[Public-List] Racing and heeling

[Elyse Pastor]

Hello Racers,
I would like to get some opinions on trim and how to sail the A30 in races.
I have been racing our A30 "Lady Heron", hull 297 for the first summer every 
Tuesday and Thursday on Lake St-Louis here in Montreal. We have great fun 
learning about racing but also about trimming and fine tuning.
We started off with being last, last, last and last, but as the season 
progressed we have improved and now we average in the 3rd quater of the 
final results (handicap 0.929).
What I would like to know is the following. What is the proper heeling for 
maximum performance and when should we start to reef the main sail.
1.) The Main sail has a good shape for its age (no knowledge how old it is) 
and has 2 reefing points.
2.) The Jib (150) is on a roller furler (that is acceptable for our club 
racing) and is older. It seems to have a deep pocket when fully out but I 
would not consider it to be blown out.
However, I cannot partially furl it as it creats a back-wind pocket if I get 
to close on a beating. So we leave it at all time completely out.
3.) If we have about 4 - 8 kts of wind she heels a nice 15 degree and we can 
do a nice 4.8 - 5.2 kts on a beating. Very balanced helm (slight weather 
helm)
4.) If we have 8 - 12 kts (before white caps) the rail will go sometimes 
into the water and we might do 5.4 - 5.8kts (Weather helm increase but not 
to the point that we loose speed with the rudder). If we reef the main, we 
have less heel (again less weather helm) and do about the same speed. 
However, if the wind drops a few knots (from 12 - 8) we loose some speed and 
I wish we would not have reefed. So we are ambiguous about what is better - 
more heeling
Over 12 kts with white caps, we also have the first reef but we never go 
over 5.8kts.
5.) In comparrison to fin keel boats, we point very well and do not lose 
much. But in terms of speed, she seems to be stuck in second gear (on 
beating)
6.) On the down wind leg (we do 2 sausages and a race lasts between 45-60 
minutes), we have good performance and can keep up with all the others.
7.) The tell-tales on the Jib and the main are flying well (the blocks are 
set in the 17th hole fom the back on the outer tracks) but again, we never 
get over 5.8kts. I was told that the A30 is tender at the beginning but 
stiff thereafter. My friend has an A37 and even with his large Genoa (170) 
and full main, he never heels as much as we do with the same wind conditions 
and he is just flying past us.
So my question would be - what is the optimal amount of heel and what speed 
can you get on a beating if all is trimmed well?
Thanks for some suggestions on how to get the most out of our A30'.
Bruno & Elyse
Lady Heron 297