DSK wrote:



Not in my experience. Most boats like about 12 degrees of heel.


Aha that'll be your dinghy experience showing itself again. In a bigger
keel boat you won't come anywhere except last if you limit yourself to
12 degrees. Now, boat's don't 'like' anything. They are just imanimate
objects really. The question is, what is the most common design angle?
(I've already posted one ref. Why don't you check Barnaby 'Basica naval
archtiecture' too and you'll see it's 30 degrees.) Heeling is not by
itself a bad thing -it means that lots of power is being taken from the
wind if the boat is trimmed properly. The general idea is that provided
the heel angle is moderate (say 30 degrees) the reduction in projected
fin area is not too serious...

Cheers