"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...

Hmm... well, I think there is a spot when there's zero heel,

I'm open to learning under what conditions this may be true. I can't
conceive of it, however. If the boat is hard on the wind and there IS wind,
a boat will heel, unless it's one of those redundant-hull thingys that Oz
sails.

but it may not be sustainable upwind. Assuming no current and light wind,
it seems like you would want some heel.

You'll always have *some* heel, but minimizing it is advantageous for a
number of reasons. If this weren't true, why all the railmeat on maxi
boats? Dinghies are generally best sailed, in all but very light winds,
with a minimum of heel. Big boats are no different, unless they are
classics with long overhangs which increase effective waterline when heeled.


I've always used the term heading up or pinching up. I guess you did say
something about falling off before attempting to heading up.

I've always interpreted "pinching" as simply sailing too close to the wind.
An example would be a boat with the ability to sail at, say, 30 degrees to
the relative wind. Pinching would be to sail it along at 27 degrees, and
footing would be at 35 degrees, plus or minus. Feathering is, according to
Snipe guru Ted Wells, alternating between footing and pinching, but
maintaining speed by spending only that amount of time pinching that won't
denigrate boat speed significantly. It's an active process, with the
skipper moving the helm quite a bit.

There are some experienced skippers who prefer to find that sweet spot when
hard on the wind, holding the helm very still. I can generally outpoint
them, but they do seem to win their share of races. It's just another
school of thought.

Max