[C320-list] Dead down wind sailing?

[Stan]

Rod, you're not missing anything.  45 sec. in 1.7 miles is worth at least a
couple boat lengths, even if you're just crawing along!!  Also, depending on
the wave conditions sailing a 150 would be a lot easier than a 180.  Less
chance of screwing up.  Sailing at 120 is great for cruising but would take
special conditions to be effective racing.  I keep a cheat sheet close at
hand when racing.  The calculations include a number of speeds cross
referenced to many different sailing angles.  Both downwind and up wind.

Stan
"Our Little Amusement" #744

On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Rod Boer <rod.boer1 at verizon.net> wrote:

> The finish leg of last Friday night's race was dead down wind and that's
> the
> way we sailed it with a whisker pole.  Some folks on this list had
> previously recommended that even with a whisker pole the fastest way to get
> to a point dead downwind was to sail off at 120.  Maybe I misunderstood
> what
> they said but I was trying to build an argument to my mates regarding the
> 120 course using the C320 polar diagram and I couldn't really make a good
> case.  Sailing 120 doubles the distance and according to the polar diagram
> I
> will not be going anywhere near twice as fast.  There is a weak case for a
> 150 course in that we would have saved 45 sec on a 1.7 mile finish leg.
>
>
>
> I must be missing something.  Hopefully someone can shed some light on
> this.
>
>
>
>
> Rod Boer
>
> Odyssey, #688
>
>


-- 
Stan
"Our Little Amusement"
C320 #744
N 36 03' 15"
W 114 48' 16"
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