Cruising vs Racing

I'm a Cruiser / Racer as opposed to a Racer / Cruiser. Both have there place in sailing.


I was asked by a good friend and sailing buddy why I'm spending boat bucks on performance gear (sail tweakers like travelers and vangs and such) considering I don't race Patience Two .


I don't race her because I can't - a) she's a catamaran and there isn't a good catamaran racing venue close by. Mono hull owners don't like racing with multi hulls because we can and do exceed hull speed (as a reminder hull speed is the fastest sustained speed a displacement sailboat can go based on the formula
1.34 times the square root of the length of the hull at the water - for my boat that's about 7.55 - my LWL is 31.75 feet).  If you  don't believe that witness the last America's Cup - done in multi's pulling 20kts of boat speed in 6kts of wind. 
I've topped 10.3 kts on my boat. In the right wind (over 16kts) a mono has no chance. 


and b)  I can't - she's not set up for it (missing sail tweakers like travelers and vangs and such - and carrying all the cruising gear Mary and I prefer not to unload and load all the dang time. 


I race on friends boats - like my friend Mikes Hunter 216, a light weight sport boat that will kick ass on the water. The last season I raced we pulled a 1st for the series I participated in, beating bigger "faster" boats head to head and kicking them around on corrected time.


Okay, next post on cunninghams and outhauls and more heavy metal stuff.