Racing downwind; no spinnaker, no pole

[Daydream believer]

do you mean the clew or the tack?

Sorry. Tack
Only took me 8 months to work it out

 

[Birdseye]

You really just need to experiment and see what works for you, get out there and do some timed runs in consistent conditions, experiment with trim and the angle and see how she performs.

I realise the above is a non answer, but unless someone here has the same boat and sail plan then all we can do is give general advice, you'll learn a lot more playing around and seeing what works yourself.

I agree with this but to make it more scientific, find yourself a channel mark in open water, put it into your plotter and then try various sail settings at various down wind angles whilst noting the VMG to the waypoint on each.

Effectively you will be able to build a part of your own polar. Much more likely to be real world because your boat will have all sorts of non standard effects on speed from weight to sail condition etc.

You will aslo be able to check wehter and in what conditions, it is best to sail goosewinged as close as you can get to the mark finally going off onto a tack to the mark.

There are in my experience several key factors to racing success and knowing how your particular boat responds in different situations is a key one. I am currently making a complete horror show of racing my new boat for exactly that reason ( together with a lack of talent!)

 

[Birdseye]

Sorry. Tack
Only took me 8 months to work it out

No worry! I have just replied to an old post because as usual I only read the first post, none of the replies and didnt look at the date. Too busy wanting to give an opinion! :-(

Mind you it is an interesting topic for a "coarse racer" like myself.