not a trick question, just curious rig what for 16-32?

[Sailboarder]

In flatter water, it would be K1 and 7.5, My next step down would be 6.0, and I would find it tight for the average wind. I prefer to be over than under and I'm 215 lbs too.

[isobars]

Even at 215 (I've weighed 205), a 7.5 when it's averaging 32 would be unmanageable at Arlington and fatal at the Hatchery. (30 by Arlington's sensor = roughly 22 by Swell's sensor; location is everything). I gotta wonder how your sensor compares. There's some spray flying off the tops of the bumps when it's blowing 32 at the Hatch.

[adywind]

Oops, are we talking MPH or KN? If it's KN I'm off.

[westender]

So hard to say without seeing the water for myself. Using the 16-32 mph,, I could be on anything from 3.9 to 5.7 depending.

[isobars]

[joethewindsufa]

actually if it is 16-32 mph i would change my answer to NorthSails Duke 6.9 using 460 RDM mast on my Mistral Equipe I longboard. still 230 pounds though - NO change there NEVER tried my 6.3 on the longboard (and don't have a 7.5)

16mph = 14 knots
32 mph = 27 knots

for me the difference between 27 knots and 32 knots IS significant !!

and as posted later the difference between 14 and 16 knots may mean NO planing as opposed to planing

[isobars]

On paper, and when it's steady, and when it's accurate, the 15% speed difference between kts and mph* may matter. But in the real world, where the wind is gusting and changing all over the place even without waves blocking the wind on the foot of the sail and the sensor is on land somewhere else and affected by terrain, my hat's off to anyone good enough to feel the 15% difference. And that's not even counting any disparity in John's assessment of his 16 or his 32.

* The comparison was between 32 mph and 32 kts, not 32 kts and 27 kts.

Either way, John's question addresses a power range of 4:1, which pretty much swamps (by a factor of 3) the 1.3:1 power ratio between kts and mph for me.

[carl]

The 15% makes a huge difference for planing in the low end, especially if you're sailing small enough kit to handle the upper end gusts of 27 or 32.
Most sailors need big kit to plane in 16mph but most can plane with much smaller kit in 18.4mph.
The OP is just not giving us enough info to answer the question.

[isobars]

Oh, I dunno ... it's his question.

And he's no doubt deliberately being vague, because a) it's hypothetical, b) the next day (or session or reach) may be 14 to 28 or 18 to 34 or just plain 10, and c ) his 20 may be the next site's 15 or 25. I think he's just throwing out some guesstimated typical day in his hood and asking what we might use in generally similar conditions.

I know I might rig anything from a lawn chair (for the sub-20 part) to a 6.2 + 90 liters (if it spent much time in the low 20s) to a 5.2 and 80 liters (if it was a warm day, some nice swell or waves, and spent enough time in the upper 20s). That, of course, depends on the wind shadow, the current, the forecast, the water temps, how fresh I am, what gear I took that day if I drove my OB rather than my MoHo, how late in the day it is, whether I wanted to go way up or down wind, the crowds, and more.

His 16-32 criterion is much simpler.

[Sailboarder]