SO 43 performance

[sailblue]

I have a SO 43 ( 2001) normally in charter based in Thailand. At last years Koh Samuii regatta my boat was miles behind a Beneteau 461 sailed by Cronulla based sailors ( Ian Short, Andrew Short etc ) They explained we had no sails, no experience, bigger boat and no wind.

I have fixed the crew, how do I improve the boat. A basic ex sunsail charter boat. A bigger better headsail? A folding/feathering prop?

How big do I go with the headsail? I am thinking a used laminate/triradial( budget) it will only stay on the boat for a month each year for the two local regattas. Light winds 5-10 knots
Look forward to suggestions on sail that will work.
rgds
Phil

[MartyB]

Light winds eh, sounds like here in the NW USA/puget sound region..........

Three things, you've hit two that will help.

One is bottom prep itself. Are you close to needing a haulout and bottom paint? if so, spend 2-4000 dollars/euros/___ more on some bottom prep, ie fairing the keel, going to a hard paint vs a soft ablative, or a harder ablative like Petits Vivid. A smooth bottom is fast. Depending upon boat size, and overall prep, one can gain .2-.5 knots of boat speed here.

A folding/feathering prop, will net you .5-1knot of boat speed, again, depending upon the wind speed. Higher winds, less, lower winds, ala the 5-10 you are talking about, more as the prop drag will be higher than boat drag.

Yes a sail will work. I would talk to a local sail maker, and look into a carbon or spectra based laminate as large as you can put on the boat! Laminates are better in lighter winds than Dacron based sails, as they can be built with lighter/thinner materials, and will catch the zephers better than dacron will. As you would be the only one using this sail, I would assume you would not have said sail for the lease folks, spend the money to get a GOOD 155 LP if it will fit on the boats. This should also gain you .5-1 knot boat speed depending upon the winds.

If you have roller furling on the boat, will assume so, dump the RF for the race, this will gain you an additional 3-5% total sail area vs an equal LP sail when an RF system is used. Think 1' of sail going down to the deck!

Also, while you are getting said new genoa, you will probably want to change out the halyard and sheets. If you currently have a typical Sta-set style lines, those stretch 2.5% at 15% max load on the line. A carbon genoa will stretch way less than a dacron, so get a Dyneema based line, such as the New England XLS Extra I use, which is 1% stretch at 20% load line. You may want to switch out the main sheet/halyard too.

Do you need a new main? While you may not want to spend the money on a carbon main, a full roach, double full top batten main in a Dac/mylar triradial blend. Or Ulman for about the same cost as a good dacron, has a Cruise Axil Laminate cloth that will be lighter, stronger, less stretch in a given wind than dacron too. Dump the all full batten main, as you have more trim options with a 2&2 full/partial main.

Are you racing in a spin/flying sails division? or a non-spin/flying sails division? if you're racing against boats with spins, you do not have one, a symmetric or asymmetric spinnaker will net you some major gains down wind or slightly off the wind too. An asymmetric may be the better sail with a sock for ease of put up/take down, you can in lighter winds depending upon the shape, get to with in or just above 90* of true wind.

What type of Genoa carrs do you have? line control or manual style? If you have manual adjust, drill some holes in between the stock ones, this will give you a few more adjustment spots to make sure you genoa is trimmed correctly. Do the same for the main traveler too. Put a 4-1 fine tune on the main sheet system also. A cunningham on the main may also help if you do not have one.

Make sure the rig itself is tuned correctly. Amazing how well a properly tuned/adjusted rig will point etc. Some rigs have the rigging at 4-6% max capacity, when you want 20'ish% on the stays and shrouds. This can be 3-8% gain in pointing ability! While not a lot of speed gain, certainly in the upwind amount you have to travel overall! If you can knock off a mile or more over 30 miles as the crew fly's, you've gained some time or made up time on the competition. A properly tuned rig will also not make you heel as much, also gaining some speed.

Any and all of these will help you gain some speed.

The other to remember, is a 46-47' boat vs your 40'ish foot boat, has at min a .5-1 knot higher hull speed to begin with too. So no matter what you do, you may not keep up with the other boat. But you can certainly cut the time down considerably doing any and all of the above. Also, you do NOT have to do all at once. If a boat haul is due this yr, assuming the race is later this year, do the bottom and prop this yr, and the sail(s)/lines next year, then do some more upgrading to the bottom the 3rd yr if you did not go full bore this year, and you are able to haul every two yrs like I do vs yearly. If not, and you have to haul yearly, ALWAYS haul in the month before the race!

Good luck, have fun

Marty

[davideso37]

Phil,
Here are my thoughts. I have the baby sister of the SO43. Yes the SO37. Both suffer from too little sail area for serious racing. Yes the mast is too short and so is the boom for the light air of Sydney Harbour. I have already added a 155% LP genoa to the inventory and am still looking for some extra oomph. Two areas I have explored for indepenent advice are the perfomance handicap penalties and bonuses and the on line sail force calculation programs.
First the handicaps. In going from a 150% LP to a 170% LP a typical penalty would be 6 seconds a NM. If you had only a dacron sail the typical allowance would be also 6 seconds a NM. I have just taken delivery of a 165% LP Pentex laminate with carbon and kevlar reinforcing tapes and hope to pick up 3 minutes in a typical 10 kt wind winter afternoon race of 15 NM.
Second the sail force calculations. Comparing my SO37 with 160% LP in the calculation I get about the same drive as the Sunfast 37 with a 100% jib.
My conclusion is that we will be quicker but not as quick as the SF37 with the taller mast. We wait for the heavier winds when the big rigs are overpowered and we are not at a disadvantage. In the meantime we have fun as Marty instructs and enjoy our cruising with the more manageable rig.

Regards

David

[sailblue]

Hi all
A quick thank you. We got a used huge headsail from Minneys in LA ( Qantas staff pickup) for USD300. Raced it twice and definately better. Led to first mark in a couple of races. Incidentally wind has not been an issue. We had 10-25 knots in the Top Of the Gulf Regatta here.
Sail was about 50' luff and 24'3" foot. Old Mylar. I will now look for a better sail similar size.
Downwind we used a borrowed 800 sq ft spinnaker, hopeless, the Beneteau 461 had 152 sq mtrs ( 1500 sq ft ).

How big a spinnaker can I get away with? My shopping list is now a big spinnaker, a better quality headsail of a similar size and also a bowsprit and good size assymetrical.
As suggested I also need to look at my deck lay out. With the bigger headsail I need more track length to get the car back about a foot.
Next year will be our year. Top of the Gulf Regatta and Koh Samui Regatta

[davideso37]

Phil,
Good to hear you are making progress. The used headsail was a good fit for your yacht. From the I and J measurements a full luff would be 53ft 6ins and the LP on this sail would be around 160%. As I said in the last comments I have gone for a 165% LP on my SO37 and I would encourage you to go as big as you can. The SO 43 can carry a lot of sail, just look at the specs on the SF43. The new sail with full length luff and a bit more on the LP will delight you. I have lowered my furler as close to the deck as the I can by using the shortest legs supplied by the manufacturer. The sail maker has then put some round into the foot so that the sail hugs the deck but we can still use the furler. This is a good compromise. For the racing headsail you don't want UV strips that will add weight aloft and distort the sail with ageing. I have invested in a cover that is hauled up by the spinnaker halyard and zipped up as you go. That way the good racing genoa can be left on the furler where it will suffer less damage than being taken down and folded after each race. Once you have settled on the genoa size I would match the spinnaker to that. You will want a longer pole to pole out the larger genoa effectively and if you match the spinnaker size to that you should have a lot of downwind sail area. The recommended spinnaker for the SO43 is 1334 sq ft so proportioning it up to the bigger genoa should give you plenty of power downwind. Regarding the Genoa material I would go for the most stable multi axial mylar cloth you can afford and would get one with taffeta on at least one side for durability.
Regards

David

[electricmonk]

Please dont take this the wrong way! I know lots of sailors who regularly out sail boats with "carbon" sails, and they hoist the standard offerings as provided by voile technique or what ever. They ALL say they will buy "better" sails when they start to loose races. The difference sails makes is very small compared with the ability of the helm and the trimmer. A clean bottom is however a must have. Read the Yachting monthly artical on "upgrading" to exotic sail cloth, its an expensive passtime that emphasises the law of dimishing returns; the performance difference attributable to sails was statisticaly insignificant.

I like to see my kit last a few years not a few minutes - did you know that laminated sails once stretched out of shape are scrap?

Regarding racing an SO 43 against a benny 46 he should always win.