The asyms work best when they bring the AWS up and AWA forward. That is hard to do on the typical C&C which neither planes or easily exceeds hull speed. It looks like a wild ride on the J/80s, Melges and such when they lift off and scream downwind in a breeze.
I raced in a very mixed fleet for the last two years, the RC let all spinnaker boats race each other if they wanted to on what is normally the white sail night. So with a 30-1 I am racing J/22, J/24, J/70. J/80, Kirby 30s. I have rigged with an over sized spin pole of 14.44' and 195% asym and sym spinnakers. The sym is more useful for us with the 1 mile upwind / downwind legs, though we can peel to the aym if required. The Js are very hard to beat when the conditions are right for them. They need enough wind to get to a plane downwind, but not too much to make the upwind leg tough. The J/80s have a sweet spot of maybe 10 -14 kts. As you note in light winds they are sailing all over the place downwind. I have had both the sym and asym for two years now, still learning. I did about 1200 nm of racing last year, 1100 nm this year. I am getting the confidence up to do peels solo, and trying to work out the best sail / tactics / VMG of each. I doubt that downwind an asym on a sprit works anywhere near as well as a sym on a pole, at least on most of the C&Cs. The asym on a pole is a bit better but still not as good going deep. I doubt that even a +9 sec/mile PHRF adjustment will compensate for an asym + sprit on a light wind day. Upwind is a bit different. We carry either to 90 AWA. The sym causes more leeway which may not be a problem. Tighter than 90 the asym will develop more power. If the TWA is 100 or more the asym will easily bring AWA up to 80 or less and may increase AWS. The sym will not. At the tightest upwind angles, with AWA of around 60 surprisingly then sym works as well as the asym, though I think neither is really running as intended. With our running rigging tacking the asym is easier, which we only would do in very light wind. The one condition where the asym works very well for us is 6 - 8 kts at around 110 TWA. It takes a while to get the speed up and playing with the trim, but if I can get the AWA up even 1 kt and the AWA up to 75 - 80 then I get close to 2 kts more hull speed compared with trying to work with the 155% genoa. My sym doesn't generate the same power and won't do it. Michael Brown Windburn C&C 30-1 Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 09:55:32 -0400 From: "Gary Nylander" <gnylan...@atlanticbb.net> To: <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Subject: Re: Stus-List Selden sprit kit install Message-ID: <4C50DDABD90142D5B2920192693C8243@GaryPC> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" The first thing to consider is whether you will get a ratings hit. I have three friends who have asym spinnakers added into their sail inventory. They each got a three second hit. But, they race offshore and do some medium distance stuff (20-80 mile races on the Bay). If the wind is right, the asym is a big help - they fly them off the pole so can move the tack back when the wind shifts or the course demands it. Agreed that for buoy racing, the performance gain is nil. But, if one can change from regular to asym at will (that is why the 3 seconds) then once in a while a big gain can be made with an asym. And one can go back to the symmetrical when the wind is aft. After sailing the last four years on a J-80, I appreciate the simplicity of an asym, but really don't like to have to sail all over the river while my symmetrical friends are going directly to the next mark. And here in light air, we don't get to plane often enough, period. The boats in question are two Cal 40's and a C&C 115. The Cals rate the same as the J-80.... My $.02 Gary Nylander St.Michaels MD
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