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Topic: What angle downwind |
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Neil Ashby |
Posted: 31-Jan-09 08:13 |
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I have been testing the best angle of the boat downwind, not the compass angle but the pitch of the boat. Have spoken to many people in the dinghy park on this and it seems to me depending on what yu currently sail depends on the pitch of your boat. Coming from a musto skiff and rs800 background i tend to like to get the nose pointing at the sky at every opportunity however with a little experimentation this is not always the quickest.
What are everybodys else thoughts on this?
Neil |
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Mick Pullin |
Posted: 14-Feb-09 12:06 |
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Yes, I have been pondering this question, so here are my thoughts... Coming from a windsurfing background (and not a great deal of ISO experience),it was desirable to keep the board quite flat - avoiding the tail dragging. Sheeting out in a gust is bad as this reduces 'mast foot pressure' and the nose lifts, tail drags and the board slows etc. Relating this to the ISO is not so straight forward as although transom drag will slow the boat, I suppose that the kite lifts the bow so keeping the hull relatively flat is difficult. Do you remember seeing the final 49er race at the Olympics last year? When the wind really started blowing some crews elected to sail downwind without the kite(mere mortals after all!). They then had problems with the boats pitch poling - great spectacle. So is it a question of balancing the drive between the kite(lifting the bow) and the main(mast foot pressure) to keep the boat at an optimum aspect? |
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