Done a lot of racing. Upwind depends a lot on the wind, boat seas etc, Not reduced to a number rather winners have a sense for the boat. Hard describe. In heavy winds you may want to feather up. When the boat feels sluggish you may want to slacken off. The best learning I got was from an old salt who has us kids sail blindfolded.

 

We have also used blindfold (well closed eyes to be more accurate) technique in NSW Heron Dinghys junior training camps for teenagers about 2000 to help them develop feel, also teaching them to change direction by changing trim of sails, eg mainsheet on harder and jib softer to go more to windward, main softer and jib harder to steer to leeward. Many also say that the best car racing drivers start young in go karts and develop a feel through the seat of the pants.

 

I klnow that this is an old thread but I am hopeful of a response. The OP says that he had his B&G Vulcan plotter set to display VMG to mark. I cannot find how to do that in the manual or by hunting through screens. I cannot find any way to reach B&G for support by email or phone. Any advice?

 

I know nothing about the Vulcan plotter, but on our B&G Tritons, VMG is a configurable datum for a variable in a display page. B&G software tends to be very similar across devices, so I suspect you have the same ability. Is there a data box available where you can choose which data to show?

Mark

 

Yes, optimize VMG.

The exception is if you are not sailing dead to windward. In that case, the best VMG will be slightly different on each tack (look at the polar).

The computer will tell you the best VMG dead up wind. But as Joshamee Gibbs said "But we're not trying to find north (sail dead up wind) are we?"

 

The B&G instruments also have a velocity made good to course function. This is useful if sailing to a waypoint not dead to windward.

Mark