What do you call "light", "medium" and "heavy" airs

D

Deimos

Member
I was reading Dick Tillman's Laser Sailing book and came across a bit where he talks about medium breeze being 8 to 12 knots - which surprised me because I thought 13 knots would be a bit low to be staring to be called heavy breeze. He does use Light=0 to 8Kn, Medium=8 to 16Kn and HEavy =above 16Kn elsewhere but made me wonder what others consider light, medium and heavy winds (ignoring the sea state.


Ian
 
In a physically demanding boat like a Laser, I prefer to characterize it based on the body position when sailing upwind.

Light = sitting in the boat
Medium = sitting on the rail
Heavy = fully hiked out

Obviously these will change based on the weight of the sailor, but so should the various sail trim settings, etc.
 
I like your example there sailchris. That would mean for me it would be:

Light = 0-12
Medium = 13-25
High = 26+

I weigh 240 lbs though...
 
sailchris said:
In a physically demanding boat like a Laser, I prefer to characterize it based on the body position when sailing upwind.

Light = sitting in the boat
Medium = sitting on the rail
Heavy = fully hiked out

Obviously these will change based on the weight of the sailor, but so should the various sail trim settings, etc.
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I'm kind of the same way, but would characterize as this:

Light - sitting in front of the centerboard trunk
Medium - Just starting to hike
Heavy - Tips of the toes under the strap, hyper-extended back, and still can't sail flat
 
without dumping the main? Don't think so, I weight more than that and i'm dumping power in a lot less than 20kts...
 
I break things said:
you guys must be fat or out of shape or both because i weigh 145 lbs and i can keep a full rig flat in 20k
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Yes, but you would probably have the outhaul, cunningham, and vang cranked on as tight as they can go and would be pinching like crazy.

I would finally be fully powered up.
 
I agree it's probably more useful to define the terms relative to the sailor's weight rather than in absolute numbers as the main reason you're asking is to decide when to power up or depower the rig and that's obviously not going to be the same answer for everyone.
Ben Tan (whose book I highly recommend) when talking about settings defines the terms as follows:
Very light wind: Your body weight is over the centreline of the boat
Light wind: Buttocks on the side deck
Medium wind: Just managing to hike out (ie buttocks over side but torso upright)
Strong wind: Hiking almost flat out or flat out, and comfortably keeping the boat flat
Overpowering wind: Difficulty keeping the boat flat, despite hiking flat out.

I think the distinction between a strong wind and an overpowering wind is useful too: An experienced sailor's strong wind might be a novice's overpowering wind.
 
I break things said:
you guys must be fat or out of shape or both because i weigh 145 lbs and i can keep a full rig flat in 20k
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Light - until fully hiking
Medium - up to 18-20 knots?
Heavy - when people are flipping downwind and the boom is always out from the edge of the deck.

PS IBT
Last year's world champ, Michael Blackburn, put the minimum competitive weight (here, where it blows a bit) at 172lbs and 5'9" or so. That's for a fit sailor (and as Michael earned his PhD with a study in Laser hiking, he knows true fitness).

Michael went down to 154lb for the Olympics and he got totally hammered at the last worlds in about 20 knots. If the defending world champ, a full time sailor and fitness expert, couldn't keep it flat and fast in 20 knots at 154lb, it's hard to see how anyone could at 145lb.
 
I know of two wind strengths:

the wind I can sail in

and the wind I can't sail in ...yet

Perhaps another way of drawing lines between strengths is where you start to flatten the sail for light winds instead of making it fuller and where you atttempt to dump 70% of the wind in order to stay upright instead of making the sail flatter.
 
you guys must be fat or out of shape or both because i weigh 145 lbs and i can keep a full rig flat in 20k
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Whatever!
The fittest sailor I know at that kind of weight can keep it flat up to about 10 knots, by which time he's fully hiked and depowering. In over 15, he's out the backdoor compared to the fleet. I'm around 210, and in much over 20, I'm having to depower quite a bit. Oh, and I can hike!
 
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