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Amgine · 06-12-2006, 09:20

Sailing is sure loaded with specialized terms, and different boats/places may have different meanings for the same term. And even if you know the term it doesn't necessarily mean you know how it applies to your boat or your sailing.

Take the word beat:

Quote:

To make progress to windward by a zigzag course, coming about from one tack to the other pointing as close to the wind as will allow efficient sailing. - Eric Hiscock in Cruising under sail.

Quote:

beating: Sailing to windward. Close-hauled. By the wind. To reach an objective to windward. - Fred Edwards in Sailing as a Second Language.

Quote:

A course sailed as close to the wind as is efficiently possible, or a close-hauled course. John Rousmaniere in The Annapolis Book of Seamanship

On my boat a beat is a course sailed close-hauled, that is, as close to the wind as is efficient. It *should* involve doing everything reasonably possible to improve windward performance, such as moving the sheet leads inboard to improve the angle of incidence, and thus the pointing ability (I do have inboard track, and the cars are buried, uhm, somewhere... I think ashore in storage...)

For most boats a beat is the least comfortable point of sail, with spray and waves coming over the bow which is slamming into waves. The trot for your waterborne steed, as opposed to the more gentlemanly off-wind canter. In modern racing designs it is sometimes the fastest through-the-water point of sail, but in most cases it is not.

Back on my boat, the prospect of any extended beat is occasion for a change in plans, as the usual crew are strictly fair weather sailors and mutiny might else ensue. Reaching destinations are the usual compromise. So I don't have much experience or skill in maximizing cmg on a beat. What are good techniques? What's your definition of a beat?

SkiprJohn · 06-12-2006, 09:56

Aloha Amgine,

My definition of beat is the same as yours and the other folks you've quoted. When beating hard most boats with fin keel or centerboards slip sideways more than on any other point of sail. What I do is come to a close reach which is more comfortable is faster with less slip but will probably require an extra tack to get to a windward destination.

Racing, on the other hand, is different and I beat as hard as possible and carry as much sail as I can and keep the rail buried just like all the other nuts out on the water determined to win a race.

Kind Regards,

JohnL

delmarrey · 06-12-2006, 18:35

Beat to me is how I feel after 12 hours of being close hauled in 25+ knot winds.

Say Amgine, Why do you choose the font that you do? It's really hard on the eyes.

Amgine · 06-12-2006, 20:12

Normally I choose condensed... I hate long messages.

So, the question is - for a beat are you as close to the wind as you can reasonably get, or is any kind of a cloase reach described as a beat?

delmarrey · 06-12-2006, 20:31

according to the Wiktionary, a beat is:

Quote:

To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beat

And that's the way I've always understood it's meaning. "Beating to the wind".........................................._/)
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Amgine · 06-12-2006, 22:05

I can't event take credit for that definition on wikt! Semper did it, so he gets the blame. Actually, I guess I only created a few dozen or so nautical definitions there...

SkiprJohn · 07-12-2006, 00:30

Aloha Amgine,
To me beating is close-hauled. In my point of view close reaching is not beating. Beating means you take a beating and your boat takes a beating and you are beating into the wind.
Kind Regards,
JohnL