Tacking in light winds?

[Dave_S]

It was quite a few years ago now, but it was explained to me on this forum in a similar way to the way I have described it however much better than I have done. Words are not my first language. 😉 I am sorry but I don't remember their name.

It is all about increasing speed while maintaining your AWA. The TWA will widen as a consequence. It helped my way of thinking to work towards widening the angles rather than just looking at speed. If you watch the angles it is, for me anyway, a better reference for how you are doing.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

It was quite a few years ago now, but it was explained to me on this forum in a similar way to the way I have described it however much better than I have done. Words are not my first language. [emoji6] I am sorry but I don't remember their name.



It is all about increasing speed while maintaining your AWA. The TWA will widen as a consequence. It helped my way of thinking to work towards widening the angles rather than just looking at speed. If you watch the angles it is, for me anyway, a better reference for how you are doing.

On a performance oriented cat like yours or mine it’s true that it doesn’t pay to minimise AWA while maintaining speed, as increasing AWA slightly can make a big difference in increasing boat speed. This is the big difference between performance cats and monohulls and is where I guess you get your increase TWA to increase VMG mantra. But you have to be careful - eventually your TWA gets so wide that you’re definitely not optimising your VMG. Once your TWA reaches 90* you are making 0 knots VMG to windward, regardless of how fast you are going.

So to continue increasing boat speed and maintain optimum VMG without allowing TWA to get too wide you need to decrease AWA (this is what foiling boats do, as they have much lower drag). For non-foilers that’s very hard to do. But it does mean you can’t just keep increasing TWA - at some point you need to decrease your AWA if you can still go faster.

I’d be very surprised if your optimum VMG isn’t somewhere around 110* TWA.

[thomm225]

Light wind sailing is my favorite as I learned to sail on a lake in Tennessee.

Make your sails more rounded.

Ease the sheets and the halyards.

Tack as normal.

It's a little tougher on a boat with main only but still pretty similar

If possible use your oldest blown out sails which are much better than new sails in light air.

I have won lots of races with old blown out sails in winds 5-8 knots.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by JC Reefer

Light wind sailing tactics are different and less forgiving then normal conditions. You really need to maintain sail shape.

To do this you might need to sit on the low side of the vessel so that you create a slight heel. This allows gravity to keep the sail (think foil) fixed in the correct position.

Sail shape is real important in light wind, and you want a more pronounced foil.

Yep, this one is the key to light wind sailing.

For the headsail - ease the halyard slightly and adjust the sheet traveller backwards, so that there is less pull downards on the leech. (do the opposite in stronger winds)

For the main - ease the backstay( if you have an adjustment) to open the luff; if you have a cunningham, let it off; ease the outhaul to put more curve in the whole sail, don't versheet - if you have a traveller, use that rather than cranking on the mainsheet to position the boom. ( again reverse these as the windos increase).

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by fxykty

On a performance oriented cat like yours or mine it’s true that it doesn’t pay to minimise AWA while maintaining speed, as increasing AWA slightly can make a big difference in increasing boat speed. This is the big difference between performance cats and monohulls and is where I guess you get your increase TWA to increase VMG mantra. But you have to be careful - eventually your TWA gets so wide that you’re definitely not optimising your VMG. Once your TWA reaches 90* you are making 0 knots VMG to windward, regardless of how fast you are going.

So to continue increasing boat speed and maintain optimum VMG without allowing TWA to get too wide you need to decrease AWA (this is what foiling boats do, as they have much lower drag). For non-foilers that’s very hard to do. But it does mean you can’t just keep increasing TWA - at some point you need to decrease your AWA if you can still go faster.

I’d be very surprised if your optimum VMG isn’t somewhere around 110* TWA.

Not accounting for windage...

Making sure the LH figure is your optimum AWA for your boat and the conditions. Then the TWA figure is the absolute best anyone can do for making headway upwind. If you are a bit above or below that TWA you will be slower. Not by much if you are close but as you get away it becomes more and more detrimental.

AWA25° the best VMG will be TWA57.4° (< or >57.4° is slower)

AWA30° the best VMG will be TWA60° (< or >60° is slower)

AWA35° the best VMG will be TWA62.5° (< or >62.5° is slower)

AWA40° the best VMG will be TWA65° (< or >65° is slower)

AWA45° the best VMG will be TWA67.5° (< or >67.4° is slower)

In good conditions 29-30°A is pretty much my optimum upwind angle. I can't make 60°T while at 30A but on a perfect day I might make 55°T. If I'm sailing with those numbers I am making the best VMG that my boat and I can do. If I bear away to 35°A I might get close to 62.5°T but that is not my best VMG even though I am at the numbers above because I'm not at my optimum AWA.

To make it easy to remember 30A is 60T. For each 2°A the true moves 1°. This is not true, it's just a rule of thumb, the further from 30/60 you get the less true it is.

If a foiling boat has an optimum 20°A then the peak VMG is at 55°T, they would target 20/55 in a race, I don't know if they can achieve it but thats the holly grail for them so big tacking angles too.

[Jammer]

Many of these comments presume that the OP has rig controls that may not actually be present on his boat e.g. traveler and mast bend. Many comments also presume newish sails.


On more than a few boats 5 kts will only give you a reach.

[Melbourne Park]

The best way to learn to sail a keel boat in light weather, is to buy a laser dinghy and learn to sail that in light weather. And then, talk to the good guys about what they were doing.