Standing up in a hiking class

Leeway is greatly misunderstood. In reality its simply the angle of attack the daggerboard is working at.

An interesting question, which I've rarely seen considered in print is, bearing in mind

i) the angle of attack on the daggerboard is going to be much the same no matter what, and

ii) most boats (especially more modern ones) are wedge shaped and pretty asymettrical when heeled

at what heel angle are you going to get the lowest hull drag, and heeled which way?

I've not actually studied the question myself, but a quick sketch makes me think that windward heel may mean the immersed hull sections are better aligned with the water flow. Its all going to depend on individual hull designs of course, but I've known boats that really seem to want a bit of windward heel upwind, and boats that seem less fussed...

An old style more symmetrical boat is going to be much less fussed which way its heeled in that respect I should think, and a very flat sterned boat will tend to just drag the corner if its heeled much anyway, so its surely very variable.

Edited by JimC - 19 Oct 15 at 4:17pm

I hope that somewhere I can find the picture of one of our Belgian resident Minisprint sailors doing a handstand on the seat while sailing along. Dean, do you follow y&y?

Originally posted by JohnJack Originally posted by IanW Skill Level = Ninja