Motivated by our first real coastal/offshore race (55NM Helsinki-Tallinn-Helsinki) I would like to open a thread about performance of our family cruisers.
I was positively surprised by our standing (12/19) in double-handed class, IMO the fastest of "family cruisers", the majority of 11 boats faster than us were First 31.7s, J-class, Salonas & equivalent.
We even managed to win a Hanse 370 with 100m2 gennaker as well as a First 47.7 (although they didn't have downwind sails).
Where we struggled the most (compared to others) was close-hauled upwind legs with steep 1.5m chop & 10-12m/s wind, while we were surprised that our relatively heavy cruiser managed to pass a couple of boats on downwind leg in light airs (2-5m/s).
I would be more than happy to learn from your racing experience, especially hints for upwind performance on 2000ish J&J designs. No - we are not transforming into pure racing, but it seems to be a nice add-on to recreational cruising :).
BR,
Tommi
s/y Anniina
Bavaria 40 AC 2001 J&J
Hi !
Great news ! Us we are also in the process of an ORC Club certificate to race in our local club . Our J & J 44 needs first a lot of unloading to be competitive. I believe is a wonderful experience and you learn a lot about the sailing performance of your yacht , actually you are racing against your theoretical perfect self with these handicap systems like ORC
Ours was also effectively an ORC Club race, with some local rule modifications.
We emptied water tanks, but did not go through the trouble of relocating anchors (2) & chain(1 x 50m) to midships, a procedure I saw some competitors performing pre-race.
Surprisingly, we saw ~>0,5kn difference in close reaching when the crew ( 2 of us ) were on windward coaming, rather than centerline behind helm and leeward at sheet winch.
BR,
Tommi
s/y Anniina