BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

wrote:

I never even implied that I could get more than 100% out of my boat. I
said it was something that could be done.

That rather depends on how you define "100%" doesn't it? Certainly most non-planing boats have fairly well
defined limits to their performance. And planing boats have an upper limit too, but it's harder to define
and tends to be a control and/or structural limit.

I do practice using my
boat's polars, and I do pretty well most of the time. I certainly do
better now then when I first got the boat. Still, I sure don't claim
that I consistently come close to 100%.

100% of your polars? Now, that depends on the source. Are these from the original designer using a
computer? Drawn up from a factory team sailing a prototype? One-design class metrology?

When I was seriously campaigning a keelboat, I drew up my own polars. That is the best way to quantify the
performance of a given boat. I have toyed with doing polars for some of the dinghys I've raced, but
usually it's too time consuming and detracts from the simple fun of sailing like hell.

My one and only point was that
you possibly CAN get more out of a boat than 100%. Someone had posted
that they thought that was impossible. Do you think it's impossible?

Yes, because if you can go faster than 100% of possible speed under given circumstances, then clearly it
wasn't 100% of possible speed ...or you are mistaken about the circumstances, which has happened to me.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King