Quote:
Originally Posted by dhays
Cardude,
You likely have already considered this but....
There are two wind speed to consider, true wind, and apparent wind.
If you are motoring at 6 knots with no wind present at all, you will be creating your own 6 knot headwind. In this situation, even thought you are heading directly into the apparent wind, you can set the main so that it will fill, give you a tiny bit of increased speed (maybe a 1/8 to 1/4 of a knot) but significantly reduce your role.
If the true wind is coming from dead astern at 6 knots, and you are motoring at 6 knots, there is no apparent wind. In this situation the sails will be completely ineffective.
So, unless you have a tailwind of sufficient speed to overcome your own speed (such as 15 knots), downwind will not be as helpful.
A lot of this will improve as you gain familiarity with sail trim. Trim the sails based on the wind they are actually experiencing.
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I think that's exactly what I was experiencing. Motoring basically downwind at 7-9 knots with true wind varying from 8-15. So that's why I was getting the cyclical luffing--basically no or very little apparent wind at times. Should have been easy to figure out in retrospect, but I just don't have the experience yet.