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Posted by AGage ![]() |
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Try these webpages Tom, it is about a technique you describe known as 'wallying the windshifts':
http://www.ockam.com/vmc.html and http://wcsailing.blogspot.com/ - near the bottom for this specific issue, but there is also more good stuff.... If you are required to sail the non-favoured tack (ie land forces you to), then you often want to sail higher than VMG - by how much is the magic question, and I cant really give you any general answers. One good way to get a feel though is experimenting with the predictor line. Set your boat at the max VMG angle, and get to 100% performance. Then point up by 1 degree. After you click 'Send' place the crosshair over the point for 1 hour, and hold it there. When the new course is established and the predictor redraws itself, compare the new 1hr point to the old. For simplicity say you are trying to maximise your course N, and are on Port so want to minimise your Eastward travel (which is further from rhumbline). Well what you want to compare here is the 2 points' latitudes. If the new point is no further S than the original vmg point, then 1 degree higher is better. Now do it again... Eventually you will find pointing higher slows you too much. Also using the ruler to record the various points is a good idea, and zoom in so you are measuring as accurately as possible. Also be aware that as you are actually moving N, the points will tend to be more N anyway each time, so factor this in if possible. And of course you can also do the exact same thing pointing progressively lower than vmg angle, to see visually how sailing a bit faster (but also remember as 76T points out - also further)... Also download my polar butterfly overlay and experiment using some card as 76T suggest, or a tool I also mention on the blog: MB-Ruler for drawing and moving lines on the screen. ![]() Regarding books, the best I have ever read is "High Performance Sailing" by Frank Bethewaite - he is a meteorologist and aeronautical engineer, has (IIRC) 5 world championships between his 2 kids and he and his son were largely responsible for the development of the 18" Skiffs here in Aus as well as many other classes. He was also official met for the Aus Olympic sailing team for decades - so while the book is largely detailed toward dinghies, there are also excellent sections on weather reading and waves etc... When he retired from his job, he and a likeminded group set about trying o understand boats better and to make them sail faster (this was decades ago, before much of what we now know was known), and (one of) the thing i really like about his book is he talks alot about the actual experiments they did to sail faster - and not just 2 boat testing or similar, but actual emperical scientific experiments, like drag tests on foil designs and he even built his own wind tunnels - probably the advance he is most known for inventing/discovering is the wing-mast. I help develop the client interface for the best online ocean racing sim there is... __/)/)_/)__ |
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Posted by AGage ![]() |
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BTW, The Ockam site is chock full of great info - when it mentions using 'strip charts' these are available for SOL by using brainaid's NMEA proxy and NavMonPC, which gives you stripcharts for both wind data and boat performance
I help develop the client interface for the best online ocean racing sim there is... __/)/)_/)__ |
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Posted by sol ![]() |
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Thank a lot Aaron. I have seen "Wallying" mentioned, but have put it on the backburner for the time being. Now I find that I already know what it is
![]() Thanks for the links, and the trick with the predictor and markers. I have your Butterfly, but having been a SOTP sailor for almost 50 years - I havn't really figgered out what to use it for. I just print a paper copy of the polar. I will look more into it though. At my age - I'm a slow learner. |
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Posted by WhyNot ![]() |
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Ooopss! That was me answering
![]() Sorry |
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Posted by 76Trombones ![]() |
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I'm not actually sure that this is working properly, but here is a quick spreadsheet that I worked up a while ago, allowing you to compare VMG and VMC courses for different shifts and target angles/mark locations. You want the target that'll get you to the mark the quickest, which depends more-or-less on average wind direction. The amount you can foot varies with the amount of shift.
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Posted by 76Trombones ![]() |
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Updated to show the effect of sailing VMG on the wrong tack. Footing on the wrong side is even worse, obviously.
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Garagiste's Test Lab

Race #1939
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Patricks Test

Race #1932
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Joanne's Test Race Zone
Race #1847
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Marstrand to Cowes 2025

We invite you to another race, which will kick off the third quarter of our ARCH series. We'll set off from Marstrand, Sweden, which, along with Skagen, Denmark, marks the line commonly recognised as the border separating the Baltic Sea from the North Sea. The 650nm route will take our Ripitide 50 across the North Sea and the English Channel to Cowes, England. Watch out for the fast ferries crossing the Channel from Calais to Dover 😊.
Race #1935
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Nantucket Sprint 2025

Welcome to Nantucket, from whence Herman Melville’s Cap’n Ahab sailed round The Horn into the northern Pacific Ocean to hunt the gray whale - whose migrations are celebrated elsewhere in SOL’s Q4 schedule - he never to return. And whaling too, as the 19th C progressed, like Ahab disappeared from Nantucket as the harbour silted up and mainland Massachusetts whaling stations benefited from rail connections. But beach life, yachting and nostalgia has rescued the island from oblivion, so to celebrate leisure, SOL gives you the Nantucket Sprint - 25nm in 29er_XX’s from east of Tuckernuck Island across the sound to a finish just inside the mouth of the harbour. Enjoy!
Race 1936
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Puil's Practice Palaver
Nearly there; only 2500nm to go, round the Horn and up the Red Sea to Suez into what will more than likely be more headwinds for this sixth leg of our African circumnavigation, to be followed in September by a final sneaky dash up the canal back to where we started all those months ago. We’ll be sailing a not entirely appropriate-for-upwind-work 60ft Trimaran!
Race #1859
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Gulf of St Lawrence - test - Mirek
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Race starts: Apr 21st 17:00
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Stefan's Duck Pond

PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1900
INFO by brainaid.de
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Trapped Camel
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Race starts: Aug 21st 15:03
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Caravanserai
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Race starts: Aug 08th 17:00
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Patrick's Playpen

Welcome to the legendary "Westcoaster," a race that has tested sailors for over 50 years. Spanning 435 nautical miles, this iconic journey takes racers from Melbourne, across the formidable Bass Strait, and around Tasmania's rugged west coast to the finish line in Hobart. Organized by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria, the Westcoaster is renowned for its challenging conditions and adventurous spirit. This year, our SOLers will tackle the course in the swift and capable First 47.7, a yacht launched by Beneteau in 2000, built for speed and endurance in long ocean races. Get ready for an exhilarating ride in one of Australia’s most celebrated yacht races!
Race #1841
INFO by brainaid.de
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Mirek's Mess & Canteen
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Race starts: Apr 26th 18:00
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Antarctica 1 of 3
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Race starts: Jan 27th 21:57
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Flinders Island TIMED Race 2024

Race #1776
INFO by brainaid.de
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27 January at 23:00 UTC
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Tasman Double 2023 - Hobart to Sydney
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Race starts: Jan 02nd 02:00
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John's Test Zone
It's time to test your ocean racing skills in a variety of weathers as we head the 6400 NM between Hong Kong and Auckland in a fast Super Maxi 100. We'll be heading from a northern summer to a southern winter so keep plenty of cold weather gear and warm rum on board!
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1597
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calm's Practice Race
Last raced in 2021, we return to Boston for another race to Newport. And just like in 2021, the chosen boat is once again the speedy R/P 66. This is a TIMED race so pick your winds wisely and see how quickly you can complete this 132nm run! For reference, the winning time in 2021 was 6:12:28.
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Race #1700
INFO by brainaid.de
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ZONA DE PRUEBA DE MANUEL

Please note the displayed course is provisional; the actual course will be set after the IRL course is announced at the skipper's briefing 48 hours before the start, and no later than 24 hours before the start.
Race #1561
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San Sebastian to La Rochelle 2021
Once again, our SOL race will be shared with a group of Polish sailors, representing one of the stages of their Virtual Training Cruise around Europe. 171 nm in Delphia 47s across the not always calm Bay of Biscay from San Sebastian to La Rochelle will undoubtedly be one to test their skills. Welcome/Witajcie and we wish you all fair winds.
Race #1441
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Aland Sea TIMED Race
Norrtalje Segelsallskap, 70km NE of Stockholm was founded in 1920, and time was when the society’s season opened with a challenging offshore race from the club line off Flaten island at the mouth of the long and narrow Norrtaljeviken, out onto a triangular course around the Aland Sea, to finish at Simpnas slightly to the north on Bjorko island - some 78nm in total. A fine race that SOL, being from these parts, ran annually up until 2013. Last run in autumn 2018, we return here to race the course again in the form a TIMED RUN in spanking new Club Swan 50s.
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Race #1444
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Bimmer's Test Zone
What about a speedy X-362 380nm race in the waters off S America, just to blow cobwebs away!!
Race #1415
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Antarctica 3 of 3
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Race starts: Sep 16th 11:13
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BLANK POLAR
Race starts: Feb 16th 00:00
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