| Author | Message | ||
     Mike Bergmann Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
I do pretty much what everyone else is doing. I have a full-length top batten which touches the backstay on a tack in light air, but the only problem is that I have to renew the tell-tale periodically. I have not had a hangup in 5 seasons on this main. Like Scott, I tack slowly in light (and even medium) air, and bring the traveler up after the boat is almost close-hauled on the new tack. I ask my crew NOT to try to pop the genoa in without winching in light air. I prefer to leave the genoa outside the lifelines while the boat powers up. In the light east coast winds I sail in about 1/2 the time, the normal genoa trim is touching the forward stanchion anyway, so leaving it outside for power does not actually cost much on pointing angle. My own feeling on a reduced main to get 3 sec/mi is the same - a 3 sec. handicap is worth very little, and even a loss of 0.05 knots around the course costs more. Remember, for a 10-mile race at an average boat speed of 5 knots, you will be out there for 2 hours. The handicap will give you 30 seconds. A loss of 0.05 knots will cost you 0.1 nm at the finish, and it will take you 72 second to sail that distance. The moral of the story is: for every 3 sec/mi gained on handicap, you cannot lose more than 0.02 knots, or it is not worth it. It is virtually impossible to measure a speed difference that small unless you have two identical boats racing together. |
