what does "tacking through 75-800" mean

[Fr J Hackett]

I believe that an Anderson 22 is a true 70-80 yacht.

On a bad day.

 

[flaming]

My boat is radically quick, but it won’t do 4kn at 45 deg true in 4kn of wind. I might do that at 100 true with the kite up.

Ignore the lower end of the polars. Lot of nonsense below about 7 knots.

look at the 10-12 knot zone for how the boat actually performs.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Ignore the lower end of the polars. Lot of nonsense below about 7 knots.

look at the 10-12 knot zone for how the boat actually performs.

The polars in post 11 are still way out. But high 5s in 10kn, sure.

 

[William_H]

The tacking angle ie difference between tacks on the magnetic compass is a really useful measure of boat performance. However it must be used in conjunction with water speed. (or GPS in no tide conditions). However often my boat performance is simply checked against another competitor. I race almost every Sunday afternoon and in summer in consistent 15knots wind with the last stretch a fairly narrow section of river (estuary) to finish line. My little 21ft trailer sailer (with a bottom very much shaped like a racing dinghy) (fractional; rig) performs really well for it's size. I have not checked recently but am confident total angle is way less than 90 degrees while maintaining around 4.6 knots. Can often beat larger boats. To me beating to windward is what sailing is all about though I enjoy a hard spinnaker run. ol'will

 

[Refueler]

Well I have beaten Carter 30s boat for boat in my Stella back in the 70s. Obviously it depended on the sailors but they were EAORA races & local port to port races. Different with the Carter 33 though.

mmmmm no disrepsect to you or results ... but the crew on the Carters must have been awful !!

I know Stella's well .. in fact nearly bought one many years ago - but wife wasn't keen on it ...

Sailed a few ...
As you know - Holman along with Tuckers took the original Folkboat design and used that as a base to create the Stella ... little more LOA and beam ... and funny enough - the name actually was inspired by the Stella Artois beer !!

 

[Snowgoose-1]

However often my boat performance is simply checked against another competitor.

I had a boat once that had a review in PBO of tacking through 70 degrees on the compass. I think the best I ever achieved was about 90 degrees in ideal conditions.

You have to hand it to the racing fleet, they shout a lot but they know how to get the best out of a sailing boat. .

I believe Smack racing regattas , before the fishing season started, also had a commercial application of how well the boat and crew were doing with the rest.

As a cruiser, when there are other boats about we are all racing aren't we ? . For me, I find that VMG is one of the best bits that have come from modern electrics.

 

[Refueler]

I have to get my B&G network working properly ... till lift out - it drove me nuts ...

On shore - I have left it till weather warms up again ...

Wind is not displaying properly - so this makes Tacking Display fail ...

 

[The Q]

Many boats of the Norfolk broads can do it, mostly because they're designed to race on the narrow rivers of the broads.
Racing a 40ft sailing cruiser up a 50ft wide river can be hard work , you never really finish a tack.
More commonly we race 20 to 25ft boats on a 200 ft wide river, tacking every few seconds,
Racing to windward on a river an extra degree or two upwind can gain a couple of hundred yards.

We carry what many consider to be way to much weather helm .
Most true local classes have 100% jibs for easy tacking.

My own mini keelboat of 16ft length, has a jib that could be set inline with the mast if there were reason to do so, it's position is set by the windward sheet. The clew is often set to just about a foot from straight ahead

But.. out on big open waters like the sea we'd be totally stuffed.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Learn to tack sweetly & you would not need the winch handle.

Learn to tack sweetly? How very droll. Our boat is 39’ with a masthead rig and a big overlapping genoa. Even with the best ‘fast in slow out’, the tack can still leave lots of winching to do.

And FWIW we tack through about 100 degrees with well cut sails. However how close we sail is based on sea state and comfort.

PS We spent six weeks on the boat last time we were on her November to a couple of weeks ago and didn’t tack once. We sailed a few hundred miles.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

How come the wind is always blowing directly from my proposed destination?

 

[dunedin]

How come the wind is always blowing directly from my proposed destination?

Because you chose the wrong destination ?

 

[Daydream believer]

How come the wind is always blowing directly from my proposed destination?

Because you goto all the wrong places
Edit-- Dunedin beat me to it

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Because you goto all the wrong places
Edit-- Dunedin beat me to it

Trouble is, it blows 25kn from the NNE for about a month, in the spring. If you’re Yarmouth based, you can either go out of the Hurst Narrows, and face the inevitable wind over tide return trip, or beat up the Solent. Oddly, the sea is worse on wind with, in that direction in the Solent. So thrashing upwind is in fact the lesser of the two evils. Later in the year it will be a south wester. Right on the nose for a trip to the west country. Or on the nose for a trip home from Cowes. I think maybe it’s not the destination, but the starting point that is wrong.

 

[Daydream believer]

Trouble is, it blows 25kn from the NNE for about a month, in the spring. If you’re Yarmouth based, you can either go out of the Hurst Narrows, and face the inevitable wind over tide return trip, or beat up the Solent. Oddly, the sea is worse on wind with, in that direction in the Solent. So thrashing upwind is in fact the lesser of the two evils. Later in the year it will be a south wester. Right on the nose for a trip to the west country. Or on the nose for a trip home from Cowes. I think maybe it’s not the destination, but the starting point that is wrong.

The sailing area, more like it

 

[Chiara’s slave]

The sailing area, more like it

On the other hand, just have a boat that sails to windward. There are a couple of 30 odd foot Hanses here too.

 

[johnphilip]

Crewed on a sigma ( 38- 40 ish) set up for racing. Wind indicator said 29 degrees apparent on both tacks, and we were flying.
Downside was that entire crew felt sick!

Edit: forgot "apparent"

Indeed I suspect that several of the claims of close winded performance are taking the apparent readings from wind indicators rather than change of compass heading let alone track which would be further downgraded by leeway.

 

[westernman]

Indeed I suspect that several of the claims of close winded performance are taking the apparent readings from wind indicators rather than change of compass heading let alone track which would be further downgraded by leeway.

COG only real way to know what is going on.

In some cases I can be pointing closer to the wind, but actually making a worse COG track (as well as going slower) than when I free off just a crack.

VMG from the electrickery tells the real tale.

 

[johnalison]

Taking measurements from one‘s track can be very depressing, especially if an adverse tide is involved. What matters in the long run is progress through the water or over the ground. At one time I had a 26’ Mystere which was lovely to sail though soon overtaken in performance by the Ecume- derived designs. We raced a lot in those days and I could never get the Mystere to point as closely as the rest of the fleet, but in spite of this we generally did well going to windward, the only exception being those odd legs where the mark could only just be reached in one close-haul. My current HR points well, but as much depends on the sea state as the wind. Judging from the VMG, our best course is defined by a very narrow gap that is closer than feels natural, but this requires so much concentration that it is only worth attempting when racing.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Taking measurements from one‘s track can be very depressing, especially if an adverse tide is involved. What matters in the long run is progress through the water or over the ground. At one time I had a 26’ Mystere which was lovely to sail though soon overtaken in performance by the Ecume- derived designs. We raced a lot in those days and I could never get the Mystere to point as closely as the rest of the fleet, but in spite of this we generally did well going to windward, the only exception being those odd legs where the mark could only just be reached in one close-haul. My current HR points well, but as much depends on the sea state as the wind. Judging from the VMG, our best course is defined by a very narrow gap that is closer than feels natural, but this requires so much concentration that it is only worth attempting when racing.

For Solent based sailors, we’re so often in wind aligned with the tide, one way or another, that COG means little for your windward performance, unless there’s a lee bow to be had. The effect of tide on the wind means often that the seat of your pants, and knowing the TWA your boat does best at is all you can go by. You may well have a really impressive vmg to the mark/waypoint, but then, you would, with 3.5kn of tide under you. Easy to be deceived that you’re acing it.

 

[wonkywinch]

The B&G kit I have cleverly shows the tack laylines adjusted for tide, and as CS says Solent sailors almost always having to beat close to the wind on the way out or their way home.

B&G call it "sail steer". Still getting the hang of it because in home waters it's just a toy as tacks are more often needed to avoid ships, Bramble, Lepe, shallows etc rather than working out best VMG.