Ixneigh wrote:I'm forming the opinion from this thread that at least on the M, centerboard depth is more important then I thought when running. I used to pull it up all he way, then I started dropping it "a bit" but now I'll be trying to find the exact best position and I'll mark the line with a sharpie.
Ix
I probably never pull up the daggerboard - not because I don't think it's a good idea, but because I never think about it much unless I am in shallow water. Reports here is that 1/2 is good for running.
I think I must be a lousy sailor - I don't do a lot of the stuff I read about here.
I do not sit in the cockpit with the main-sheet in my hand - every-time I hear that I scratch my head, but I don't say anything because I don't want to look stupid. I have never done that in all my years except in a dingy or race. I pick a bearing and then set the sails for that bearing and then
walk away!
That's it! No quick release on the main, no quick maneuvers into the wind - nothing. I just let the boat sail - after I'm underway the least I do the better the boat sails. That's pretty much the case with most every boat I have sailed. If the wind has a gust up and the boat starts to lean over, I don't do anything. I just ride the boat till the gust goes away. Points of sail to me are for piloting a particular bearing, maybe I am looking at it wrong, but I just set the sails for the desired bearing and then just steer the bearing. I guess as a kid staring at a compass for hours on end put me in the habit - I dunno - when you have no land to see and nothing but ocean for more than a day or two you become fixated on bearings - that's all I care about when I am sailing - "hold the bearing!" Like as if my life depended on it today - how stupid - but that's how I am - it's habit.
Now with the AP I literally just walk away from the helm and go below decks: did the same on wind vane pilots before. And yes, sometimes the wind shifts and you get pushed over and that's my point = Here's the deal:
I have videos of Highlander and Beene and others including myself exceeding 50 degrees with no loss of control! That's what I'm talking about - the boat steers just fine at ridiculous angles. I'm not saying that I sail all day long between 45 and 50 degrees, that's not my point - what I'm saying is that if the boat goes there NOTHING HAPPENS! (At least in MY part of the world)
Yukon and Tom are right about downwind sailing being crazy at times and really that's what tacking is all about - I never could understand why some skippers insist on going directly downwind in sketchy conditions when a nice comfortable broad reach will work just as well with a few well planned tacks. People seem to have no trouble tacking up wind but they can't seem to get themselves to do it going downwind - why not? I do it all the time. Maybe I'm just lazy and have been wacked in the face too many times by a wild whisker pole but for me - I try to do the most with the least effort.
One hint I would add that works for me - furl in your Genoa if your going to go wing on wing - the genoa comes too far aft and presents an edge to the wind that will back draft it - furl the Genoa down to what a working jib would be - you have to do that anyways if you stake it off with a whisker pole - so save you neck when running dead with the wind and pull in some of the huge bed sheet on the front - remember - it's not a spinnaker - better to turn a little side to the wind and foil it properly - it makes a lousy bag. (And yes, to do that you need the daggerboard - in my case I use ALL of it.)
Just my opinion.
A big slug like the Formosa 51 (like the boat in Captain Ron), with a full keel, would probably ride nicely in it. But not my Clorox bottle baby. Or more likely, it would be fine, and I've been out in stuff like that when it came up on me and the boat pounded away but was otherwise fine, but I didn't and wouldn't enjoy it.