How fast is the 19?

[mgoller]

I have wondered how fast the Com-Pac 19 is all summer and everytime the wind is good and strong I'm on shore wondering.
This weekend the wind was blowing!

I set out to find out how to get top speed from my 19 II with bow sprit and roller furling genoa.

The wind was coming from due west at about 10 - 15 knots, with a few gusts.  I had the genoa furled to about 75% and the full main up.  I easily got up to 4.8 knots on a close reach but heeling was a problem.  I held on and got to about 5.0 knots.

Then I tried a broad reach and got to 5.1 knots.  The gusts got more frequent and compensating for the heeling force was occupying most of my efforts.

I reefed the main down to full reef points and furled the genoa 50%.  On a close reach I got to 5.2 knots and on a broad reach I could maintain 5.4 and 5.5 depending on trim and gusts; and then with the help of surfing down a 1 foot wave left by a passing boat I hit 5.6 knots.  I had been watching the gps on this run and for two reports the reading was 5.6. It was great to see it.

I criss crossed the lake reaching back and forth and maintained over 5 knots trying different angles and trim.  I never exceeded 15 degrees of heel that I noticed.  I didn't need to leave my seat to help balance the boat although I stayed tight to the coaming about two thirds of the way back.

The wind started up a bit more.  White caps statrted forming so I roller reefed the main even more, and reefed the genoa down to a storm jib.
I would guess the wind was 15 - 20 knots and gusting frequently.  The boat handled very sedately in this trim and managed about 4.6 - 4.8 knots on a reach.  When gusts would hit I would hold steady to see how the boat would react.  The rigging would shudder, the boom would lift a few inches, the bow would drop, there was then a heeling further with a harder pull toward windward.

I felt like I was really compensating with the rudder, but when I looked it was dead center amidship.  There is pressure from the weather helm but no slowing from a deflected rudder.  To ease the weather helm I would tighten the jib just a liitle and ease the main.  There was no speed drop.
Occasionally I would have to furl in the genoa.  This was hard because one hand was on the tiller, another was on the genoa sheet letting it out and my other hand was pulling against a monster wind on the furling line.  Several times the wind would unfurl the whole genoa and the flapping was ferocious.  I would have to let go of the tiller and pull like mad on the furling line.  By then I would be right into the wind.  It was at times messy sailing, but oh well!

The wind was not letting up, but the stress on boat, arms and hands was taking its toll.  I furled the genoa all the way in and just sailed on a 50 % main.  While the atmosphere around me was chaos and noisy, the boat was quiet, solid and smooth.  At this point I looked and the gps was reporting 3.5 - 3.8  knots.  There was little heeling and sense of stress on the boat despite a raucous lake of cat's paw and gust squalls approaching.
I turned into the wind and dropped the main and tied it.  The boat was nice to me and stayed weather vaned into the wind while I was on deck in 20 knot wind.  Sometimes my boat likes to start sailing off wind making my work much harder.
I pulled out about two feet of genoa and the boat swung downwind pretty hard and pointed straight home.
About 150 feet from the dock I furled the genoa back in and let the wind push the rigging in.
I came in nice and slow, grabbed the mooring line on the dock and it about pulled me overboard.
After having gone fast, slow wasn't really as slow is.  I could have used the iron wind in reverse but it wasn't running or even ready.
I never tried running downwind and I never really cared to see how far over I could heel this day.  I'll leave that for summer fair weather days with a deck hand on board.
I know the theoretical hull speed is 5.442 knots but I wanted to experience what I could do to hit that mark.  I was thrilled to exceed the theoretical hull speed with some hard work, a great boat and help from nature's brute strength.

Some thoughts after having done this speed check.  The comfort level at 5 knots is nice.  Pushing above 5 knots requires a lot of effort and care.  For pleasure cruising I would target 4 knots at most.  

With a more moderate breeze I'll see what speed I get with my spinnaker sometime and how the boat handles.  I know I like the way the boat feels with the spinnaker up and on a broad run.  I just never clocked it. I know it is much less hectic because the apparent wind is calmed.

[CaptK]

Great article, Marcus! Sunds like you were having fun!

[vigsail]

My first question would be:  why do you care?  But, getting beyond that the question gets to be how you were measuring your speed -- were you measuring speed over ground (as is the case with GPS) or with a knotmeter of some-sort that is measuring speed throught the water -- both, obviously, will give different numbers depending on current, waves etc...
The problem I have with your query is that there really is no substantial difference between 4.8, 5.2 or whatever...if you're having fun that's the bottom line.  Don't get caught up in the b.s. that most people get into with regard to speed.  The truth is, unless you're sailing for most of the day (e.g., 20+ hours) the difference of .5 to 1 kn makes no difference in your sailing pleasure.  Further, speed is realitive to conditions...if you're sailing in severe chop and are comfortable because the boat is sea-kindly you're going to make much better time than a boat this theoretically "faster" but is not as sea-kindly.  
Speed is highly overrated.  It's less a function of boat and more a function of skipper.  Learning how to properly trim jib, cuningham, outahaul, vang and main with a properly faired bottom and rudder will do more to add to your speed than you can imagine...so invest your time in learning the intracacies of sailing rather than the theoretical hull-speed of a particluar boat.  Learn the theoretical hull-speed that you knowledge and skill can take you -- you'll be a better sailor in the long run.
And one last issue -- ask yourself why you are sailing.  Are you out for fun?  Or to prove something to someone else?  It's an important question.
Regards,
 Mike

[mgoller]

Hi Vigsail,
You're right, it doesn't matter.  I am just having so much fun and have been really excited about sailing of late.  I never had the gadgetry before so its novel.  I know GPS measures over land in a straight line and the earth is curved, but my paddle wheel speedo doesn't measure right.  I mounted it on the transom because I didn't want to put a hole through the bottom and I think it is turbulent where I located it. (Just to starboard of the centerline just below the surface).  It registers about half the speed of the GPS.
I don't race, although I occasionally chase whoever else is on the lake.  Otherwise I just see how well I can point, how fast I can go with what I've got.   Or I see how well I can circle the lake hugging the shoreline.  I have lots of games.  
I consider most of my time sailing by myself as practice.  When I take guests out, I sail for comfort.  I don't want anyone having a hair-raising experience on board or anyone ever getting seriously injured.  Although a sailor may consider this sort of sailing boring, my guests usually come away saying "wow that was great".
So if I report on my spinnaker sailing and speed, understand that I'm just enthusiastically excited about these toys and out to share my boyish fun with whoever might be at this same stage of Com-Pac sailing obsession.
In any sport the difference between more, faster, better, smoother, etc... is significant if at least for the participant.
Having fun,

[vigsail]

I agree -- it's always fun to tweek out a bit more speed.  My 19 has a paddlewheel off the transom and it disagrees with my hand-held GPS about 99% of the time -- I have no clue which is more accurate.  But, like you said, it's about having fun -- I have no idea how fast I'm going but I'm having fun getting there (wherever there is).  
Enjoy.  Although I'll only be enjoying for a few more weeks -- it's coming to close-up time for us in the north-east.

[bob lamb]

Marcus
 Enjoyed reading your report on "speed" and your games.  I have a question concerning roller furling the genoa...since I'm kinda new to this.
Does having the capability to reduce the genoa via furling eliminate the need for a jib sail?  Looks to me like having a furling system would be much simpler than changing sails???

Bob

[mgoller]

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the comment on my post.  Well, I have used hank on jibs and swore by them.  But now that I have a furling system with a genoa, I'd say that I would swear by it.

Here's the difference.  With the CP 16 I used hank on jibs. I single hand mostly and when I have guests they don't like the excitement of sail changes.  I had a few instances where I needed to reef in a hurry and things got a bit dicey.  So I installed a downhaul.  That worked pretty well.  I was still stuck with my choice of sail for the moment.  It was either up or down.

With the CP 19 it came with a Schaefer Snap furling system and a genoa.  Nothing could be easier.  The sail is always hoisted.  After I get the main up which weather vanes the boat, I sit back and unfurl the genoa.  When I'm ready to anchor or coast into the dock I just furl it.

Now to your question:  The partially furled genoa is only OK.  It just doesn't set like a well trimmed sail the more you sail to windward.  No one really notices but me.  It does offer reefing of the genoa down to about the size of a storm jib.  It is totally fine on everything from a broad reach to a run.  The other day I was out and sailing with it reefed 25%.  After an hour the wind had calmed and we let it out to full.  The boat pointed much better.  My friend who never stopped talking never noticed the improvement in windward ability.

I am thinking about installing a tape luff on my jib with hanks so I can use it with the furling sytem.  Then I can change sails in the fall when it is almost always blustery and the air is denser.

If my son was in his teens then I would stay with hanks and let him fuss around all day for fun.  He's 7 and carries out anchor and fishing duties now.

[Craig Weis]

This speedy little hull max's out at 6.4 knots according to my SOG.
Better then the calculation [5.34 knots]. Note she is fastest when standing up not layed over.