Forward/Aft trim downwind

Our Vago is notoriously bow bouyant and so a lot of our
time is spent as far forward as possible when sailing
upwind. This gets the transom up out of the water and is
noticeably quicker.

This seems to work well for us and we're often first to
the top mark against 2000s, 400s, 200s etc.

Our problem now seems to be downwind. Unless it's
properly blowing and we can get out on the wire we just
lose so much time on the Laser 2000s.

I'm sure we're playing the kite the same as the others
and we're taking pretty much the same line but we're
slow.

I'm thinking it may be to do with trim but where should
we be? If we move back to assist plane then are we likely
to start dragging the transom again? With the bouyant bow
should we be more forward?

Like I said if it's windy enough it's not a problem, it's
those marginal planing and soaking conditions where we
are slow.

Any thoughts?

That would be Dave and Ed then. I do use the Vago forum
quite a lot. It's just interesting to here the wider view
and what people do with other boats. I quite often gain
more form the reasoning behind a tip than the tip itself,
even when it's got nothing to do with my class.

Just an information sponge me!

Can i ask if you are a 'heavy' crew for the Vago? and how light the 2000 sailors are?

I dont mean if you are heavier then the 2k crew but the if your a heavy for a vago?  The reason i ask in medium marginal winds, if you are heavier you are going to struggle against an underweight 200 or 2000 crew as they will pop onto the plane earlier and can sail lower etc.   If you are a lightweight crew in the vago then it must be a different problem.  Remeber just beacuse the sails are bigger doent mean that you are always faster.

The problem you're facing is that there's no real way of telling whether its the boat or you.. The only real way of finding out is to race against other Vagos. If you slow off wind compared to the rest of the fleet then you know you need to work hard on your technique to find out what they do and you don't. If on the other hand you are equally competitive upwind and downwind against other boats of the same class then its most likely just how things are between the different boats, and you need to live with it and do the best you can.

With my IC I find that I'm pretty competitive upwind and slow downwind both in handicap races at my club and in Open events, so I know its down to me or at least my boat setup, and that's what I need to work on. That's why its valuable to do the occasional open event even if you don't like all the hassle of travelling.