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Reply to: Maximizing a Catamaran's Ability to Sail Close to the Wind

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[quote=CatFan57]Wow, what a great set of replies all around!  Many thanks to each and all who replied, and my apologies for not responding sooner.  I have some replies/questions, but I think I'll break them up in separate posts.

[quote=Dogboy]The general rule of thumb is to rake the mast aft for improved upwind performance, but that is very general, and my not apply to your specific boat.  You don't mention in your post about what the specific issue is that needs to be improved with the helm, but personally, I would adjust the mast rake so that you have a slight weather helm and then leave it there.[/quote]

Ok, so it sounds like the suggestion I received to move my mast forward was exactly the opposite of the standard advice.  As I said in another thread, I think my helm is neutral, so I better rake the mast back a little to get some weather helm.  Actually, I checked my owner's manual and noted there is a procedure recommended for setting your mast rake (by leveling your boat, then using a plumb line from the mast to measure rake), so I should probably start by following that, since I didn't do so setting up the boat.

The specific issue I'm seeing is that, even recognizing that catamarans don't point as well as other types of sailboats, I still think I'm not pointing high enough.  I'm watching other cats sail closer to the wind pretty effectively compared to me.  And I'm not just talking about new designs.

[quote=Dogboy]My recommendation for improving upwind performance would be to install and use telltails on both your main and jib, particularly at the top of the main (2nd and 3rd panels from the top).  If your boat is not performing upwind as well as you think it should, the first thing I would look at would be sheet tension.  If you're not sheeting in all the way and the top 3rd of your mainsail is blown open, the boat isn't going to go upwind.[/quote]

I do have tell tales on the main & the jib.  I don't claim to be an expert on them yet, but I know I want the windward and leeward tell tales streaming back, and I watched these and other videos to get up to speed:
Main tell tales: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J64a9GlP9E[/url]
Jib tell tales [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZGomgh5NJ0[/url]

I've tried various sheet tensions and combinations, and I've definitely sheeted in all the way on the main (with traveler all the way in) and jib, and still don't think I'm getting sufficient upwind performance.

[quote=Dogboy]Also, don't get too hung up on pointing angle.  Upwind performance is all about VMG, not just angle.  If you're pointing 3 degrees lower than other boats, but going 25% faster, you'll still have better VMG.

sm[/quote]

I am aware of the general idea of VMG, although I definitely don't claim to be accomplished at making it happen.  However, when I noticed my boat seems to excel at making high speeds in high power conditions when sailing off the wind (as compared to when sailing closer, where it doesn't seem to excel), I adjusted my sailing to start taking more off the wind lines and hoping the speed would make up for my lower lines.  Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to be working that well for me ([i]especially [/i]in low/moderate wind conditions), so by now I'm pretty convinced I should be able to do better sailing closer to the wind.

(Next post I'll reply to other comments, maybe get into what I've been trying regarding adjusting the jib sheet blocks location....)<em>Edited by CatFan57 on Oct 17, 2018 - 03:27 PM.</em> [/quote]

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