Re: Dinghy sailing in bigger winds

Matt Colie wrote:
> Andy,
> 
> The big difference, is the dynamic characteristics of the two boats.  It

> is much more than the sail area to weight ratio.

True but...
> 
> There is also a big difference in the fact that a Lazer is a "wet ass" 
> boat (sailboard) and can not flood.

I picked a Laser because everyone will know it.  You could pick almost 
any single hander.

I sail a National Solo, which AFAIK is only sailed in the UK, Holland 
and Australia.  I'm about 80Kg, and there is a lady who almost 
invariably beats me who is nowhere near *that* much. It floods on 
capsize, and the sail is bigger than a Laser.  The same is true of the 
better known Finn, or the OK, and I'm sure many others.  But that 
doesn't matter, *unless you are overpressed and capsize*.
> 
> My Lazer has very different performance characteristics than any pram.  

> It will accelerate and plane, thus both decreasing the hull drag and 
> increasing the hydrodynamic load capability of the foils (board and 
> rudder).   This allows me to pull the relative wind forward with my own 
> forward velocity and thereby change the effective trim without moving 
> anything.  No pram that I know of can do this.

IMHO they'll be having most trouble on beats, when the apparent wind is 
highest (though not by much at Cadet speeds) and the force from the 
sails is mainly across the boat.  That's when you run out of weight.  If 
your Lazer (sic) planes upwind, then you aren't talking about the same 
boat I was.

> 
> There is also the experience factor here.  If both onboard a Cadet are 
> as old as the class allows, I quite certainly have more sailing 
> experience than any two cadets sailing.  This does matter. IMHO

We agree there.  As I said,

"There are three things that really matter.

Practice, more practice, and even more practice."

Andy