LIGHT-AIR SAILING
Some of the best times aboard a cruising boat are in light airs—those quiet, relaxed sunny days with gentle sailing that just wouldn’t be the same if you were motoring. However, many cruising yachts are not set up to truly fullfill their potential in these kinds of conditions.
One of the problems, of course, is the sheer weight of many cruising yachts. Displacement is still valued by many thanks to the more comfortable motion at sea (and at anchor) that it can confer, not to mention the reassuring assumption that extra weight is synonymous with additional strength. For many owners it’s also a byproduct of buying an older and therefore more affordable boat. Equally, for those travelling farther afield, a heavier boat is likely to have better load-carrying ability than a lightweight flyer. Of course, a downside to all this is that it can lead to a greater dependence on the engine, bigger fuel bills and arguably less time spent fully enjoying good weather.
This also applies to today’s beamy and broad sterned yachts, which have lots of wetted surface area and therefore a high level of frictional resistance. Nonetheless, with a few tweaks most cruisers can be coaxed to move at an acceptable pace.
THE CHALLENGES
In many cases weight is not the only reason cruising yachts struggle to make progress in light winds. They may also have aging and badly stretched sails, inefficient controls for sail shape and a degree of underwater fouling. Older boats may also lack efficient reaching sails,
