[C38] Flying an asymmetrical

[eyriepg at comcast.net]

I crewed on a 2002 Beneteau 411 in Everett, WA last Sunday.  It had a new 150% genoa and a new roller furling main.  It has a reputation of correcting last so I was curious about what they were doing wrong.  I have to say that, with its shoal wing keel, it was a slug in 6-7 knots of wind.  Also, the crew didn't really know how to sail the boat.

The skipper has had difficulty jybing the sail outside the forestay so they rigged it so they jybe it like a genoa inside the forestay.  It seemed to work OK but they had to furl the genoa before unsocking the asym.  My real question concerns the efficacy of going wing and wing with the asym and the main.  The skipper claimed that he had the same speed going dead downwind this way compared to a heading with a relative wind angle of 150 with both sail on the same side of the boat.  I have never read anything about sailing wing and wing with an asym and main.   Do you have any experience doing this?

Phil Gay
C38 049 Que Linda
Everett, WA
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