Wilderness 21 Racing Performance

[Matt]

Tinker is sail #6, my little blue Wilderness 21.

The first yacht race I ever competed in was the SSS Three Bridge Fiasco in 2005. That year, there were two Wilderness 21 boats, Tinker and Pappy. Pappy finished and I didn't. I'm still trying to figure out all the reasons why I can't ever finish that race. Trust me, January 31, 2009, Tinker will be there with everything I can do to make her sail fast enough to finish the race.

I have two problems with Tinker that I'd like to improve before moving on to a larger boat.

1) The rudder is not long enough. I've broached badly a few times. Tinker has never capsized but that would be difficult with a 60% keel/boat weight ratio. I have to keep a lot of weight in the back of the boat to keep the rudder from popping out of the water when going down wind. I don't go forward or the boat will do a quick 90 degree turn to the wind.

2) Sailing into the wind is slow. Maintaining boat speed into the wind is where I loose all the races. With light winds, sometimes I'll creep by bigger boats, but when the bay winds get over 15 knots, everyone leaves me in their dust. It's not just because the boat is only 21 feet long. I've considered hiking out on a trapeze but that would be too much work. Down wind, I could pick up some time if it wasn't so risky banging around with the autopilot trying to keep the boat straight while I'm rigging the spinnaker pole with the rudder popping out of the water.

Someone out there has a mold for the 6" longer rudder that I need and I've seen this rudder on the boat Pappy. I'm looking forward to the next time I get to talk with the previous owner of Pappy about the Wilderness 21 improvements he made.

I"m going to talk with Bill at Doyle sail makers about a better mainsail and jib for upwind legs and an asymmetrical spinnaker for down wind legs without having to rig the spinnaker pole on this little boat solo.

Any suggestions on improving the Wilderness 21 performance for racing would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[jfoster]

Hi there Matt:

I have a couple of rudders I bought for my unfinished Canting Cab Claw (formerly a J/24) project. Call my cell 510-681-4927 if you are interested in trying them out. I will even help with boat for boat testing against Blueberry if that will help you. tune Tinker. I understand your position as perhaps no one else in the fleet does. Here is why:

My boat is Blueberry, the Nonsuch 22 rated PHRF 246 shown in the table extracted from the NorCal PHRF ratings. I started racing in January 2008 in the Three Bridge Fiasco, and no, I did not finish either.

Race after race, I too share the experience of watching the SSS and YRA fleets sail away from me. But hey, I have a cruising version of a Finn dinghy, with standing headroom and a walk in head below. My PHRF ratingof 246 reflects all that.

Sure, if I am ever a lottery winner, I might show up in Kame's Pinapple Sails loft and order a fully battened carbon main (the only sail my cat rigged boat has). I have to ask myself the follow up question: then what?

Look at that PHRF table further down in this message: The two modified Cal 20's made as much as a 10% improvement in their PHRF predicted performance. They are still not rated as fast as a Santanna 22. They are still likely to finish well behind the fleet in YRA and SSS PHRF races.

As I have learned in my first racing season (I have been sailing, though not racing for 61 years) wind holes and wind shifts in YRA and SSS races can produce really anomalous results. In the light air YRA Vallejo 1 race I finished boat for boat ahead of the whole Santana 22 fleet. ( OK, OK, so I played the edge of the mud with my forward looking sonar to do so....(grin)...) On the Sunday a front came through, the race back was sail shredding windy with a really nasty wind wave against me in San Pablo bay. All of the Santana 22 fleet did a horizon job on me.

As for upwind performance, in the light air of the Oakland Estuary beer can races, Blueberry does rather well. On the other hand in the light air upwind race to Half Moon bay against a lumpy combination of left over swells and wind waves, no boat over PHRF 200 finished on time. Blueberry missed out by something like 20 minutes.

The bottom line, for me is that I have a peaceful acceptance of my racing situation. This is the SSS, with mostly single handed sailing, with some races as double handed as well. The example of the Single Handed Transpac fleet has not been lost on me. I have a wonderful time out there, even in races like the SSS Vallejo 2 when the last two of us (the other was a Folkboat) to finish "relieved the boredom" of the race committee at the finish line.

Some example PHRF ratings

Hana Pau PHRF 273 CAL 20

Freja PHRF 252 Folkboat

Can O' Whoopass PHRF 249 CAL 20 MOD

Blueberry PHRF 246 Nonsuch 22

Tappo Piccolo PHRF 240 Cal 20 MOD

Tchoupitoulas PHRF 234 Santana 22

Tinker PHRF 225 Wilderness 21

John
Blueberry, Nonsuch 22, Sail #48

 

[AlanH]

I've noticed that most Wilderness 21's sit, unloaded, a bit bow-down in the water. I'd always assumed that Chuck Burns designed it that way so that the boat would be optimal with 160 -300 pounds sitting in the cockpit. However, I can guess that if you go wandering out to the pointy end of the boat, you're going to A.) get wet and B.) wave the tail end of the boat around in the air a lot.


How to fix this? No answer, except the suggestion of "never go forward of the mast".

Not sure if the Wilderness is light enough to really benefit by an assymmetrical spinnaker, but you might take a close look at how the Ultimate 20's do it, and see if you can't try that out.

Tinker is beautifully laid out, I must say. Thanks for the mini-tour of your boat this season.

 

[Matt]

Wing & Wing with the Symmetrical Spinnaker

Thanks for the great feedback John. I'll give you a ring about the rudder.

You are right Alan, Never go forward of the mast seems to be my best bet for now. I've had some scarry instances of the boat spinning around while trying to rig the spinnaker pole solo.

In the Vallejo 1-2 race going to Vallejo I flew my symmetrical spinnaker without a pole. One Clew went to right behind the roller furler on a pulley so I could let it go if needed. One Clew had two very long sheets to jibe inside the forestay. This worked very well until the wind picked up and the boat started rolling in the swells a bit too much. I kept myself and the mainsail on the other side of the boat from the spinnaker for balance. I'm big enough to balance the roll when the wind isn't too strong. Wing and Wing with the symmetrical spinnaker is a little unsafe but a nice asymmetrical rigged on a little improvised bow sprit in front of the forestay might be a little safer for downwind racing solo. I also like the way those Ultimate 20's take off on a broad reach. The Wilderness isn't much heavier than an Ultimate 20 but the keel design might not lend itself to be lifted up in the front.

Upwind, that Cal 20 Can O Wopass was impressive in the YRA HDA races. With one person hiked out on the trapeze and running the symmetrical spinnaker in 20+ knot winds and great teamwork, this double handed team kicked some Wopass. I figured that with a little longer extension pole off the tiller and a trapeze, I could flatten out the Wilderness 30-45 degree heel into the wind with the sails tight. Another risky prospect that I might think
about 3x before trying out. The best boat speed for the Wilderness into the wind, I've found to be at less than 25 degree heel. That flat V on the front smacks the waves if I'm heeled over too much and slows me down. I can't quite get to the right heel over angle with the sails overpowered. I roll up the front sail to 100% instead of 125% and have installed a traveller which helps a bit to control the heel over angle.

I'll keep messing around to see what works. Racing against Blueberry this last year has been great for me guaging how well I'm doing with little performance tweeks. I'll see you out there.

Thanks for your replies and let me know if anything comes to mind for improvements that might help.