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Crew/weight on the Bow
As Paul mentioned, weight on the bow increases pitching which results in an unstable flow over the sails. depressing the bow in moderate to heavy winds has a number of detrimental effects depending on the design of the boat. It pulls the run out of the water reducing the waterline length and reucing the ability to surf. It increases weather helm and in extreme cases can cause a wipe out. It increases the impact with waves.
In lighter air and flat water depressing the bow a little is not all bad. It lifts the larger wetted surface of the stern out of the water and gives the helm a little ''feel''.
As to real numbers, on the Kirby 25 that I had for a number of years, in anything above about 8 to 10 knots of air, it was a quantifiable .2 to .5 knots ever time someone went in front of the shrouds. You could literally watch it on the knot meter which we did on a number of occasions when we were ''labbing'' the boat. It was such and effective brake that when I wanted to slow down a little just before a start I would send to people to the bow until I was ready to accellerate again which combined with fishtailing was the best way to shread off speed.
Jeff
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