Okay,

This is simple mechanics math guys.

If a boat is doing say 6.3 knots vmg upwind and 20 knots vmg downwind. how long will it spend racing on the upwind legs, and how long will it spend on the downwind legs of the SAME course ?

Indeed, it will spend 3 times as much time sailing upwind as downwind.

Say he is doing a race of 40 minutes; he is then spending 10 minutes sailing downwind and 30 minutes sailing upwind.

5 % gain on 30 minutes = 90 seconds
15 % loss on the 10 minutes = 90 seconds

So here a 5 % upwind gain cancels out a 15 % downwind loss. We all know that small reaches are included in sailing courses (impacting more on the downwind advantage then on the upwind one, again because of difference in spend time on each leg) and also upwind advantages are very important at the start and right after the start. So in this case I would favour the upwind advantages.

This is what I actually found while sailing the 49-er (and other likewise boats like RS800), which I'm told is not a real skiff. No matter how great the downwind legs it could and would get bagged by Hobie 16's (and other cats) by seriously lacking upwind speed. But then again I'm just an obnoxious nobody who knows diddly squad about sailing. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> So maybe I could not sail that 49-er well if my life dependent on it. I am beating those H16's on my F16 though which has less sailarea and the same weight as 49-er; so I'm not a complete dud.

Wouter