Force 5 Class Forum

When racing I seem to lose the most ground on the run to the windward mark. One thing I noticed is that when I pull in the sail to close-hauled, it comes in smoothly and then at some point starts to pull down, which stretches the sail. This is with a pretty tight vang set. For maximum speed/best pointing should I stop before it pulls down, or do I want the boom to pull down and flatten the sail?

Bill,

First let me start with the basics. The leech of the Force 5 sail has a natural curve to it. The vang must be tight enough to bend the mast to at least match this curve. Lay your sail out on the grass and you will see what I mean. I bring my main in amost center then vang until I see the shape of the sail get to where it has the curve I feel I need.

Also, can you tell me a few more things about the conditions when you are loosing ground going to weather. Things like conditions (Wind, Waves, Shifts), boat heel, your postion on the boat, downhaul, outhaul, daggerboard postion, etc. All of these play into how well you do upwind.

Lots of my problems have to do with bad strategy, but I thought that I should at least make sure I'm getting as much boat speed as I can, and I wasn't clear about the sail setting. I'll lay out the sail and play with it, when the snow melts!

I do all the standard racing things when going to windward; board full down, sail in tight, no luffing, body at mid-boat, hiking out. I've lost ground when I do long tacks and go way off looking for more wind, when everyone else is doing a series of short tacks, although once in a great while I hit the jackpot.

From racing my Finn, I know one of the best things you can do for yourself when going to windward is practice your tacking so you don't have to think about it. When you have slow or sloppy tacks, you end up losing more than the 1 to 1.5 boat lengths especially in a small boat with larger chop. Going to the corner is always a crap shoot. When you can tack fast, then you're free to think about tactics, staying out of bad air, etc.

I'm sure how much it applies to the Force 5 compared to the Finn since the Finn has absolutely no shape to the centerboard and the Force 5 has a wing-type section, but it's vital you don't pinch after you finish the tack and sail a little fat. This allows the boat to come back up to speed quicker which in turn causes the centerboard to generate more lift. This keeps you from sliding sideways and allows you to point higher sooner after the tack.

Kevin,

I noticed that you are in Slidell, LA. can you send me an email through the Force 5 President email on the class page. I wanted to ask you about possibly picking up a boat in your area.

Thanks