Paul, I love the Portsmouth ratings as used by the sailing club I am part of because it allows a Compac 19 to be in the same race as a J24 and still have a chance to place first in adjusted time. However, my club is extremely laid back so I haven't seen any politics over the ratings yet... I do admit that my boat, a Mac 26D, benefits from a generous rating.
Anyway, I would love the opportunity to race a Vacationer and might have to talk Keith into bringing his over to my lake for a little club action. Do you know what the handicap rating is? I have a feeling we will have some Vacationers at the next BEER cruise so some experimentation might be in order....
So, you aren't building a racing version but just want to clean up the design a bit? What would you change?
I might be able to do that. Got water? Last time I saw your lake it looked pretty low. We can get together this weekend and talk about it more
Keith
We got plenty of water. The lake is deep and people sail on it all winter even when it gets drawn down 15 feet!
Getting the most out of a Vacationer (or any boat) boils down to three things, rig efficiency, appendage efficiency and weight savings.
When you look at most keel boats you see the differences between the efficient ones and the cruising versions. The go fast boats have nothing that doesn't help them in the water, the appendages are foil shaped, optimally located, the bottom is clean and devoid of protuberances (as much as possible). Things that do stick out of the bottom are nicely faired and thought goes into their location (at thru hull fitting inside the planning patch isn't a good idea for example). The things that can be done to the bottom of a Vacationer are numerous, most reasonably easy, some require major surgery.
Weight savings seems simple enough. Cruisers tend to collect things. Extra anchors, lines, repair parts, spares of every sort, etc. These don't need to be on the boat, unless you're heading to the Bahamas for a few weeks. Racers can get real anal about weight reduction, using high tech line to attach blocks to the mast instead of a stainless shackle, saving a few ounces. These ounces add up, when you count the whole rig, especially on a gaffer. If you could half the weight of the gaff, you'd have close to 50 pounds of additional righting stability. If you get a chance to hold a new light weight, carbon composite block in your hand, the next time you're at the local marine store, compare it to a standard block. You'll be surprised to see how light these things are, and how much weight off the rig you can save. They'll also lighten the wallet pretty good too, they aren't cheap, but if you're in the middle of the fleet and sailing as best as you can, the change could get you to the front pack of boats.
The gaffer isn't known to be particularly efficient compared to the Bermudian rig, especially up wind. Lots of weight up high (blocks, gaff, extra halyards and lifts, etc.) lots of windage (mast hoops, external lines, inefficient sail attachments, etc.) and a short luff, all conspire to blow the bow off when the boats tries to get into the wind. Coupled with a usually small jib, the typical gaffer lacks the power to "get up" and has to much drag to stay there if she does manage to get there.
Internal halyards and lifts aren't difficult to retro fit in a hollow mast. Placing the peak, jib, and lift blocks out of the air flow, as sheaves installed into the mast at the line exit points, will clean up the stick a bunch. Using a track, bolt rope groove or sock luff will further clean up the flow across the main. This is the key in a gaffer, the flow across the main needs to be clean, the jib is too small and not particularly effective on a gaff rig, when close hauled. The Bermudian rig is distantly different in this regard, where the jib is the work horse to windward and the main is partly stalled, along for the ride. The gaff main is the driving sail, working to weather and the jib helps increase leeward flow a little, but not near as much as is so in the Bermudian.
What are some reasonable solutions? Smaller line and smaller blocks (if not hidden in a spar) will decrease windage some. An aluminum gaff and light weight but strong jaws (maybe a track and toss the jaws?), get the sail as close to the mast as you can and use grommets instead of hoops to save some weight and windage, consider revising how things are attached to the sticks and use high strength line on these attachments, especially up in the rig. Clean the sails, they work better. There's even some go fast juice you can spray on the sails that racers use to get extra slipperiness out of them. Are you over rigged with big old galvanized wire? Loose it and replace it with much thinner stainless of the same strength. It will stretch less, last longer and there'll be less windage.
Some many months ago, I posted a set of keel profiles that would increase maneuverability and pointing ability. If you really want to make a difference, the deadwood needs some revisions, so does the rudder and rudder box. A few have tried a balanced rudder and the difference is remarkable, imagine if the rudder was in concert with a centralized appendage (keel), optimized for handling. A whole new set of threads could be set up for rudder or keel modifications alone.
In the end, it's what you desire from your little pocket yacht. Personally, I hate getting beat by any other sailboat, remotely close to my size, but many just want a fun afternoon and don't need these changes. I have a 22' boat that I built in the 70's, that is currently under going a complete redo, new forefoot, aft sections, transom, deck, rig and interior. The last time I had it out a 18' cat was puttering around the lake. He was flying a big pirate flag from his starboard spreader and drinking beer (my kind of sailor), but his boat wasn't performing well. He was sailing it poorly and the main was partly stalled. I couldn't resist and fell off on a broad reach, getting the old girl up on plane and blasted past his port bow, cutting across and bearing way, on a run to get behind him for another pass. He quickly eased his jib (too much) and fell off on a close reach, clearly not wanting to be passed by a monohull again. With his main doing most of the work and the jib along for the ride he still was at displacement speed, when I came along side for another round of embarrassment, he offered a beer. Well that brought us both into irons for a get together and a sharing of the sailor's milk. During the discussion I learned he hadn't sailed much before and this was his first catamaran. He's never been passed by a mono before and was surprised by the speed. I explained I took advantage of his lack of sailing skill and gave him a few pointers. I climbed back in my boat, circled him once, before he could get her up to speed, where we raced hard to the other side of the puddle for the next hour.
It's just natural for these things to happen to some. Others have different ideas about enjoying a day's sail. There's always a wild hare in the den with the rest of the rabbits.
for me, going faster on a given boat class is a how more fun than going slow. A handicap adjust for big differences but all is these great tips will help make is fast within our rating. Every once in a while it will help us best faster rated board like your catamaran. Like the time jim's vacationer beat a flying scot! That is a lot of fun. I have been lucky that way with a couple of boats.
Paul, how about replacing the gaff with a stiff batton essentially giving the sail the appearance of a gaff with top sail? You would have a longer luff for up wind performance and less weight aloft.
anyway, I am off to Bud mess about.
That would require a Bermudian style mast of the correct height. I suppose you could use it on a fidded topmast, but I'd be afraid the hoist would be difficult past the trees. The fat roach mains, you see on performance craft, are basically just what you're talking about. They provide a lot of power, move the CE aft (not good on a weather helm sensitive boat), don't shake or flog and set real nice. They also can be a pain to reef, are more expensive, require fancy tracks/cars/battens and wear at a faster rate then a conventional sail. A full width batten can exert a huge force on the mast and sail, which is why they use those fancy cars and tracks. They also need to be adjusted for wind strength.
I have seen sails fitted with an almost full length batten, which has most of the benefits, but is less stressful on the gear. I've also seen zippered sail extensions used, but if on the top of a main, the main would have to be dropped to unzip the topsail, which could be a pain.
The topsail is a light air sail, being the first sail reduction in building winds. You don't have this option with a battened main, which mimics the topsail.
A new rig for Vacationer could be arranged to increase her weatherlyness and provide more drive. As designed, she is a little under powered and could easily stand a 10% increase in sail area. A little more headsail area (in relations to the main) could help the weather helm issue, so often voiced here. Most boats have a stock rig and a "tall" rig option that you can pay extra for, from the manufacture. Maybe we could standardize a Tall rig for Vacationer, so she can have some more power against the local competition. Her SA/D is around 18.5 (I think) stock, where the "J's" are typically in the mid to upper 20's, providing a real advantage to there light air ability. Of course this means reefing earlier, but that's not a problem if set up in a handy fashion.
The Flying Scot is dull boat in light air, but as the wind picks up, she can plane, then it's bye, bye Vacationer. If the FS was a modern boat, she would be more then 30% lighter and this would help her light air performance. Knowing your enemy, I mean competition, can permit you to beat them when the conditions favor you, or are against them.
It would take a pretty dramatic increase in power and a clean bottom to make a Vacationer plane off. I do think she could plane, but it would be a considerable effort to get it done. Changes we've talked about wouldn't increase her speed much, but would permit her to accelerate and maneuver much better. It may not seem like much, a 3 second tack, compared to a 5 second tack, but if you're involved in a tacking duel with another boat, trying to gain an advantage, after 10 tacks, they've got a 20 second lead on you, for free. Accelerating quickly after a turn can break the back of a foe, I mean brother racer. This one of the features you see on boats designed to race, they can maneuver and accelerate quickly. It's then up to the skipper and crew to run down the boats in front of them with sail set, tactics and an occasional hand jesture.