improving ...

Hi all,

with your help we have been able to improve quite a bit our boat speed and pointing ability, thanks again! With the hands of some pros at a race last weekend we seem to have found a nice setup of the mast rake now. Maybe you can give us some more hints on how to be able to go faster, especially if the wind picks up. I´ll tell you the facts, maybe it makes some sense to you:

1) relatively old boat (1991) but in good shape, sails # 96854, crew 360 pounds.
2) we are definitely much better in very light to light air, keeping up in speed and pointing ability even with the fastest and newest boats.
3) if a moderate air (2 on windwards side or 1 in the wires) picks up, we can´t follow the other boats (less pointing with same speed or less speed with same pointing) and will almost always end up last or almost last, even with good starts. The difference is less now with the things we have changed, but still it is very frustrating to see the other boats going slowly away ...
4) In any case, we are doing better downwind

I have been adding leach tell tales in order to find a reasonable sheet tension, this has been of great help. With very light air, the cunningham is set just to get out the wrinkles (almost loose), in moderate air I tight it a little bit more. The traveller is 2 inches outside when going upwind.

I have noticed that our main sail seems to be quite longer than the newer sails, the boom is about 2-4 inches lower than in newer boats when the same cunningham tension is applied. Might this indicate that the sails are very worn out, and could this be the reason for our bad results with moderate air? Why then do we go better with light air? Can the sail size be measured somehow?

Any other things we could check to improve our upwind capabilities with moderate air?

Reviewing some photos of the event I have noticed that our (the right one) sail is too low:



Maybe this is the reason of all the problems? Sail too low -> less mast rake for equal sheet tension? What is going on here, maybe just the halyard has stretched? Can this wire strech such an amount??

p.d. I have now meassured the part of the halyard that carries the working load (from the loop end where the sail is attached to the "stopper"), the length is 15 1/2 inches. Is this the correct length?

Halyard length for the old mast says 15 5/8" measured from the shackle pin centerline to the near side of the stop. Sounds like yours is long by the length of the shackle if I understood your measurements.

Yes that might be an issue. More rake can mean better pointing, but there are many other factors. Jib / Main sheet tension, traveler positions. Steering. Chop? Waves? when it blows harder.

A good thing if you are sailing faster downwind. That usually is the issue for heavier teams. Lighter teams normally are faster downwind.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)