"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Richard,

I raced in the Cruising Class for years, finishing as high
as third BUT
I never had as much fun as when I had a novice female
crew. They didn't
give a **** where we finished as long as they where
sailing and
relaxing. There were times when the Tender had to wait for
us to turn a
mark so that they could pick up the buoy.

My advice, for what's it worth is; ENJOY YOURSELF, train
your crew but
be a easy captain to sail with.

Some Downwind tips. In light air, set your Jib & Main wing
on wing;


Isn't W-W the slowest sail set one can make?




Scotty

"Scotty" wrote:
Isn't W-W the slowest sail set one can make?


Depends on the boat, depends in the conditions.

Generally, high-powered boats will benefit from using the sails as
foils.... reaching back & forth to get downwind... for example,
catamarans get downwind fastest by starting from nearly a beam reach,
pulling in the sails enough to fly a hull, then as they accelerate and
the wind shift ahead, they bear away gradually until the windward hull
is "almost" dropping back in. Iceboats are an even more extreme
example.

The opposite of a catamaran, say Columbus' Santa Maria, will benefit
from spreading out as much square footage of sail as she can and
heading straight downwind.

A corollary is that the harder the wind blows, the less need there is
to reach for power. In 30 knot winds, even the America's Cup guys are
happy to just aim the boat straight downwind.... never seen one go
wing-and-wing but they probably would

DSK

Doug,

If you Set a Spinn. there isn't a need to Wing out but in the Cruising
Class you aren't allowed a Spinn.

Scotty,

W-W doesn't mean you have to sail Dead Downwind. If you have your sails
set properly you can increase Downwind Speed by Broad reaching with your
Jib drawing with the wind coming over the leech as the leading edge
going Downwind. If you've never done it you've got a surprise waiting
for you. Try it!

Doug,
Ice Boats sail faster than the wind and they're apparent wind is always
behind them when they are in a groove. They are always sailing downwind.
The wind doesn't shift foreward it shift aft.

This doesn't happen with a displacement hull but if you get the Displ.
hull going you do get an increase in the Apparent Wind,
which will exceed the speed of the true wind. If you don't have to go to
far off course to build this higher apparent wind, you can get to the
Leeward Mark quicker. Even the America's Cupper, with Spinn. steer off
line and Gybe to the opposite Broad reach going downwind. Its faster.

Doug,

I said it wrong. The Apparent wind does swing forward. The Ice Boat
never see a run when in the groove. Sorry

"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Doug,
Ice Boats sail faster than the wind and they're apparent wind is
always
behind them when they are in a groove. They are always sailing
downwind.
The wind doesn't shift foreward it shift aft.
This doesn't happen with a displacement hull but if you get the Displ.
hull going you do get an increase in the Apparent Wind,
which will exceed the speed of the true wind. If you don't have to go
to
far off course to build this higher apparent wind, you can get to the
Leeward Mark quicker. Even the America's Cupper, with Spinn. steer off
line and Gybe to the opposite Broad reach going downwind. Its faster.


Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaha hahahahhahahahahahahahah!
What a retard. Claims to have sailed 67 years and never managed to
realize what apparent wind is. No wonder a pilothouse motor sailer was
the boat of choice. Only in Thom's world is the wind always coming from
behind. In other words - La la land!

Wilbur Hubbard











JML Sigs

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:49:24 -0700, wrote this
crap:

even the America's Cup guys are
happy to just aim the boat straight downwind.... never seen one go
wing-and-wing but they probably would


Never! They use spinnakers.





I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

DID NOT write this
crap:

even the America's Cup guys are
happy to just aim the boat straight downwind.... never seen one go
wing-and-wing but they probably would


Bloody Horvath wrote:
Never! They use spinnakers.



What I wrote-
"In 30 knot winds, even the America's Cup guys are
happy to just aim the boat straight downwind.... never seen one go
wing-and-wing but they probably would"

In fact, among the Louis Vuitton series in Auckland, they had a few
races with gusts in the upper 20.... the leaders of those races were
happy to take their chutes down as early as they could without blowing
their lead. It wouldn't surprise me if there had been some wing-and-
wing-ing during that action. It would probably surprise Horvath
though.... he apparently can't read but maybe he can watch TV.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

BTW Richard, you could do well to get Ringmater's advice on
finding &
training a crew. C'mon Loco helo the guy out!

Most of my crew have been on the boat for around 8 years. When
starting out I went through a few friends and neighbors. Lesson:
Don't talk anyone into racing. Find people who are interested. When
you get friends and neighbors who are not into it they will be the
ones who you will have to call every week to see if they are going to
sail or if they will be going to the mall with their wife. My
philosophy on crewing on a boat is that it is the same as being on a
softball team or a bowling league. You show up. Some people seem to
think that because it's sailing they don't always have to show and
they don't bother to call. I tell my crew it's not a job but if you
can't make it please call on Monday not Tuesday night or Wednesday
afternoon. You can look for people who are interested on local club
websites. Sometimes they have a forum where interested people leave
their contact information. Even after you have a full crew you should
contact new people every year to see if they would like to sub for
regulars who can't make it from time to time. Benifits of doing this
are you have a group of subs and secondly you get to meet people
before you commit. How to keep crew: Only yell when someone is about
to do something stupid and break something. Also, tell every new
crewmember that you expect them to treat the boat as if it were there
own. Don't throw stuff around, don't break stuff and they are
expected to "clean up" the boat after the race. After you have been
racing awhile your good crewmates will know other people who are
interested when you need someone to fill in or replace someone who is
leaving. Keep it fun. Never sail back to the dock in a bad mood
because you didn't do well.

"Scotty" wrote in message
. ..

"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Richard,

I raced in the Cruising Class for years, finishing as high
as third BUT
I never had as much fun as when I had a novice female
crew. They didn't
give a **** where we finished as long as they where
sailing and
relaxing. There were times when the Tender had to wait for
us to turn a
mark so that they could pick up the buoy.

My advice, for what's it worth is; ENJOY YOURSELF, train
your crew but
be a easy captain to sail with.

Some Downwind tips. In light air, set your Jib & Main wing
on wing;


Isn't W-W the slowest sail set one can make?




Scotty




Not down wind...

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com