VMG

Thank you Rupert, however i am not sure he can read at all.....I do not deny that I am proud of him. After winning the Bytes at Sailfest he came to the club last Sunday late when he should have been packing for Australia. There was a spare Supernova for the last race. It was very windy and he has not touched a nova for at least a year. He dropped it in twice before the start and went off late but on one long close reach he took two boats by going low then hardening up. VMG? At the end he was way ahead of all the Novas and on the back of a 300. He won on PY massively. 

Jimc: I think that u have just explained something that has been a mystery to me for a long time.
Years ago a chap who was regarded as 'pot hunting' borrowed a Vareo when the class was quite new and competed in a class event. I recall us being well bunched at the windward mark, hoisting spinnakers and heading off generally in same direction. However the borrower sailed much higher, off to the side of the course, hoisted and finished at the leeward mark far ahead of everyone else. I was greatly impressed at how he had managed to spot a pat h of breeze at such a distance, but am now thinking that he was much more skilled at boat polars. Thank you!

What these basically tell you is what angles you should be sailing at.

So, for example, if Peaky's curve for the RS100 is correct then if your round the cans course has a leg of 112 degrees from wind direction, then you should sail roughly half of it on a beam reach at 8 knots, and half with the kite up at 12 knots, rather than point straight at the mark at 5 and a half knots whinging about how terrible the courses are at your club...
The trouble is that getting the angles right, exploiting the gusts etc is difficult (and thus easy to get horribly wrong) whereas pointing at the mark is easy.

Edited by JimC - 05 Sep 13 at 5:39pm

Originally posted by iGRF Someone start a thread about polars, I never understood them either.. That's the trouble with dinghyists all so up themselves hardly anyone knows anything yet they all pretend to understand, then say nothing for fear of sounding an idiot, so it's left to us actual idiots who don't care, to ask.

Someone start a thread about polars, I never understood them either..

That's the trouble with dinghyists all so up themselves hardly anyone knows anything yet they all pretend to understand, then say nothing for fear of sounding an idiot, so it's left to us actual idiots who don't care, to ask.

Edited by iGRF - 05 Sep 13 at 4:19pm