What gives a boat 'height'?

Thanks Roy. I'll have a look at lunchtime.

Topic: What gives a boat ’height’?

Answer:
1. Sound sailing technique
2. The rig / foils / other stuff

You might be over-analysing, I don't know! Certainly,
the rig is a factor and a gnav, conventional kicker and
using mainsheet tension will have different effects on
mast bend.

You need to be able to get the boom into the centreline
or very close to it and still have control over the
leech tension somehow. However you achieve this is up to
you.

I think the main point is that once you've got a decent,
workable set-up, not to spend too much time worrying
about it and first concentrate on good, sound sailing
technique. You need look no further than that 470 clip
as an example of how to sail a single trapeze boat
upwind in marginal conditions and aspire to that.

If you can get that basic technique even half right,
you'll already be blowing 90% of the rest of the Vago
fleet out of the water and you also then have solid
foundations on which to go forward and start worrying
about other stuff, like which way to go!

Not in the clip you linked too. You can see the helm easing the main sheet and the boom end not rising. So kicker is controlling leech tension in the video. Sounds like I'm being pedantic, which I suppose I am, even though I agree with what you are saying.

I used to sail and train in Lasers. Now there's not
going to be much difference between Lasers if properly
setup and yet some people just outpointed everybody else.
This got me thinking and I wonder if you are suffering
from the same problem.

If there were no wind at all but you still had a little
way on, what would be the best angle to point? Well the
answer is straight at the mark and yet I see novices all
the time let the boat bear away as the gust eases. Its
natural as the boat heels to leeward it rounds up and
when the wind eases the boat bears away. That is not the
fastest way up a beat and when you look at the boats
around you they all seem to work their way up to windward
and so you think your boat doesn't point.

So here's how to do it. Get the boat setup as advised
above and then steer it. Gain speed in the gusts by
driving the boat a bit - which may mean easing the main,
but don't let the boat heel. When you have speed, head
up enough to maintain speed and this will most often mean
trimming the sails in a bit. In the lulls head up a bit
more and trim the sails really flat and narrow. As the
boat looses speed you'll have to gradually bear off a bit
and ease the sails to get back to the optimum settings
for maintaining speed.

Its a bit like having a 3 speed gear box. 1st gear is
for acceleration and its open leached, 2nd gear is for
maintaining cruising speed, tighter leached but the sails
should not be too flat and 3rd gear is "point at all
costs". You don't use 1st gear very much unless there's
a hell of a chop and not much wind. 2nd gear is the one
you'd use in a steady wind - its the optimum for windward
work. And 3rd gear is like a very high gear - hopeless
for dealing with gusts but it'll give you a little drive
whilst you point up. Naturally these gears are slightly
different in the way they are implemented according to
average wind speed. And just as a rider the gears are different according to the type of boat, for instance a
Laser 4000 is very different from a Laser.

It sounds complicated doesn't it, but then sailing a boat
to windward is difficult and that's the challenge.