The advantage of running wing on wing is to get the maximum sail area in clean air. With a genoa of 155% or larger it will sit partially behind the main downwind when broad reaching. Not as much with a 135% and smaller. Running dead down wind in light air wing on wing works great on a 170% genoa, OK on a 155%, and not great on a 110%. Your 135% is in the grey area. Also, on the larger jibs you really need a whisker pole to get the best shape out of it. Helps on the 155%, not needed or the spin pole works fine on a 110%. To me, somewhere around the 120% - 135% the jib has a PHRF rating problem. It is not large enough to help out a lot downwind, yet is still large enough to partially sit in the main's disturbed wind. Going to a 114.9% gives extra PHRF adjustment and may work as well downwind on a broad reach. > It seems that in light winds jibing / reaching is not paying off for me. I can picture that. As you come up towards a beam reach the sails come in, keeps the jib behind the main and you need a lot more speed to make VMG that you are not going to get. Here is something to try. On a light wind day run dead down wind wing on wing and see what percentage of true wind speed you can get to. It may be that with 2 - 5 kts true the best you can get to is 50%, ie 1 kt hull speed in a 2 kt breeze, 2.5 kts in a 5 kt breeze. It may be linear only from 2 to 4 kts. You may need to borrow a whisker pole or larger spin pole for the test. Configure some instrumentation to give you VMG ( maybe a handheld GPS ) and try some different angles on a broad reach. You may find 140 degrees will be a bit faster. It may not be. If the best hull speed you can get to is 40% or less of true wind going wing on wing in light air and VMG is not faster on a broad reach you may do best with a whisker pole. If you can get to 60% and a bit better VMG on a broad reach then skip wing on wing and the whisker pole. The reasoning is that by reaching you need to pick up extra speed, and hopefully some better apparent wind, to make up for the extra distance. If the sail plan is not producing enough power in light wind it is hard to get the speed. For cruising a 135% on a furler is a good choice. In PHRF, not so much. Many clubs give a small credit for downsizing to a 135.1% - 145% jib, maybe +4 NFS. If you are smaller than the 135% you may get +8. It may be that downwind broad reaching on a 114.9% is not much slower, but could give you a +18 adjustment. If wing on wing is advantageous only up to 5 kts true, 3 kts apparent then you likely do not need a hefty whisker pole. There is not that much force on a 135% in 3 kts. If you find wing on wing produces the best VMG up to 10 kts then you need something stronger. I have the Forespar Line Control 12 - 22. It is heavy, takes a while to set up. The advantage of a heavier adjustable whisker pole is that you may use it to set sail shape on a broad / beam reach in heavier winds. I do not have a "jib top" or sail cut for that. I can also run wing on wing up to 14 kts true. Likely higher but at some point there is a risk of breaking something, rolling the pole underwater, who knows what else. The other thing you can try is "flying" the jib wing on wing. Works in light air if your spreaders are in line and you can get the boom all the way out. You will need someone to sit on the boom and control it for safety. What you will do is cross over the lee so the wind is on the boom ( wrong ) side but that might hold out the jib and fly it. If you change sheeting position forward and from the rail you may get good sail shape. If your course is set up with a windward mark and offset, and if you can pick up speed while on the beam reach between them there are some tactics to consider in the first few boat lengths after the rounding. You may find that the extra boat speed is best used covering distance to the finish. Depends on how well you "coast". The only advantage to a heavy boat in a light wind race. Carve by the offset, letting the jib and main out until almost dead down wind. Then gybe the main and fly the jib.The thought is to be gentle - don't use the rudder as a brake - and keep the sails filled. After a few boat lengths you may want to change tactics. It is a bit like when flying a spinnaker and you get pressure, the skipper heads down. I guess this is one of the reasons we like the sport, infinite variables and solutions. Michael Brown Windburn C&C 30-1 Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2015 10:44:37 -0400 From: Jean-Francois J Rivard <jfriv...@us.ibm.com> To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Stus-List Whisker Pole Message-ID: <ofbe4573e7.852f1065-on85257e0a.004bc0e1-85257e0a.0050f...@us.ibm.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'm looking for a used 12-22 ft (Absolute minimal length 18.9 FT) whisker pole. It seems that in light winds jibing / reaching is not paying off for me.. I was a contender for any of the top 3 spots all the way to the weather mark yesterday.. We had to settle for 4th behind 3 other guys running whisker poles. I stronger winds I've had some success jibing and broad reaching vs the whisker pole guys running straight down. But yesterday (3-7 knots true) I could not make it work. I'm told a shallower reach / more frequent jibes could have made a difference.. But that seems counter intuitive from a VMG standpoint.. I am curious to hear comments from racers on this. if I can't find a used one is there any reason not to buy this one: http://www.mauriprosailing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SEL08408460&Store_Code=us&search=Whisker +pole&searchoffset=&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=price.desc&range_low=&range_high=&ProductsPerPage=20 It's pretty much the exact length I need for my 135 and seems beefy enough at 3.3 inch diameter? Why would I pay 2X- 2.5 X for the Forespar piece? Thanks in advance, -Francois Rivard 1990 34+ "Take Five" Lake Lanier, Georgi
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