Re: M_Boats: For the fun of racing fast fans on the list
Hi, Lots of questions ! *L* Let's see…first, I sail by the seat of my pants, not numbers so I may not be able to quantify most things. I started to learn how to get Miss T really sailing fast by racing her. I was LL to LL (Last across the starting Line to last across the finish line) for a long while. During that time I asked (more like harassed) Jerry to give up some of his racing techniques, and he finally did. One of the tips he gave was to sail Miss T with weather helm. Apparently there is a spot where the faired rudder also provides lift. I extended the forestay a bit and the boat did sail a little better to weather, so I extended the forestay more, and by trial and error I slowly got the boat sailing faster and faster. I do have an adjustable backstay; I wouldn't leave home without it. The rudder was a long one, and meticulously faired to a tear drop shape. (Note, at the Cruiser Challenge V I was sailing with a beautiful new rudder that Bob Eeg generously gave me when he saw the sad shape the original rudder was in. The new rudder work worked beautifully at the race, but it is about 3 inches shorter that the old one.) The next big improvement came when I bought a new main - the old one was over a decade old and blown out. I ordered a "racing main" from Kerns sails. It was a "stock" size, but with the upper two battens full and a large roach. What a difference! I could point much higher and still go very fast. I was now in the thick of it with Catalina 22s at the windward mark. Downwind was another story. I used the new "Racing" main at the Cruiser Challenge and it worked like a champ. Speed finally increased downwind when I got religion about boat trim. The stern needs to be just out of the water to get full speed. This means that I position my crew way up forward to get the boat sailing flat. The second major improvement in downwind speed came when I got a whisker pole and could get the 150 pulling all the time. The last and most difficult adjustment came when I finally got some control over my genetic impulse to always fiddle with the lines, and painfully I learned patience..let the adjustment have time to work in very light airs. It all paid off in pure joy when Miss T started closing with other boats downwind! I set the boat up quite differently for cruising. Since I am of Irish descent I am subject to the three-step Irish tanning process ( 1: burn 2: peel) 3: repeat) and they burned off some skin cancer cells on my arm so I needed a bimini for shade, which some friends of mine graciously built. I don't have it up when racing, but NEED it when cruising. It is tall enough to provide standing head room, and that means the boom had to be raised. The "cruising" main I got from Elliott-Pattison, it is a "standard cut" main with 4 partial battens and no roach. Later, I had a pie shaped wedge cut out of the foot of the cruising main so the end of the boom was lifted and clears the bimini. It is slower this way but I may last a bit longer by staying in the shade. In summary, I learned what makes Miss T go fast by trial and error. I read the theories about "neutral" rudder being faster, and they seem to make sense, but I know from experience that putting in a lot of rake in the mast sure made a significant increase in speed. The next time I drop the mast, (Miss T stays at a slip on a lake nearby) I'll measure the forestay and post it. The interaction of the jib and main is important. I sail by the tell tales on both sails, and I can "see" what a fast sail shape is, but not sure I could describe it, much less measure it. The traveler runs fully across the foot well at the bottom of the cockpit, and generally in light winds, (less than 10 K), I pull the traveler all the way to windward, and adjust main sheet tension to get the sails pulling right. In very strong winds (over 18 Ks), I let the traveler loose to run to the end of the track. This came out a lot longer than I thought. Sorry
Hi John That was fun to read...! Its good to hear from experienced sailors in the real world. Thanks Bob Eeg Saltm17@aol.com wrote:
Hi,
Lots of questions ! *L* Let's see…first, I sail by the seat of my pants, not numbers so I may not be able to quantify most things. I started to learn how to get Miss T really sailing fast by racing her. I was LL to LL (Last across the starting Line to last across the finish line) for a long while. During that time I asked (more like harassed) Jerry to give up some of his racing techniques, and he finally did. One of the tips he gave was to sail Miss T with weather helm. Apparently there is a spot where the faired rudder also provides lift. I extended the forestay a bit and the boat did sail a little better to weather, so I extended the forestay more, and by trial and error I slowly got the boat sailing faster and faster. I do have an adjustable backstay; I wouldn't leave home without it. The rudder was a long one, and meticulously faired to a tear drop shape. (Note, at the Cruiser Challenge V I was sailing with a beautiful new rudder that Bob Eeg generously gave me when he saw the sad shape the original rudder was in. The new rudder work worked beautifully at the race, but it is about 3 inches shorter that the old one.)
The next big improvement came when I bought a new main - the old one was over a decade old and blown out. I ordered a "racing main" from Kerns sails. It was a "stock" size, but with the upper two battens full and a large roach. What a difference! I could point much higher and still go very fast. I was now in the thick of it with Catalina 22s at the windward mark. Downwind was another story. I used the new "Racing" main at the Cruiser Challenge and it worked like a champ.
Speed finally increased downwind when I got religion about boat trim. The stern needs to be just out of the water to get full speed. This means that I position my crew way up forward to get the boat sailing flat. The second major improvement in downwind speed came when I got a whisker pole and could get the 150 pulling all the time. The last and most difficult adjustment came when I finally got some control over my genetic impulse to always fiddle with the lines, and painfully I learned patience..let the adjustment have time to work in very light airs. It all paid off in pure joy when Miss T started closing with other boats downwind!
I set the boat up quite differently for cruising. Since I am of Irish descent I am subject to the three-step Irish tanning process ( 1: burn 2: peel) 3: repeat) and they burned off some skin cancer cells on my arm so I needed a bimini for shade, which some friends of mine graciously built. I don't have it up when racing, but NEED it when cruising. It is tall enough to provide standing head room, and that means the boom had to be raised. The "cruising" main I got from Elliott-Pattison, it is a "standard cut" main with 4 partial battens and no roach. Later, I had a pie shaped wedge cut out of the foot of the cruising main so the end of the boom was lifted and clears the bimini. It is slower this way but I may last a bit longer by staying in the shade.
In summary, I learned what makes Miss T go fast by trial and error. I read the theories about "neutral" rudder being faster, and they seem to make sense, but I know from experience that putting in a lot of rake in the mast sure made a significant increase in speed. The next time I drop the mast, (Miss T stays at a slip on a lake nearby) I'll measure the forestay and post it.
The interaction of the jib and main is important. I sail by the tell tales on both sails, and I can "see" what a fast sail shape is, but not sure I could describe it, much less measure it. The traveler runs fully across the foot well at the bottom of the cockpit, and generally in light winds, (less than 10 K), I pull the traveler all the way to windward, and adjust main sheet tension to get the sails pulling right. In very strong winds (over 18 Ks), I let the traveler loose to run to the end of the track.
This came out a lot longer than I thought. Sorry
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Saltm17＠aol.com