Capt. Rob wrote:
So are you still claiming that on any of your clips the "VMG to
Windward" was 6 knots? Remember, your polar says you can't do it.
The French review that you quote says you can't do it. You admitted
that when your friend told you the VMG he was referring not "to
windward" but to a mark 10 degrees off your bow.



1st of all, GOOD MORNING, Jeff. I hope you slept well.
True, the polars (at our point of sail showing closer to 5.2 knots. The
Frenchy sail rag reported 5.5. And I'm reporting .7 and .5 knots
faster.

Actually, I have some doubt about your reading of the polar, since the
faster 36.5 doesn't do that well, and the wing keel should cost you a
few tenths. In fact, even the 407 is only slightly better. But I'll
accept the 5.2 for the moment.

Keep this in mind: The fellow at the helm is a full time sailor. He
retired at 40 and has been sailing full time aboard some of the fastest
sailboats in production.

Totally irrelevant. You might have something if he had a hand picked
crew, new hi-tech sails, a fresh bottom job, and you lost the A/C.
But boats don't suddenly gain 15% over their optimal VMG to windward
just because a competent hand is on the wheel.

Is it so impossible that he could have found
that extra half knot or better?

Yes, it is. You just don't get it. Its like Road & Track said a
certain car did the quarter in 5 seconds, and you claimed you did it
in 4 seconds. In the snow.

This is another point you fail to grasp. While some boats can
frequently exceed their "theoretical limit" off the wind, upwind it is
much more difficult to beat. The VPP programs are pretty
sophisticated, and tend not to be off by more than a tenth. If you're
reading one from Beneteau, you can be pretty sure its accurate. The
one I quote for the 407 is actually posted at the helm of each boat.
And its optimum VMG in any condition is about 5.4, less if you factor
in leeway.

Further, upwind performance to not vary very much between boats of the
same style. Boats simply don't suddenly go 15% faster than predicted.
In PHRF terms, this is like suddenly going 100 points faster than
then rating. It just doesn't happen. The other day you said any
Benny First would "smoke" an Ericson 35-3, when in fact your boat only
has a couple of points on the Erikson. So when it suits you, 2 points
is huge advantage, but now you're claiming that a proper rating for
your boat should be around 30.

He can certainly sail his J24 and J30
better than anyone I've ever seen and does Atlantic crossings almost
every year on performance yachts. He was pushing my boat to see what
she could do and was impressed (not so dead downwind).

Yes, I remember when a friend who was the local Star champion came on
my Nonsuch and started playing with the sail twist. He made the boat
perform close to the polars, not exceed them by 15%.

If you choose to believe that he,

He probably told the truth. You, being a simpleton, misunderstood.
He told you the VMG to a mark 10 degrees off the bow, that is not the
VMG to Windward.

his GPS

His GPS does NOT report the VMG to Windward. This is the issue here.
In order for the GPS to do that, the mark has to be directly to
windward, preferably far away. You told us it was nearby, off the bow.

and I are lying so be it.

Everyone always assumes that everything you say is a lie.

I
gave my report, included pics and video. Maybe next time I'll shoot
video of the GPS, compass and wind instruments.

I'd rather you took a course on basic sailing so we wouldn't have to
explain the simple concepts to you over and over again,