Upwind strategy?

[Pat_D]

Lots of good info above. Most of my sailing seems upwind: Fla into Caribbean, north into sea of Cortez in winter...
Your forecast conditions seem pretty mild and, if you like, a great easy way to play with upwind sailing. I gather time is not the most critical factor, so
I'll add to the above that many boats will nicely self-steer upwind. Shut down the iron Genny and the auto pilot, play with the sails and she will guide you through wind shifts by herself. Set for your level of fun/comfort. Tack as necessary via a vis the big picture (shallows, ships, destination).
Enjoy.
PS learn from the technical racers--they KNOW sail trim. Just don't be them ;-)

[thinwater]

[QUOTE=soopad00pa;3835420... and then inevitably tack too early and hafta repeat the process filled with shame and frustration. On the flip side, I don't wanna end up halfway to Bermuda before I turn....[/QUOTE]


Lots of good advice.

It is never a mistake, on really long upwind legs such as you describe, to tack a little early. The greater risk is that of arriving at the layline very early, only to have the wind shift and end up reaching to the mark. Better to "dig back in," as racers say, unless there is some very specific reason. Tacking should not be a big deal and should be completely done with in less than a minute. If it is a ceremony, dial in your systems.

Yes, you want to point, but not "as high as you can." As others have pointed out, the best speed to windward is no the higherst you can point.

Also, unless you are headed exactly straight upwind, you best pointing angle will be slightly different on each leg. Yes, the best VMG to windward matters, but you arn't headed to windward, you are headed to one side of that. Take the polar, draw the actual destination, and you will find you want to point slightly higher on one tack (the one farther away from the destination) than the other. The difference is small but real.


10 knots is nice sailing. It comes down to whether you would like to stay where you are one more day. Nothing wrong with that either.

[donradcliffe]

There is no one answer. If you are on the East Coast of the US, the wind is driven by frontal passages, and if you wait for a few days you will end up with favorable winds. If you are on the West Coast, the Pacific High moves around, but the NW winds will stay for weeks. If you are going up the Red Sea, there will be fronts with no winds, or even southerlies, but the prevailing wind the last 800 miles is going to be NNW. However, in the Red Sea there is a consistent daily shift, so it pays to start the day on port tack and finish on starboard.

The cone approach is nonsense for longer distances. It was developed by racers who beat up to a weather mark for a few hours at most, where the prevailing wind does not appreciably change. If you look at routing programs or at the grib files for the period of your trip, you can usually figure out an optimum path in advance.

Many times your actually conditions are not what was forecast. In this case, looking at your track is a good way to determine whether you are being lifted or headed. The track will also give you a feel for the actual performance of your boat. The polars are usually optimistic, and I find that most cruising boats will have a hard time making 90 degree tacks, especially catamarans.

For a recent example, the screenshot shows our track on Navionics for last weeks delivery from San Francisco to Anacortes on a Santa Cruz 52. We knew from the gribs that the wind was going to fill in from the NW at 20-25 knots. The Predict Wind routing showed all the models going offshore, then tacking and getting lifted to make Cape Flattery. We chose to tack at sunset, which was in the middle of the tack points of the various PredictWind weather models. The seas were rough (10 ft at 8 seconds) and confused, with the wind at 325 and the seas at 300. The boat would go 8 knots, but it was falling hard off waves at that speed. No one was seasick, as the rest of the delivery crew were 5o5 world champions.

We spent the first part of the night feathering up to keep the speed down to 6 knots, then changed tactics when the wind got over 25. We took down the jib and ran the motor to control our speed between 5.5 to 6 knots. At daylight, we had gotten the predicted lift and could see the waves, so we put the jib back up and averaged over 7 knots to the Straits.

It was not pleasant, and we thoroughly washed ourselves and the boat, but we made it without damage except for two broken jibsheets. The alternatives involved running unfamiliar bars into Astoria or Grays Harbor, then waiting perhaps a week. If we hadn't gotten the predicted lift, we would have simply had to do more tacks.

[Talbot]

Lots of great advice, but there are a couple of other elements to add to the problem. Current and wave train. Having drawn your cone, you need to look at these two elements as well. Bashing in to a wave train is not something a gentlemen should do!
Tried it in Biscay, and ended up with a very sea sick crew.
Obviously if you are going upwind, there will be a wave train issue, but the ocean rarely has one wave train from a single direction. Adding a few more degrees to your course away from the optimum, will get you to the side of the cone quicker and more comfortably. However, in your weather forecasts it is very likely that there will be some change in wind direction during your voyage. Adding this to the cone of courses earlier and getting the boat in a position to take advantage of that change of direction, is very worthwhile.

An earlier post recommended consideration of using the engine to assist. This will very much depend on the performance of your boat and the steepness of the waves I have a cat that is very comfortable, but is not enthusiastic about windward progress. Most cats will object to short steep seas and come to a halt. running a single engine at about 1500 revs is enough to punch through that sea and quickly gain speed.

[thlamers]

One experience was sailing a 125 nm leg hard on the wind offshore on TillerPilot where frequent small shifts put us in irons if not quickly attended to.

After that I added a sail-to-wind feature to the boat. When it works well it makes the passage not only more efficient but easier on the crew .

Tom laMers

[ColIn Ferguson]

Not sure what your boat is but my Beneteau 423 loves sailing upwind and needs minimal steerage once set up and trimmed.


I would forget laying lines and polars, you have a chart plotter and are not racing or trying to avoid hazards.


A lot depends on wave direction and current/ tide direction. I almost always find one tack more comfortable than the other depending on the wave action and direction.


On a longer passage in particular the current/tide direction can also be a major factor.


If the tide is coming from your starboard side you will be able to point much higher towards your destination on a port tack. Crossing the Bristol channel this can make the difference between whether you can point to your destination or not.

[thomm225]

If you pinch up, you will be going slow.

Do a couple races and this method will quickly be revealed as a bad idea because while you are pinching up the whole fleet will pass you a bit wide then tack and be in front.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

There is no one answer. If you are on the East Coast of the US, the wind is driven by frontal passages, and if you wait for a few days you will end up with favorable winds.

Sometimes this works but most years late Spring, Summer, and early Fall the prevailing winds are SW. You can plan on it at least in the area near the Chesapeake Bay.

On the Gulf Coast near Ft Walton Beach, we used to do the 100 mile Round the Island race on beach cats every September.

The race usually took between 9-24 hours depending on your boat, your experience, the wind, and if you had a Spinnaker.

The prevailing wind at the start of the race (0700) was usually NE so it was an upwind start for about 6 miles then you would head South under the Destin Bridge.

From there out into the Gulf as the wind continued to rotate clockwise.

At the sea buoy, you would turn West and sail 60 miles or so to Pensacola Pass.

By the time you entered Pensacola Pass and turned back East, the wind would be SW.

Sometimes you could use your spinnaker as early as the Sea Buoy off Destin then drop as the wind rotated then raise again as you got back inside and headed East.

[ColIn Ferguson]

In stemming the tide by having it on your lee bow you are not pinching up, the boat is at the same attitude to the apparent wind on either tack, you are just using the tide (or current) to help point you in the direction you want to go.

[Wideocean7]

Another take on the cone idea is to think of yourself as climbing a ladder, the rungs being perpendicular to the wind direction.

In sketch 1 the wind direction is directly upwind of your position. Current aside, It doesn’t matter whether you start on port or starboard tack because after a given time you’ll have “climbed” the same amount up the ladder. Boats A and B have climbed the same amount to windward.

But let’s say your assessment of the forecast is for winds to back (ie move anticlockwise) it does make a difference which tack you choose initially. In sketch 2 you can see that the rungs of the ladder have rotated with the wind direction. See that boat A is further up the rungs of the ladder than boat B.

Tacking frequently on minor shifts is racing boat stuff but a complete pain for long voyage cruisers. That’s why it’s better to keep a close eye on wider area gradient shifts which will last some time.

As mentioned before, a “cone” is good sense to sail within when sailing upwind. This means progressively shorter tacks as you approach your destination. Winds may shift without forecast but at least you won’t be left too far downwind on the ladder.

[colinalleck]

Pull a reef or 2 in at before nightfall you will learn less is more that is take the load of the boat and it will go faster and you will last longer and be happier and less stressed.

also have dinner before it gets dark and ensure the boat is clean and tidy, dishes done whilst you still have light

Have a midnight snack prepared so you don’t have to hassle it during the night

Prepare a thermos of hot coffee or tea for the night

At night ensure you have read coloured lights below so you don’t kill your night vision I use red cellophane held in place will rubber bands

The deck torch has has red cellophane on it.

Harness on and ensure you have a tether point within easy reach from the cabin so you never go on deck without being clipped on.

Books have been written on this stuff I’ve given you 7 points

Good luck col

[pbmaise]

I think the key term the OP used was "on the nose". Frequently, I didn't have time to accomplish a target on sail only owing to someone who needed to catch a flight.

My recommendation is drop all head sails and hoist the main sail full. Bring the boom to center and make sure sheet is tight as possible. The main sail will help boost the speed more than the extra drag it causes in the wind.

If there is a short shift off directly on the nose, you might be able to quickly take advantage of it by adding a headsail. As soon as the sail refuses to fill fully, you need to take it back in.

This will minimize the fuel used by the iron sail.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by ColIn Ferguson

In stemming the tide by having it on your lee bow you are not pinching up, the boat is at the same attitude to the apparent wind on either tack, you are just using the tide (or current) to help point you in the direction you want to go.

The current creates an apparent ground wind which differs from the actual ground wind direction.