Beneteau 21:7

[Colin Brown]

Hi, new to this info stream , so advice please on the best angle of heel when beating upwind in my B21. With its wide stern and twin rudders , should it be sailed flat as possible or at an angle of heel to lift a portion of the stern?
Light winds, I am happy with , slight heel and bow down- now F 2 and above....

 

[Minerva]

Presumably it should be sailed like a dinghy - flat is fast! That would be dependent on having some weight on the rail though.

I bet polars will be readily available to give you target boat speeds

 

[Colin Brown]

Thank you for your reply. The polars for the B21 are available on line but do not make any reference to angles of heel when sailing. I agree of course that bolt upright is correct for dinghies, but a boat with twin rudders etc I am unsure.
All advice welcome!!

 

[prestomg27]

If it is like a sonata then sail it flat. Use the mainsail like an accelerator and luff it into wind slightly if overpowered in gusts.

 

[flaming]

With the caveat that I haven't sailed a 2.7, but own another twin ruddered, fat bottomed boat...

The main difference between our boats is that we have chines, where you don't. The difference that will make will be a little less penalty for not heeling in light airs, and a little less gain for heeling when the wind pipes up.
But in general...
Light airs, heel the boat, quite a bit. Seems to be fast to be heeled beyond when you'd think.
Medium airs, let the boat heel, get the windward rudder mostly if not entirely out of the water. But you're doing this by accepting more power from the rig, rather than not having your weight out if that makes sense....
Heavy airs, allow it to heel, but not excessively.

Without the chine you won't have quite the natural point to sit on that we do, but I suspect that even so there will be a heel angle that just feels right.

 

[dunedin]

Get an accurate GPS and go for some test sails, adjusting angle of heel and recording the numbers?

 

[flaming]

Get an accurate GPS and go for some test sails, adjusting angle of heel and recording the numbers?

Log is much better for this. It's a tricky thing to do though, as it depends on how you create the heel. It needs to be with crew weight rather than changing trim settings in order to be valid if that makes sense.

 

[SteveA]

With the caveat that I haven't sailed a 2.7, but own another twin ruddered, fat bottomed boat...

The main difference between our boats is that we have chines, where you don't. The difference that will make will be a little less penalty for not heeling in light airs, and a little less gain for heeling when the wind pipes up.
But in general...
Light airs, heel the boat, quite a bit. Seems to be fast to be heeled beyond when you'd think.
Medium airs, let the boat heel, get the windward rudder mostly if not entirely out of the water. But you're doing this by accepting more power from the rig, rather than not having your weight out if that makes sense....
Heavy airs, allow it to heel, but not excessively.

Without the chine you won't have quite the natural point to sit on that we do, but I suspect that even so there will be a heel angle that just feels right.

I had a 21.7 for over 10years and generally agree with Flaming that they go quicker when heeled (a bit). We thought that about 10 degrees was about right. In winds of 15kts+ have the boat set up for quick reefing when going upwind (we did a lot of round the cans racing). The 21.7 has a powerful rig which can get over powered quite easily. A great fun boat!

 

[Bobc]

If you over-heel it, it will just slide sideways.