One major key to stop pinching does involve setup. As previously mentioned, if you have weather helm, your boat will pinch when you're not actively working against that. And, generally speaking, any time you are using the rudder to make the boat go a way it doesn't "want" to, you are bleeding speed (rudders double as great brakes).
The biggest contributors to weather helm are mast rake and rudder rake. You need to experiment to find the best settings for your boat, crew weight and conditions.
Mike
Rudder rake has nothing to do with weather helm, though it has a big influence if the rudder feels heavy or not. Mast rake has some subtle influence, but on a boat with boom and dagger boards it is pretty much the last thing I would think to touch. Finally the theory of rudders brakeing is wrong too, since the rudders provide the lateral resistance if the boat has weather helm. That makes drag, but since the daggerboards has to works less, the total drag balance is quite neutral.
A very important factor is proper longitudianl trim on light single hander boats. You have to be close to the front beam to keep the stern out of the water. Another key is to pull enough mast rotation. Indeed a wing mast is more sensible to that. Ihe difference between a conventional and a wing mast is huge. On a conventional mast you pull it somewhere to the daggerboard and can forget about it the rest of the sailing more or less. On a wing mast you pull it to end of the rear beam. In strong wind you may rotate out a bit (to open the top of the sail). Keep the sheet tight and the sail flat with the downhaul.
As Jake said, go for speed. Once you have speed you will automatically go higher to keep the boat flat. Once you loose speed, bear away again.
Cheers,
Klaus
You may have misunderstood my point about the rudder drag. If the boat has weather helm, and you are pulling the rudder constantly just to go straight, that is adding drag to the equation.
Not sure that it matters, but my experience is based on Hobie 16s. Mast rake makes a huge difference in pointing ability. If the mast rake is set up to pinch, and the rudders are not set properly, they will add drag as you try to steer down to a faster angle (and the boat won't go as fast as it could, because of the drag from the heavy rudder).
These factors are so important on a H16, that I have a hard time believing they are not important on other designs.
The fastest settings (for getting around the course) seem to be either neutral helm, or a very small amount of weather helm. Lee helm is slowest.
I do agree that (all things being equal) the crew weight needs to be forward to foot.
Mike
