Vanguard 15 dinghy stuff

[Apollo18]

Hello, people, thanks for reading this. I am a dinghy racer, I sail Vanguard 15
(a 470-like boat, but no spinnaker or trapeze). Since it doesn''t have a spinnaker I(actually my crew) is trying to use the jib a efficient as possible, so every time we are on a dead run, we are trying to put the jib on the side opposite to the tack, so that the main doesn''t blanket it. Unlike Snipes or some other boats of that kind, V15s don''t have the whisker pole to hold the jib flat and to make it stay on the side it needs to be on, so we have to do it without adaptations of that sort. And doing that is a real pain in the neck, the jib folds all the time, it won''t stay on the needed side, etc. So can anybody suggest an efficient and easy way of doing that.

Thanks

-Anton

[browner]

Apollo - I sail Vanguards, try wing on wing, skipper moves forward and to leeward winging the jib, crew has board up holding main out. Heel to leeward, extending the main up to get more projection upwards. Reaching does require hotter angles thus both sails are on the same side. What do you think?

[miahmouse]

First of all, the V15 is nothing like a 470 so lets just not talk about that anymore.

As the last person said, while sailing wing and wing the skipper sits on the leeward side holding out the jib and the crew holds the board and the boom and heels the boat. If the jib is collapsing while your doing this then your sailing too high, head down(its ok if it collapses every once in a while). In light wind conditions you can even sail by the lee a little(be careful). The main actually starts to work as a foil in the opposite direction, it also dumps air onto the jib. The biggest thing to remember is that almost all boats are slugs going dead down. If you can get the boat on a plane, do it(speed kills).

[danield515]

The V-15 has a completely different hull shape than a 470! We have found that in running it is much faster to sail a higher angle yet still wing and wing with weight to windward. The skipper should be on windward (side opposite the main right now and heeling to that side slightly (10-15 degrees) to minimize wetted surface and get the sailhigher. He should also be holding the jib sheet in his forward hand behind and outside the shroud, and the mainsheet in his other hand, keeping the boom just off the shroud. The crew should have one hand (their whole body in heavy air) on the boom. As far as the jib constantly colapsing, at this point you should be steering to keep it full. If you think its going to colapse, head down more. Good luck, sail fast!

[danield515]

Sorry I didnt see miahmouses post above! I agree with her on all except the leeward bit, althought the skipper is on the low side this is not at that time leeward.

[browner]

your right, misprint with regard to which side. Windward side = side opposite the boom in this case.

[browner]

Lets talk about V-15 racing, or just any small boat stuff. We will be racing again come the middle of March. We had a great frostbite series in Chicago this past fall racing up through Thanksgiving weekend. On the topic of improvement for any beginners in any class dinghy, movement and weight distrubution always seems to make you better if you do it together and smoothly. We have quite a bit of larger bodies helming these smaller boats and they must understand how much more their movements are accentuated because of their size. Work on your technique in both positions and using your size or lack there of efficiently. I notice the biggest losses in leeward mark roundings and tacking. It is amazing how much ground you can loose to another by having a bad tack. Again, using the "roll tack" is a must to be competitive and to gain any ground of the one that is sailing ahead an in clear air.