RE: [Cal_Boats] Racing upwind for optimum VMG

If you want to use your gps vmg you need to enter a waypoint directly into the wind and many miles away. Good luck with that. Allen Sent from Samsung tabletGerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> wrote:I don't have a knot meter, so going up wind I just go by sail trim. If the wind isn't too strong I try to fly the leeward telltale at 9:00 to , or 3:00 to , and do the same on the windward's but let them point at 10:00 or 2:00 if possible. I try to keep on the edge of having some forestay sag to leeward. When the wind pipes up like it did yesterday, I had my windward's pointing straight up but had the leewards plastered nearly level. In this case I let my mainsail do the driving, and the boat is pointing well with plenty of water flow on the keel, and hiking on the skirt or side deck to keep the boat level. This is where I wish I'd had a third crew for that! Also, I recall Buddy Meldges suggesting keeping the same angle of heel going up wind, as a rule of thumb, and finding that that worked well, unless the wind strength is inconsistent...as it was early Sunday afternoon. The nice thing about that is you can pay more attention to where you're going instead of constantly checking the sail trim indicators. If I could figure out how to get my VMG on my Garmin Map 76 (I hate looking things up, but that %$#@ GPS is so weird and complex it's probably the only way) , what's wrong with using that to find the best angle of attack/point to get the best speed up wind, at least at the beginning of the leg, before you're nearly abeam? In moderate conditions I can't do better than 50 degrees off the wind, possibly because otherwise I've got too much leeward drift. I swear, everyone seems to be out pointing me by 10 to 15 degrees!! I think my best pointing is done in strong winds, with the Main reefed, and the boat sailing flat upwind. Jerry From: Allen Edwards <al… [at] gmail.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 6:09 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 racing The graph below is a Cal-40 well known on this list. Take a look at the boat speed and the VMG. What you are trying to do is sail the fastest VMG that your boat can go. The take away from this is that a the VMG is flat around its maximum and, although not plotted, the apparent wind doesn't change much across this important range but the boat speed changes a great deal. For example, at 40 degrees true wind, the apparent wind is 28 degrees and at 50 degrees it is 33. It is possible to see this difference on a masthead fly, but not easy and the damn thing is moving around all the time. On the other hand, the boat speed has gone from 5.3 knots to 6.3 knots. Easy to read on any knot meter. Your VMG has stayed within a tenth of a knot, a lot in a race, but not a great deal. Get outside this range and your VMG drops off quickly. The point is, figure out your target boat speed, in this case 6 knots, and sail to that speed. If you are going faster, head up. Too slow, fall off. You can try different numbers on different races and see which ones work better. Notes: 1) VMG on a GPS is not VMG to Wind so don't use it. 2) This is just an example for a single wind speed. There will be a different target boat speed for different wind speeds. 3) There is a model for the change in target speed vs wind speed on L-36.com if you get into it. PS. On last Tuesday's race we screwed up and sailed into a wind hole. Around the last mark there were 4 boats ahead of us although they all owed us time. The last leg was a beat in a lot of wind. We caught all the boats except the C&C-41. We crossed the line just in front of the Catalina-40. We were sailing in the 7's upwind. Crazy. We corrected to 4 minutes ahead of the Catalina. Second overall. On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 5:34 PM, Helen Horn <he… [at] sbcglobal.net> wrote: [Attachment(s) from Helen Horn included below] Mark thats a great tacktic ....also be willing to try something different ..our cal 29 will point directly into the wind but speed drops in half by taking a faster angle one can keep his speed up and tack back to mark sometimes beating other boats that are in confussed air pointing directly to mark when going the wrong way only works if you have SPEED here is some pics of "the Kid" From: Mark Alan Stahnke (MAS Consulting) <ma… [at] cox.net> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, May 21, 2012 4:57:44 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 racing I think the questions is how does one get ahead when the other phrf boat out points. The simple answer is do not try to keep up with his pointing you can however beat him on the next tack if you drive below. Be careful here. Do not give away too much leeward space. Just a couple degrees below him, slack your sails accordingly, you are now going faster than him instead of being in a continuous stall trying to out point him is a fruitless effort and keeping in his wind shadow is also counter productive. As you race out in into clear air just below him you now have the boat speed to start INCHING up with the lifts.Keep sailing fast most important and you will be getting out in front of him and hopefully your on a port tack, because on your next tack. You may be surprised and cross his bow. This works very well between Cal 29 vs J29 or Erickson 32 etc. This also works against same boats. Yesterdays MDR race we had a novice crew and it was my first time with the boat and Capt. He kept trying to point in the bad air of the lead boat, because of where the mark was instead of tacking we simply drove under and then came up out in front and the rest of the race we pulled away more than ten boat lengths. Hope this helps. Mark Cal 2-29 (always wishing to point higher) San Pedro From: Allen Edwards To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 1:07 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 racing I was given some good advice from an x-America's Cup sailor that I thought would be good to share given where this thread has gone. Get ahead and cover. Allen On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 12:39 PM, scott cyphers <sc… [at] sbcglobal.net> wrote: Am I the Scott C you are referring to? I seem to be just starting to figure out the groove for my Cal 29. I mostly single hand it. Racing has been a challenge, not the boat just me learning. It is very true trying to point too high really slows down the boat. As much as it is frustrating seeing others point higher to the mark than me. I fight the temptation to point higher with them and keep my windex on the paddle where I set it after testing how high I can point and keep a good speed. Seems to be working so far. I have a first and second in my division of Single Handed Sailing. Scott Cyphers 74 Cal29 Hatikvah --- On Mon, 5/21/12, Helen Horn <he… [at] sbcglobal.net> wrote: From: Helen Horn <he… [at] sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 racing To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, May 21, 2012, 10:42 AM 1st clean bottom.. 2nd get a good start 3 do not let any boats pass you 4th pass all boats in front you 5 go to club pick up Prize...We raced "NOAH'S Kid" Cal 29 (1974) eight years won one race (thanks Scott C.) the J boats speed up quicker where the 29 SLOWLY build up speed 1 in or 2 in in sheets adj at atime watch VMG ..have crew be quite and move CAT-LIKE trim 4 Speed 8 knots away is still better than 3 knots towards ....after all boats pass you now switch from RACER to CRUISER....edward From: Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> To: "Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sun, May 20, 2012 8:47:27 AM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 racing From: Joseph McCloskey <jj… [at] yahoo.com> To: "Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 6:35 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Cal 2-29 racing Hi Hope I can get some tips here for making my Cal 2-29 go fast ! I have raced Lightnings and J24's with some success in the past. I am now attempting to race my Cal and need some go-fast tips. I know about a good start and going the right way, but have had some trouble getting the old girl up to speed. Any advise from the group would be appreciated Thanks Joe __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 7155 (20120521) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 7155 (20120521) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: BEN <be… [at] comcast.net> To: Helen Horn <he… [at] sbcglobal.net> Sent: Thu, June 30, 2011 6:07:58 PM Subject: pics You guys passed so fast I barely had time to snap these pics! B