to push you at hull speed. if on a run you are not at hull speed you will want to start deep reaching and tacking to win

 

[Scott T-Bird]

A reasonable approach to "other boats" is that if you're chasing, you're behind. Race your own race. You'll discover real fast what works and what doesn't.

Yes, I've got that on my brain from previous discussions! In this case, I felt that I was in a good position to take on both boats in a direct dual and simply beat them on boat speed. However, it has occurred to me that the Bristol behind us may have been covering us with dirty air. There is a surprise twist to the ending of this story.

 

[JRacer]

The VMG question is very relevant but in the absence of good polars on the boat and good instruments to tell you what's actually happening, it's hard to have/use that data. Possible that you could have made more good toward the mark by sailing a longer course at a higher speed but no definitive way to know without the data stated or in hindsight at the finish line or observation as you separate and come back together.
If the wind was not oscillating and presuming that you were not being blanketed by one or both then IMO you don't generally gain much by jibing downwind. Having said that, I tend to "heat up the boat" and sail above dead downwind when ever possible and use the shifts and puffs to allow me to come back to the center (rumbline). Old expression, "Up in the lulls, down in the puffs". Wind lulls, steer up to pick up some boat speed (heat it up). Wind puffs, use the puff to steer back down (back toward center) until the boat starts to slow, then head back up a little to get some speed back. Can do the same with a following sea - ride down the face of the wave to get some speed then steer back up as the boat slows down. Of course, when driving "deep" you have to watch out for the unintentional jibe so be careful out there.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

a general rule of thumb for displacement boats is that you only sail in a run if the wind is strong enough to push you at hull speed. if on a run you are not at hull speed you will want to start deep reaching and tacking to win

Really good point because we were not at hull speed or even within a knot of hull speed.

 

[JRacer]

Here is an article by Dave Dellenbaugh that you might want to look at related to wind shadows:
http://www.sailingbreezes.com/Sailing_Breezes_Current/Articles/July04/dell.htm

I suspect, based on your description, that both boats were in some way giving you some disturbed air. Regards the boat(s) directly behind you or off to your rear quarters, look at their windex and see where it's pointing. If it's pointing at you, they got you! And the boat on your beam., without a good separation from them, IMO their sail plan is disturbing the air all around them and that means you are getting some disturbance from them. And, as you moved forward, their shadow became more relevant to blocking the wind from your sails.

And, if you want to take the wind of the boat ahead, get the downwind end of your windex pointed at their sailplan.
My 2 cents.

 

[Ward H]

There is a surprise twist to the ending of this story.

I'm waiting!

 

[markwbird]

DDW is slow. Always heat it up by sailing a little higher. The added speed more than compensates for the added distance. Also, if there is a boat trailing it will get you out of their dirty air. I assume that you were using a whisker pole. When sailing wing on wing I always hook the lazy sheet under a foward cleat and pull it tight to pull the pole down (down haul). It makes a big difference. Also weight forward, vang on and don’t forget to have your crew watch for puffs.

 

[JRacer]

Agree, DDW wing on wing is slow unless it's howling and the boat won't go much faster in any direction. Only reason to go DDW wing on wing is if the course is square (DDW) to the bottom mark and the wind isn't oscillating i.e. you can't benefit by heading up and jibing DW, IOW no choice. Agree with Mark on keeping the pole restrained so it can't float up and lose sail shape.

 

[jeepbluetj]

Anybody mention acquiring a spinnaker?

Polars. Or just go out on a non-race day in typical conditions - set a waypoint at a leeward "mark", and watch vmg on a plotter (or openCPN, etc) Max out for vmg.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Here's the 3 Amigos … we seem to follow each other around the course. The Morgan is in the lead, the Bristol is crossing under the Morgan and over T-Bird bringing up the rear. This was our race with the poor sail shape, except our genoa was out in these photos.

Here we are looking better!

 

[Ward H]

Saturday's race was lots of fun! Weather was good, a lack of wind threatened to delay the start but as we headed out of Forked River, where the skipper meeting is held, the wind filled in nicely.
@Scott T-Bird skippered the cleanest race we had yet. It was a good day on the water.

 

[Jackdaw]

No need for polars. In 12-15 knots, most JAM cruisers are going to be fastest to a downwind mark by pointing straight at it and sailing wing-on-wing. Not much of a tactical challenge, but thats your race. Your only chance to create separation splitting is on the upwinds.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

@Ward H , if you didn't look at the facebook page, the results will be a little bit of a surprise. As we were dueling with the Morgan toward the leeward mark, the Bristol was blanketing us and probably slowly gaining. When we rounded the mark we all stayed on port tack, but the Morgan seemed to have trouble with their line. They stayed lower and we were able to take advantage by sailing windward of them at higher speed. We covered them and had a much better angle. When we tacked to starboard, we were well ahead. In the meantime, the Bristol (Fraid Knot) had clear air and stayed on port tack much farther out than both us and the Morgan. As it turned out we made another tack to make the finish line on port tack at the starboard end of the line. The Morgan made another mistake, I think, by over-standing the layline. The Bristol came charging at the line on starboard tack. We finished a little over one minute ahead of Fraid Knot but we gave them over 2 minutes in corrected time. So Fraid Knot finished 3rd, we were 4th and the Morgan was 5th in corrected time.

@Ward H , I didn't realize it until I saw the results … we're actually giving time to Escapade. That doesn't make much sense. We gave them about 20 seconds in this race. They have Escapade with a higher PHRF number than us.

What is making this so much fun for us is that even though the fleet is small so far, there always seems to be 2 other boats that we are sailing against and we are finding all kinds of tactical and technical challenges throughout the race. It is not like we are sailing in a vacuum. The interaction with these boats has been fun and a great learning experience!

 

[Ward H]

I hadn't realized we gave Fraid Knot so much time, I thought it was something like 30 seconds and we had them.

What is making this so much fun for us is that even though the fleet is small so far, there always seems to be 2 other boats that we are sailing against and we are finding all kinds of tactical challenges throughout the race. It is not like we are sailing in a vacuum. The interaction with these boats has been fun and a great learning experience!

Yes, it has.

 

[Jackdaw]

One other way to look at the reach vs DDW WoW game. Again in your 12 knots true.

Your hull speed is a bit over 6 knots. Pointing at the mark, your VMG matches that. Bearing off 35 true (but only 25 to apparent wind) your VMG drops a full knot. This how much you have to make more in boatspeed for this to pay.

If you are within a knot of your hull (or max) speed when going DDW, do not reach! You cannot make up the distance with added speed.

 

[JRacer]

But, DO separate from the competition behind and beside as they will screw with your wind!