Now my question is what do I do when the winds are a lot lighter - do I still sail angles and S turns or do I go more dead downwind?
Now my question is what do I do when the winds are a lot lighter - do I still sail angles and S turns or do I go more dead downwind?
My experience has been that sailing dead downwind is slow in any conditions. In light air I think you want to concentrate on sailing fast angles; either by-the-lee or very broad reaching. The idea is to keep air moving smoothly over your sail. If you sail dead downwind you will generate an area of stagnant flow behind the sail, with vortices shedding off both sides which is slower than sailing at an angle. You can still alternate angles between high and low to take advantage of puffs, shifts, wind shadows, etc.
Can someone define "sailing to the lee". I am new to the term although I may be doing this instinctively.
Thanks so much for the diagram. So, the S-Turn would mean that you alternate between sailing straight downwind and "sailing to the lee" (with the wind coming from your back). Is this correct?Here's a diagram:
By the way, I just returned to Texas after visiting my brother in Scituate, MA. What a great place to sail.Thanks so much for the diagram. So, the S-Turn would mean that you alternate between sailing straight downwind and "sailing to the lee" (with the wind coming from your back). Is this correct?
I agree sailing bye the lee really works, but is it fatser than a broad reach on the other gybe?
In a VMG sense, yes it will be faster. In an outright-speed-look-out-here-I-come-no-direction-necessary sense, no I don't think it is.I agree sailing bye the lee really works, but is it fatser than a broad reach on the other gybe?
Steer straight by more boat heel - kiting!
Sorry Merrily my brief previous post was made filling a few free seconds and I hadn't seen the other (better) post by abenn or read pirouette's fully. Kiting (I'm not sure of the spelling) is the modern coaches term for heeling downwind to put the COE (sails centre of effort) over the CLR (hulls centre of lateral resistance). I know it’s only the terminology you are questioning and it’s all new to me but I think that's the gist of it.What do you mean by "kiting"?
pirouette said:this seems to be wrong as I must be creating drag with the rudder
I don't know if I can articulate this very well but here goes -- when I am sailing by the lee I find that I am pushing the tiller to windward so that the rudder feels as though it has ?weather helm? in order to keep the boat headed in the direction I want to go. This seems to be wrong as I must be creating drag with the rudder. i.e. the sail is on port, the telltales are streaming towards the mast, the wind is coming from the port side, the starboard gunwall is heeled down nearly in the water and I am pushing the tiller to the port side to maintain my direction downwind.
What should I be doing instead, gybe and go onto a broad reach?
vang is too loose