Another What Boat Thread

We used to pull the daggerboard up on the Laser 4000 when we sailed it (if we got time) it worked really well in the light stuff helped us go much deeper!

well if it's really windy we found it stops the boat tripping over and as you aren't trying to point as high as you would in the light stuff it didn't seem to matter so much,but made the boat easier to handle.In the average wind ranges we would keep it down but it certainly payed for us in the "light" and "really heavy" stuff

Not sure what other 4000 sailors think about our logic ? 

Originally posted by les5269 well if it's really windy we found it stops the boat tripping over and as you aren't trying to point as high as you would in the light stuff it didn't seem to matter so much,but made the boat easier to handle.In the average wind ranges we would keep it down but it certainly payed for us in the "light" and "really heavy" stuff Not sure what other 4000 sailors think about our logic ?

I agree, when i crew the 4000 me and my helm as a rule always leave it down EXCEPT for downwind in the very light and upwind in the strong. 

Although saying that in merricks and walkers book high performance racing, they advise always taking the board half up when going downwind. 

Different boats act differently though.  The 4000 has VERY long daggerboard and so other daggerboard boats may not feel the need to ever lift there boards as they would be shorter already. 


Doug

Edited by Doug.H

Like I said earlier though, the problem lies in that with an assymetric spinnaker, you pull the bowsprit out and a very large sail emerges, which shifts the centre of effort a long way forwards as well as lifting the bow.

When you lift the centerboard the centre of lateral resistance (which makes you go) moves backwards. Thus you get weatherhelm. Whereas with a daggerboard the centre of resistance stays in the right place. Equally the correspondingly smaller slot under the boat allows for a cleaner shape. Which is why the centreboard has been all but abandoned by boats with a big assy.

I can't speak for a number of other boats but the RS300 has a canting daggerboard which can kick back if you hit the bottom. But really if you're coming into a lee shore with a shingle beach, surely you should be dropping your sails, lifting your board and drifting into shore to prevent damage to foils?

Film sails were even in offshore racers by '81, well before their common use in boards. Assys certainly did NOT come from boards. Full battens were in use 90 years before boards were invented. Double luff fathead sails with camber-inducing type fittings on full battens were in use in Moths several years before the Windsurfer was invented. Carbon masts were even in maxi yachts by '78. Bent-back masts were common in European yachts and Renjollen dinghies in the 1920s and 1930s.

Not much board influence is possible when most of these things were around before boards were invented!

The strange thing is that the really interesting stuff dinghies could learn from boards has almost all been ignored because most dinghy sailors still think boards are only good for high speed reaching, and that's what most windsurfers do.

I can understand why landing on a shingle beach is hard (I assume it's the steepness and the fact that there's no sand are related????) but still can't understand why British boats are sometimes seen sitting on the shingles with no protection - ouch! What gives, is shingle harder to push a trolley across than sand?

I didn't realise the LDC windsurfing connection, I hope dinghy sailing isn't stuffed up like windsurfing was.

The lee-helm problem on assymetrics is definitely the reason skiffs have DBs. It's always been a problem even in the old days 'cause the skiffs used assymetric flatties with long poles, or long poles in symmetricals. Even in the '60s and '80s, there were 18s with canards that were used to keep the lee helm manageable when reaching under kite. Once you can't retract the centreboard, the long slot just becomes extra weight and drag (although some old skiffs used to go to the hassle of lifting the board right out on square runs, apparently). Also Aussie skiffs normally race in areas with sheltered launching - not a coincidence.


Edited by CT249