Racing a 35-2

[Kyle62]

Very nice upgrade. I just bought an 1974 E35. I've only seen her that one visit that sold me on the boat. I plan on racing and will look into that same type of mast support you made there. Thanks!

 

[Seth]

I have a hydraulic backstay. The mast does not bend much, but tightening the backstay also tightens the forestay to some extent when the jib shows signs of deforming when close hauled.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

THIS. 100% need a hydraulic backstay if you want any decent upwind performance. The other posters are right on several counts. If you can go back to the original chainplate location it will be better, but they are also right that the 135 doesn’t really benefit from the inboard lead-a 150/155 will. All that said , these are tender boats so with 5-6 people on the rail you will still be overpowered with the 150 at 12 knots true. If you stay with the 135, maybe live with the leads but set up a good lead for a 95-100% jib for anything over 15. The small jib properly led and a tight backstay will make a world of difference. Some other speed tips: 1). Sail the boat as flat as you can (crew on the rail),2). Get weight out of the back of the boat. They tend to frag their stern sections adding wetted surface. Keep all heavy things out of the ends; no anchor and chain forward, minimal gear in the aft lockers. Keep anything heavy on top of the keel. The boat tends to pitch in waves so keeping weight out of the ends is huge. Providence is a well sailed 35-2 in Chicago and has won more Mac races than I can count, as well as local racing as well. If prepared and sailed well, they are competitive in PHRF. Best points of sail are reaching and running, upwind you should think more about VMG and realize you won’t point with modern boats. Sail 5 degrees or so lower and keep it moving. Finally on course racing, remember they are relatively slow to accelerate out of tacks, so minimize tacking and always tack or gybe when you are at full speed for the conditions. Enjoy

 

[Seth]

Art,
What do you mean by "jib top"? That's a new term for me. And a really big staysail? Interesting.
Jeff

A jib top is also known as a “reacher”, and is a deep, high clewed genoa designed for angles from about 55-80 TWA. They are not meant for upwind sailing. The high clew and wider sheeting angle allows for a genoa staysail to be set in between the forestay and the mast. The early 35-2 brochures show this sail combination and it is very effective close and beam reaching up to 12-15 TWS.

 

[Commodore_64]

THIS. 100% need a hydraulic backstay if you want any decent upwind performance. The other posters are right on several counts. If you can go back to the original chainplate location it will be better, but they are also right that the 135 doesn’t really benefit from the inboard lead-a 150/155 will. All that said , these are tender boats so with 5-6 people on the rail you will still be overpowered with the 150 at 12 knots true. If you stay with the 135, maybe live with the leads but set up a good lead for a 95-100% jib for anything over 15. The small jib properly led and a tight backstay will make a world of difference. Some other speed tips: 1). Sail the boat as flat as you can (crew on the rail),2). Get weight out of the back of the boat. They tend to frag their stern sections adding wetted surface. Keep all heavy things out of the ends; no anchor and chain forward, minimal gear in the aft lockers. Keep anything heavy on top of the keel. The boat tends to pitch in waves so keeping weight out of the ends is huge. Providence is a well sailed 35-2 in Chicago and has won more Mac races than I can count, as well as local racing as well. If prepared and sailed well, they are competitive in PHRF. Best points of sail are reaching and running, upwind you should think more about VMG and realize you won’t point with modern boats. Sail 5 degrees or so lower and keep it moving. Finally on course racing, remember they are relatively slow to accelerate out of tacks, so minimize tacking and always tack or gybe when you are at full speed for the conditions. Enjoy

This is fantastic - thanks for the help!

 

[oldfauser]

A jib top is also known as a “reacher”, and is a deep, high clewed genoa designed for angles from about 55-80 TWA. They are not meant for upwind sailing. The high clew and wider sheeting angle allows for a genoa staysail to be set in between the forestay and the mast. The early 35-2 brochures show this sail combination and it is very effective close and beam reaching up to 12-15 TWS.

maybe today, but back when these boats were new, the "double head" rig was what was used upwind. The Ericson 46 was awesome and their rig was designed for a double head rig, as was the 35-2 and 32-2. The staysail sail area was unrated. The staysail also helped create the "end plate" effect that a normal 170 deck sweeper would create. We were as fast upwind with the double head rig as the Tartan 30's were with their 170% jibs in our C&C 30, and way faster when we cracked sheets to the 45 to 50 degree AWA. When the wind picked up, we would put up the #2, a 150%!.
The picture I posted (that i actually took) was a 35-2 on a windward leg of a race with a double head rig.

Art

 

[Loren Beach]

There is an E-35-2 in the NW Offshore race that starts today, I should note. ("Aja")

Entrants — Pacific NW Offshore

www.pacificnwoffshore.org

Scroll down the entrant list to find it.

 

[Seth]

maybe today, but back when these boats were new, the "double head" rig was what was used upwind. The Ericson 46 was awesome and their rig was designed for a double head rig, as was the 35-2 and 32-2. The staysail sail area was unrated. The staysail also helped create the "end plate" effect that a normal 170 deck sweeper would create. We were as fast upwind with the double head rig as the Tartan 30's were with their 170% jibs in our C&C 30, and way faster when we cracked sheets to the 45 to 50 degree AWA. When the wind picked up, we would put up the #2, a 150%!.
The picture I posted (that i actually took) was a 35-2 on a windward leg of a race with a double head rig.

Art

Sure. All depends on how the headsail is designed and the hull shape you are working with. I worked at Ericson starting at the end of the production run of the 35-2 and am very familiar with the double head rig on these boats and many others. On distance races it provided the better vmg upwind for this boat specifically (and similar ones) because it didn’t point as well as boats with higher aspect underbodies. Obviously not a good setup for buoy racing trying to tack both sails, and yes that setup worked on boats with similar underbodies on longer races by virtue of sailing a few degrees lower. Modern hulls would only use a JT with or without a genoa staysail underneath it when cracked off reaching

 

[oldfauser]

i totally agree - not so good around the buoy's, and slower to tack! I was trying to answer the OP as to why the lower shrouds were mounted at the base of the cabin top and the uppers at the outboard rail, to facilitate the trimming of the genoa staysail.

and the picture of the 35-2 with the double head rig was taken during a long distance race on Lake Erie

 

[Seth]

All good!