49er

I think that people read too much into suggested crew weights, sure being the ideal weight will make you faster in the long run but only once you're used to the boat.

Why do people not ask about suggested crew ability. It's easy to say you didn't win because you were too light or too heavy, but at the end of the day it's probably because someone sailed better than you.

Have a test sail, if you enjoy it... buy one!

29er stats are 12.5sq m up wind sail area so prob 9m main and 3 .5 jib with a 15sq m gennaker

Not sure on a 29er but the kite on the 49er is huge as its mast head and is cut fuller as well to enable you to go deeper and faster.......just doesnt hold up to reaches in a blow to well as you will just get forced down or flattened!! Think the main is around 14sq m and the jib around 6 leaving the kits at 32ish sq m

They do not know what the optimum wieght is for a 49er because the weight equalisation rule has been lifted so now they are aloud max rakes and no lead. You really need to be about 142kg to sail it otherwise it just gets to hard to soon. At the Olympics Draper n Hiscocks were 146kg when the rule was in place, and the guys how won it were 163kg. At the moment people are thinking its about 155kg but there are plenty of teams out there going quick who are lighter, but i dont think theres any of the Performance or Olympic Deveolpment Squad Sailors who are heavier. Club sailors go up to alot heavier but the lighter guys will be faster unless its very windy and even then Draper and Hiscocks and people like that go unbelieveable quick.

49ers plane in less than 12 knots, you should be planning in 8 knots upwind and downwind. Just because your not flat lining doesnt mean your not planning, we plane in our 29er in 8 knots, its probably less than that even in a 49er. You have to bear in mind that downwind the 49er has an all up sail area of 59 square metres and boat weighs about 100kg all up plus the crew 250kg. It also has very little rocker to make it plane quicker.

Originally posted by Chew my RS Does anyone know how fast a 49er needs to be travelling before it is planing (in flat water)? How much wind do you need to obtain this speed a) upwind and b) downwind.

The 49er is meant to be able to plain upwind in about 12 knoots of wind. We usually find that we don't think about what speed we should be going to enable plaining, we judge it more on the feel of the boat. There is a bit of a grey area where the boat is between plaining and displacement mode, we just go with what feels fastest but 12 knots of wind seems a good estimate.