Faster boats in general have less weather helm...



Walt wrote:
Huh. And all this time I thought the cause and effect worked the other
way - boats with less weather helm are faster. You learn something new
everyday. (c:


Look at it this way... two seperate things going on here.
One is the force generated by the helm, which must be
couonteracted by the helmsman and feels like the tiller
pushing against his hand(s). The other is the difference
between the angle of the rudder and the direction the boat
is turning (or when going straight). A boat's steering &
foils can be set up so that large angles don't generate much
force; or so that as the angle gets larger, the force
increases proportionally (a very nice characteristic IMHO);
some boats have both.

Exmples: a Melges 24 is too squirrely to let go of the
tiller for a second, but there is very little force
developed by the helm felt by the helmsman. It also will not
require very much (if any) angle applied to the rudder to
make it go straight ahead.

A Cape Cod catboat will have both generate great force on
the helm and require a large angle (relatively large, more
than a couple degrees) on the rudder in order to go
straight. Yet if the helm is locked in place, the helmsman
can take his hands off it... go below & make a cup of coffee...

Which of those two is faster?

Still not a great explanation but at least it doesn't leave
a bunch of assumtions hanging in the air like earlier posts.


If you get a chance to skipper a decently set-up Tornado, jump on it.
Those are the best sailing cats I know of; perhaps not quite as fast
as the newest top-gun designs but heck the Tornado is pushing 50!


Walt wrote:
Yeah, well, so am I. Wanna make something of it?


Sounds like you'd be a good match.

DSK