andyatos
Well-Known Member
Here's some qualifiers...
- If you race, you can't do this
- Yes, if you can always keep the boat completely flat, your weather helm is minimal
Here's a short video of what I did.
I mainly did this for high wind, beam and broad reaching conditions. Here's my rambling thoughts on the subject.
In strong wind, beam and broad reaching conditions, I've found that if you sail with just a bit of heal, the centerboard will bite a bit more, lift a bit more of the boat out of the water and reduce your wetted surface drag. Which means more speed. We do this when windsurfing. It's called, "Riding the Fin".
Only problem is when you heal the Laser a bit, the shape of the hull wants to push the boat into wind. But you want to keep sailing straight so you steer to compensate. Now you're creating unnecessary drag with the rudder. So you sheet out a bit to flatten the boat. Which decreases your power. Which kind of defeats the purpose.
This Laser weather helm scenario reminds me of when I'd start feeling strange, extra weather helm on my 470 in strong wind, beam and broad reach conditions. Only to discover that the rudder, that's normally in a vertical position, had raked back a bit (like a Laser rudder) because the rope that holds it vertical had come loose. Re-set it to vertical and that 470 weather helm went away.
Anyway, the first day I sailed with my Laser rudder vertical like this was my recent Sunrise Sail... where I ended up on the water for 8 hours. I could feel a big difference. I also did this with a Sunfish over 30 years ago and it worked like gangbusters.
Again, just rambling...
- Andy
- If you race, you can't do this
- Yes, if you can always keep the boat completely flat, your weather helm is minimal
Here's a short video of what I did.
I mainly did this for high wind, beam and broad reaching conditions. Here's my rambling thoughts on the subject.
In strong wind, beam and broad reaching conditions, I've found that if you sail with just a bit of heal, the centerboard will bite a bit more, lift a bit more of the boat out of the water and reduce your wetted surface drag. Which means more speed. We do this when windsurfing. It's called, "Riding the Fin".
Only problem is when you heal the Laser a bit, the shape of the hull wants to push the boat into wind. But you want to keep sailing straight so you steer to compensate. Now you're creating unnecessary drag with the rudder. So you sheet out a bit to flatten the boat. Which decreases your power. Which kind of defeats the purpose.
This Laser weather helm scenario reminds me of when I'd start feeling strange, extra weather helm on my 470 in strong wind, beam and broad reach conditions. Only to discover that the rudder, that's normally in a vertical position, had raked back a bit (like a Laser rudder) because the rope that holds it vertical had come loose. Re-set it to vertical and that 470 weather helm went away.
Anyway, the first day I sailed with my Laser rudder vertical like this was my recent Sunrise Sail... where I ended up on the water for 8 hours. I could feel a big difference. I also did this with a Sunfish over 30 years ago and it worked like gangbusters.
Again, just rambling...
- Andy