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; set
preventer/downhaul on main and Barber downhaul the Jib.(Whisker pole)
Sail the Jib enough by the lee to get boat speed.(I use to give my crew
cookies and coffee so they'd sit still in the cockpit after they got the
sails set) Keep boat speed up until you're in a position to fetch the
Lee Mark on a decent Broad Reach.

As the wind increases Broad Reaches with a gybe. When you get close to
boat speed set course for mark. Downhaul Sails until you're not
comfortable with the wind strength. Remember that with increase wind
strength you get increase wave size, which can give you a chance to
surf.


Good luck and in the Cruising Class ENJOYMENT should be your goal as
well as low point total.

"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; set
preventer/downhaul on main and Barber downhaul the
Jib.(Whisker pole)
Sail the Jib enough by the lee to get boat speed.(I use to
give my crew
cookies and coffee so they'd sit still in the cockpit
after they got the
sails set) Keep boat speed up until you're in a position
to fetch the
Lee Mark on a decent Broad Reach.

As the wind increases Broad Reaches with a gybe. When you
get close to
boat speed set course for mark. Downhaul Sails until
you're not
comfortable with the wind strength. Remember that with
increase wind
strength you get increase wave size, which can give you a
chance to
surf.


Good luck and in the Cruising Class ENJOYMENT should be
your goal as
well as low point total.




------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------








JML Sigs

"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