RS500??

Originally posted by G.R.F Who in hell is Frank Bethwaite? .

too much string dangling for you mr. fuller.

Frank is probably the best designer of skiff style boats there's ever been - ok so he's an aussie but he's been responsible for: -

49er - olympic class
29er - 'junior' skiff class - used at the last ISAF worlds
B14 - fastest hiking skiff out there
Tasar - a design years ahead of his time.

he also wrote "High Performance Sailing" which is the seminal book on apparent wind sailing - you should read it , you might learn something..or at least more theory to beat basher over the head with...

Hi GRF, I know the theory too and it sounds very likely but Frank Bethwaite was the weather guru for the Australian Olympic Team for some years and and an aerodynamisist for Boeing or some other big corporation.  He has data on dozens of international competition venues personally collected for weeks in advance of the teams turning up and he claims there is nothing to substantiate the theory.

Originally posted by Sunseeker 1.   They are very good. 2.   You are crap. [

Well close, but we've sort of been progressing together and they have
certainly dialed strong winds better than we have certainly.

Another point of sailing we struggle with.

If say Close Hauled we're at 40 degrees for arguments sake, we can foot
off to 45 degrees happily to get a better turn of speed.

At 90 degrees we can happily beam reach, but there is this almost a "no
go comfortably" point of sailing at say 55-60 degrees that we
occasionally come up against in a tight fetch, a course laid scewed, a
knaff tide or we've simply over cooked a spinnaker reach.

Either way it is beyond me to know what to do. The crew is in and out on
the wire can't stay balanced, the boat just doesn't seem to settle and
pitches above or below the point we want to sail.

And stupid Lasers simply cream past.

Very very very annoying.

Edited by G.R.F

Originally posted by G.R.F And any other suggestion why a 470 could be seriously outpacing us upwind in a force 4-5, given probably lighter crew weight on their part. Other than that we've been enjoying some success in the RS500, but only in winds up to the top of a Bft 3-4 threshold, we're going to try the smaller main which arrived yesterday, thinking it would be breezy tonight.

Possible reasons:

1.   They are very good.

2.   You are crap.

Only joking!

When the wind gets up it becomes less about power and more about control. A 470 with its relatively small sail plan and long waterline length will always be easier to control, therefore perform well upwind in a blow. Add waves to the equation and you will struggle to hold them off (if the 470 is sailed well). 

Once around the corner things should change, your larger sail area and more versatile kite (you have to fly it) should come into its own and leave the 470 for dead (if the 500 is sailed well!)

That was quick! Thanks for link to results. A decent turnout of 30 boats I see.

Where were you GRF?

http://www.rs-association.com/includes/resultsdetail2.asp?fl eet=RS500&uid=147&class=RS500&resultyear=2007

Edited by Hector