David, Not sure how much it actually changes sail performance, but even if you have an adjustable whisker pole, most PHRF handicappers will hit you with a penalty if the pole length is longer than the “J” for your boat. When I had a C&C 25 mk 1, I had to put a black band on my adjustable whisker pole to prevent extending it beyond the set “legal” length. In New England it is 3 seconds per mile penalty for every 10% greater than the “J”. I think the idea is to get the sail to project out as far as possible when sailing close to DDW while still maintaining some flow over the sail. At the same time always avoid sailing by the lee.
As far as the height of the pole, on a C&C 40 we used to race, when the wind speed was over 15kts the pole was set high, in light air, low pole worked best. We would still try to keep the pole perpendicular to the mast as we could adjust pole height at the mast end while some boats the pole attachment is fixed height. The net result of a high pole is twist at the leech. Chuck Gilchrest S/V Half Magic 1983 35 Landfall Padanaram, MA From: CnC-List <cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com> On Behalf Of David Knecht via CnC-List Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 12:42 PM To: CnC CnC discussion list <CnC-List@cnc-list.com> Cc: David Knecht <davidakne...@gmail.com> Subject: Stus-List Downwind sailing- Whisker pole length and height We race non-spinnaker class and a few years ago I got an extendable whisker pole for the genoa. I am unsure about optimal settings for pole height and length. I suspect it is sometimes suboptimal because I have noticed some boats able to carry the genoa poled out at much closer angles than I have achieved. Presumably the optimal pole angle is near perpendicular to the apparent wind. It seems that extending the pole flattens the sail to some extent but I suspect it is more complicated than that. Height I have no idea. Any general rules of thumb? Related to this, the VMG chart I have from C&C has optimal VMG downwind apparent angle of about 140-145° true. Are those numbers +spinnaker, -spinnaker standard or -spinnaker wing on wing with whisker pole? Thanks- Dave S/V Aries 1990 C&C 34+ New London, CT
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