Sailing Performance (close reach to down wind)

[Ron]

Yesterday we had light winds from 8 mph building to about 10 in the afternoon. I used my GPS to understand my speed for different points of sail. I know the Mac 26x doesn't point well. I searched this site to try and find what others have experienced, but was unable to find what I was looking for. What I found was I can sail 60 degrees off the wind. I can get a little closer, maybe 50 degrees but the speed drops so much that fading off the wind makes more sense. So, when I tack from one side to the other I go through 120 degrees.

On a close reach I was doing about 3.0 knots. If I dropped off another 30 degrees to a broad reach, while letting the sails out a little I got up to 4.0 knots (averaged more like 3.8 knots).

Downwind the boat is really slow. I have a genoa on roller fuller and the main. Downwind I only got about 1.6 knots (this is not true downwind but 30 degrees off of downwind).

My experience is the Mac 26x only performs well when reaching. Close hauled it does poorly and downwind it does poorly (maybe a spiniker would help or other sails, but I don't have any).

[johnnyonspot]

Wow, I am shocked at the downwind speed. I would think it would be far better. Is this a peculiar property of the ?

[Catigale]

Nope - did a comfortable 6 kts up the Vineyard almost dead down wind with main and genny up. Was a lot of fun until we realised the helm was locked up

[Night Sailor]

If speed is your issue for dead downwind or within 30 degrees of it you cn do this: lift the motor, all but a foot of keel, and one rudder. Use a 14 ft. whisker pole to hold out the genny. It works wonders.

[delevi]

Ron,

Your numbers seem really off. The boat should point much closer and certainly attain faster speeds than you indicated. Can't quite tell you why your experience varied so much, except maybe improper sail trim.

Leon

[beene]

Well I think it's obvious..... he needs to go buy a can of blue paint



G

[Hardcrab]

Ron,
I agree with Delvi about your possible trim.
How were your foresail/mainsail telltales acting while you were reaching? Streaming or jumping around ugly-like?
It's not uncommon to see some slower boats overtrimed to the point of stalling the sails. Your X should have been much faster.
Of course, other things can always add up to slow your speed such as, heavy sea-state/chop, really heavy loading, a badly fouled bottom, engine lowered, poor fore/aft loading, standing rigging tune, or a white hull, just to name a few.
I'd think that 4.5 to 5.5 knots in a 10 knot wind, sailing just off a close reach, without to many of the above issues, would be in the "at least" side of the ballpark, IMHO.
Good Luck.

[baldbaby2000]

3 knots on a close reach in 8-10 knots of wind doesn't seem terrible to me. Going downwind if I compare reaching to dead down wind (ddw), I've found that there isn't a real speed advantage in the velocity made good (VMG) either way. Ddw you should use a whisker pole and have the main and headsail on opposite sides (wing-and-wing).

Daniel

[USAF M26X sailor]

Raising the centerboard(X) / Dagger board(M) most of the way up ddw increase the speed. Just don't forget to lower it at other points of sail.

[Craig LaForce]

A few things to try.

Going downwind,

loosen the outhaul tension on the main, and fiddle with the vang tension a bit. For dead downwind, were you wing and wing? Otherwise should be 30 degrees off downwind.

Pointing upwind
Genoa will not point worth a darn usually, unless you roll it up partway, and sheet it on the cabin top tracks.
Mast rake adjustment is crucial to achieve rig balance (don't want excess weather helm that tends to round the boat up into the wind. I keep the centerboard about halfway down all the time, and a standard working jib is best for going to windward. Make sure you get a full hoist on the mainsail by being sure the vang and the mainsheet is fully loose before going to the mast to raise the mainsail. Watch the shape of the sail and try for the best shape. Even though the X has no traveller, there are things you can do to make similar adjustments. I use heavy duty SS spring latch 'biners (Suncor brand) on the attachement points of the mainsheet controls, and have a second set of fiddle blocks that can be attached to genoa track slider eyes to tweak the sheeting angle on the mainsail.

Steering care is needed to keep from stalling the control surfaces. crew or gear weight placement can also be helpful depending on what is going on.

Good tell tales on the shrouds and on the sails are essential to getting the trim right.

If you do a search on "tuning", "rake", "upwind" etc, you should find lots of tips on how to improve performance.

I would suggest changing to a standard 100% jib for the time being. Although it is only one point of sail, a disproportionate amount of time is usually spent going upwind, and this sail will also handle high winds better.

For downind, the genoa can still be hoisted using the free jib halyard that is used for the mast raising system, so long as you have a set of sheets rigged up for it.

I can't overemphasize the importance of getting the outhaul tension right, a full hoist on the main, and the mast rake right.

Light wind sailing is more difficult to sense sail trim, since the feedback feel of the adjustments is more slow and elusive. If other sail boats are out, try watching them as well for pointers on your orientation. Can also get advance notice of wind shifts if they are upwind of you.

Hope this helps.

[r.fairman]

Don,t forget your GPS is giving speed over ground not speed over water which is a more true indication of performance.If the tide was agaiinst you of say 2 knts your true speed would have been 2 knts better than your GPS indicated.

[Chip Hindes]

Upwind with the X, main and 140 genny, tacking through no better than 120 degrees is unfortunately, about right. I've heard and seen in writing (from Roger's marketing spiel, which doesn't make it so) that the rotating mast M makes it better upwind than the X but my experience in running head to head against several different Ms is that it is only marginally so, if at all. That is with the 140 genny on the Ms as well.

As 90% of my saling is in light to moderate winds, I always run the genny and have never had the standard jib out of the sail bag. I keep telling myself I ought to try it, but bacause it is such a PITA to change out on the furler, I have never done it. I have also run head to head against an X with only a jib. My X with genny was faster on all points in all wind conditions, but there are a number of reasons this might be so other than the inherent superiority of genny versus jib.

It would be interesting to know for sure whether back to back testing of equaly well sailed boats would validate that a partially furled genny sheeted to the cabin top would outperform an unfurled genny sheeted to the genny tracks. My feeling is that the sail shape of the furled genny sucks so bad that it would be a tossup, though I wouldn't argue if you disagreed.

[Ron]

Some good comments and advice.

Yes, going downwind I think I should certainly be doing better. I had the centerboard fully down. I think raising it would help. I have a whisker pole, but in my garage. Next time I go sailing, I'll take it with me and experiment with a wing-on-wing configuraiton to see how performance is.

I'll also try playing around with my outhaul and halyard tension for the other points of sailing.

I can say the boat is well balanced. In the light, steady winds I hardly needed to hold the wheel and the boat stayed on track.

Chip agrees with my upwind experience; it is not that I cannot point closer, it is just that speed drops off appreciably. It is better to drop off 10-15 degrees and go faster.

[delevi]

Chip,
I beg to differ. I can't speak for the but my points approximately 30 degrees apparent, which would be roughly 40-45 true. I can tack through 90 degrees. This part is exact. My autopilot is set up to autotack @ 90 deg and I haven't had problems. Don't notice any speed loss until I really start to pinch. I have done virtually all sailing with the working jib. Just got a 150 genoa and not really sure what all the fuss is about with the "bad shape" of the partially furled genny. Looked fine to me. Not as good as the jib, but not bad at all IMHO. Will still use the working jib on those windy days, but nice to carry the big genoa for riding back downwind. Sounds like the two boats really behave differently. Many report that the just won't sail with one sail, while the sails just fine with just the main or either headsail. No intention to ge into an M vx X debate. Just stating my own obersvations. Perhaps rig tuning has something to do with this. I have tweaked mine til the cows came home.

Leon

[eric3a]

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