Shortly after this video ends, a front came through with much more wind (and a bit of rain so I put the camera away) so playing it safe we dropped the main and sailed under jib for a while and headed over to calmer water to set up a reef in the main sail by which time the wind had eased off a bit. The picture below shows our GPS track firstly gybing down wind in about 10-15 knots then later coming back up wind under reefed mainsail only in about 20 knots of wind. Tacking wasn't easy without the jib in the chop but was ok if we found a calm patch. A small jib would have made it much easier, so might be on the shopping list. But otherwise the sailing balance upwind was still ok with only the reefed main doing 6-7 knots and felt safe. And the tacking angles seem ok also.
It was nice to push the boat a bit on this trip and get to know it a bit more.
Great video, and the tacking angles look fantastic, even if the tide was helping a little too.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes there was some tide. If you look at the tack at the top right it is out of the current and more representative of the true angle.
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