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Topic: Windward performance? (Read 1259 times)
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James
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Having sailed a Drascombe Lugger for many years, and never had much luck going to windward I noticed one of your boats the other day out-pointing me and sailing faster. While I am used to being overtaken by the racing fraternity, your boat had three sails like mine and looked all traditional and well, comfortable.
I think she was a Storm 17. What is her secret? I could clearly see he had the engine up so it wasnt the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"iron topsail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" pushing him along!
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Jeff Curtis
Jr. Member
Posts: 6
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Hi James. I have sailed a Drascombe Lugger for many years and tried out a Storm 17 last summer. The Lugger will go to windward, just, with new sails and the mainsail pulled in really tight. But it is painfully slow and creates masses of leeway. The crude lines of the centreplate and rudder and the fact that the centreplate in particular can flop sideways doesn\\\'t help. And the boomless sail plan, whilst saving a few sore heads, must add to the overall poor windward performance. I also think the jib sheeting layout is a bit of a compromise as overtightening the jib sheets causes the mainsail to stall. (I think there are short jib cars on the Longboat). I sailed the Storm 17 in a lighthearted race against Drascombes and two other Storms, another 17 and a 15. She went like a train and easily outpaced and outsailed the Drascombes, though the two of us in our boat couldn\\\'t quite catch the other Storm 17 which was sailed by its owner, wife and daughter who seemed very relaxed. Although 2 feet shorter than a Lugger the Storm 17 felt just as roomy and the centreplate case is far less obtrusive. Which is why I have sold my Lugger and am awaiting delivery of a brand new Bayraider. I have sailed the prototype and she is far and away a better boat than the Drascombe and (see the videos) far far safer. The thought of an unrecoverable swamping or capsize was always in the back of my mind with the Lugger, no such worries with the Bayraider. But I have enjoyed my Lugger and was very sad to see her go. The Lugger was fine within her limitations but for me its time to move on.
Jeff
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Claus Riepe
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I had a similar experience. I had been very happy with my Drascombes (except with the last post-RCD ones, which were overweight rubbish).
For more than one decade I had thought that poor windward performance was the price to be paid for classic looks and ketch (yawl) sailplan.
Until 2004, when I first saw the Storm 17 just fly around on the Beale Park Show lake. That got me thinking and I really started to tune my Longboat with every trick in the book including master-sailmaker custom made sails and taller rig. But all I got from that was about 10 degrees better pointing (on each tack), but still nothing even close to what the Storm 17 or the Caledonia Yawls can.
So I finally took the jump and went Swallowboats, and am now totally happy I did. Far better sailing and rowing, and far better safety.
Claus Riepe
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admin
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I think the comments above cover most of the reasons why the Drascombe lugger is not as fast or close winded. Bear in mind though that Jeff and Claus are BayRaider owners to-be, so they are bound to be biased!
In summary, the sail plan is fairly small for the weight of the boat, and she also has a short waterline length, compared to her weight.
The flat non profiled centreboard really does nothing to create the dynamic lift needed to go to windward well, and the way the sails are sheeted, ditto.
Having been hit on the head by a block shackled to the end of a flogging mainsail I definitely prefer the sprit boom arrangement as seen on our boats, as the boom is high above heads when seated, but you dont have the high sheeting loads associated with boomless sails. It is also far safer and more controlable off the wind. The twist set up in boomless sails as you let them out can set up an unnerving roll downwind, though the lugger has plenty of weight in the hull so this is less likely to happen.
If you would like to know more, please ask.
Best wishes,
Matt
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