Originally posted by aslyfox foggy San Franscisco Bay
Sailboat passing Alcatraz
As a sport sailor in a tough environment--Newfoundland--I follow such things and one thing I've run across is that San Fran sailors average a rather large number of knockdowns as for some reason they never like to reef (note the boat in the far background). This is one of the VERY few times I've EVER seen a pic of a sensible sailor in SF Bay! He's looking to be at pretty close to a max efficient heel with no spanker at all mounted and a single-reefed main. Basically he's reduced his sail area by around half.
Constantly burying the rail is exciting, I suppose, but it actually isn't at all the fastest method of sailing most times as both the keel and the sails lose a lot of effective area at high angles. Depending on the exact direction of the wind in relation to course, my particular boat does best at ~17-20 degrees (beam reach--i.e., perpendicular to wind) to ~23 degrees (close hauled--i.e. into the wind as close as possible) degrees of heel.
Last weekend in swirling 20-25 knot winds in my home arm near the marina I pinned the pitch meter at 45 degrees twice as the swirls came off the cliffs even while completely double reefed (i.e, sail area reduced to about 1/7th), but that is terrible for speed and not much good for people either--generally boats can take far more punishment than people. I was single-handing, but if I'd had non-experienced passengers aboard I would have motored as to beginners a 45 degree heel is downright terrifying. But that's nowhere near a knockdown where the heel hits 90.