If you were to sail in a wind that is constant in velocity and direction, starting close-hauled at 45° and falling off to a dead run 180°, keeping your sails adjusted perfectly to the changing wind direction and observe and plot your boat speed, you could generate a Polar Curve that would look something like this. This Polar Curve tells you what angle to sail your boat the achieve the optimum VMG - Velocity Made Good The concept holds that for a specific sailing condition, there is a single combination of boat speed and true wind angle that equates to optimum VMG. On any point of sail - upwind or down - the longer we can maintain the best VMG, the better our cumulative performance

Previous                                             Return                                           Next