Quote:
Originally Posted by Tupaia
Totally agree.
We seem to have lost sight of our objective.
With all these highly accurate wind sensors none compensate for the effect of heel angle on the measured apparent wind angle.
Assuming a mono sailing hard on the wind heels 20-25 degrees then the measured apparent wind angle would vary by up to 10% from the plane of the wind. Add on the calculations to obtain True Wind angle without taking into account leeway, drift and wave action and you always have a wholly in-accurate result.
The accuracy of a wind instrument is therefore relative to the boat and useful only in optimising the performance of "that" particular boat in those particular, largely unrepeatable, conditions.
Far better to have a sensor that gives a stable reading with minimum damping that provides a relatively constant, if inaccurate, input to your computations.
Given modern GPS, VMG to destination is a much better guide to performance, everything else is nice to have but secondary to the primary objective.
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I agree on almost everything.
I would just like to add that the
sails are always subjected to the apparent wind, in the same way as the
sensor, with and without heel.
That is why I do not understand too much the concern of always knowing the real wind for trimming
work (for that the
classic tapes are better), I only partially understand it to establish a supposed layline and the theoretical tack and jibe angle.
We all know that the intensity and direction of the wind, and the set and drift are not universal constants, but we always rely on the assumption that they will not change for a certain time and will be the same throughout the regattas field. And this is almost never true.
In the wingssail video we have seen that the participating boats sail very close together most of the time, and they are all of the same type, that is, all subject to the same conditions. Here I only see advantage in the
training of the crew. And so there is no way of knowing if a different strategy might turn out better because among other things, all participants are based on the same state-of-the-art
electronics and
software, and draw the same conclusions.
I have always found it convenient to get away from the dirty wind of others and carry out a thorough analysis of the local
weather with its coastal gradients for such races (none of that is guessed by the on-board
electronics because the tactic must also start on land days before...). And then wait for us to win the lottery with those tickets.
And if we talk about
offshore racing, the constant analysis of the
weather is even more decisive.