Lying beam to

A forum for discussing topics relating to older MacGregor/Venture sailboats.
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mastreb
Admiral
Posts: 3927
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:00 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Cardiff by the Sea, CA ETEC-60 "Luna Sea"
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Re: Lying beam to

Post by mastreb »

Try this: Pull the daggerboard 100% up, and leave both rudders down. Lower the engine and let the motor drag as well.

This will move the CLR most of the way aft (but not all the way) and the boat will rotate _mostly_ but not completely stern to wind. Essentially the boat wants to remain beam-to for the pressure reasons explained above, and you're creating a drogue out of the rudders and engine skeg that creates drag at the stern. Worse, there may be "hunting" if there's a second force (current) that dynamically alternates with the wind. Anyway, try it.

Of course, this will dramatically slow your return, as the coefficient of the beam-to boat is much higher than the Cd of the stern-to boat. My prediction is you'll make 1/3rd the speed, as you'll be presenting 1/3rd the area to the wind.
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