Tanzer 16 --Kind of a slug in light air

Tanzer 16 --Kind of a slug in light air --June 13, 2015 --  200 yards from the finish on the downwind leg.  Just a whisper of wind; the Coronado 15 comes up from behind just ghosts past us to finish ahead.*  They have less sail area, but they also weigh about 200 pounds less.  The actual difference is probably greater.  The Tanzer is required to weigh at least 425 pounds before you add mast, boom, rudder, people, sails, paddles, bucket, throwable, et al.  That's the class rule.

The Tanzer performs really well in winds of five to twelve knots.  She is plenty safe up to 18 knots as long as the waves aren't too big.**  Probably safe in stronger winds, but we haven't tried it.

On the windward legs in light air we add heel and move our weight forward to reduce wetted surface. We move slowly and steer gently.  We keep the sails loose.  But in very light air, the Tanzer 16 is just kind of a slug.

We have noted this before, but during this evening of four races, we got to see her right next to lighter and heavier boats.  Here's what we discovered.  Remember we have a clean bottom, brand new sails, and our seamanship should probably be rated as G  (good -- probably the low end of good --somewhat better than fair but not excellent).

In light air we could only sail about 50 degrees into the wind.  We couldn't hit 45 degrees, but we pointed as well as everybody else.  We went out on the course three hours early so we could experiment with all kinds of tweeks moving the traveler and jib car positions.  But 50 degrees by the compass-- that was about the best we could get.  (In this particular race all of the windward marks put us directly against a 2-3 knot current flowing toward the committee boat.  That cost us another five degrees or so of pointing angle.)

In moderate air and especially in light air, the Tanzer doesn't like to make the turn through the wind. Tony has become very proficient in using the jib to push our bow over when we tack.  It looks like this when we change from port to starboard tack.

It's easy to over-steer when tacking and of course that just slows the boat down even more.  Using the jib helps you use less helm through the tack.  After about 30 races we have this maneuver down so we are smooth.  Lately I have been more careful about adjusting our course for the next leg. Knowing that 50 degrees is our max has proved helpful. (So did adding a compass.) Including an allowance for current has also meant one or two less tacks as we near the mark.

Even with backwinding the jib, it is easy to get into irons in light air.  Isn't that just fun to sit there unable to move at all while the other boats slip past you!  In one race when the wind varied between two and zero we tried gybing to tack.  It worked--sort of--certainly better than tacking.

So--the race.  We did okay finishing 13 out of 16.  Lots of Lasers in this fleet.  Definitely wished we had that spinnaker ready to go.  What do you need for light air racing in a Tanzer 16?  Patience and some cold beer.

* The Coronado owed us some time so we did actually beat them.
** We have actually sailed this boat in 15+ conditions with occasional gusts over 20, but we had three people in the boat that day.  I think it would have handled that wind better with a reefed main. We could have kept her standing up straighter and spent less time spilling wind.  Also on that day the wind was stiff, but it came across the short side of the bay so there wasn't enough fetch for the waves to build.  I have a feeling that beating into waves is not going to be a good deal in this boat.  Maybe that's why they call it sailing instead of arriving.