Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I'm hoping someone here maybe able to help... I'm looking for a set of polars for the Catalina 25.... I have the Jaguar25 (Catalina built under licence in the UK) My boat is a twin keeler (what we call a bilge keel)... So I'm looking for something more along the lines os shoal draft keel with std rig if possible...
I knew this had been discussed... Here's an old thread. Apparently nobody's found C-25 polars yet, especially for a bilge-keeler, which was never made for the US market. If they did find them, I'm not sure the C-25 wing keel polars would be any closer to yours than the fin--the wing is very shallow.
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Many people have come here looking for polars for Catalina 25s for the past thirty-five years, but nobody has found them. With considerable effort, one could develop polars for their boat, but IMO there's nothing magical or indispensable about polars. You'll likely learn as much about your boat by racing it for a season, and using the VMG function of your chartplotter, as you'll learn from polars.
I've been racing for over 40 years on innumerable boats of all sizes and designs, and have never known a skipper who used a polar plot, including the most skilled racing skippers.
My best advice is, when you're ahead, keep doing what you're doing. When you're behind, don't follow in the parade behind the leader. You won't catch him that way. You have to find either a shorter or a faster route from there to the finish line. That requires creativity and a little willingness to take risks.
Polar plots only provide theoretical target speeds, but those speeds are dramatically affected by whether you're sailing through smooth or choppy water, or sailing with or against a current, or sailing in the lee of a high hill or a stand of tall trees. Working those considerations into your racing strategy will help you far more than a polar plot.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
Thanks for taking time to reply guy's.... I suppose I'm just looking for a theoretical maximum boat speed... My C25 is very heavily modified and we have improved it's performance markedly already. However, The engineer in me is always wondering whether we've missed a trick or there are areas we can improve on still... At some point soon I'll do a quick write up if anyone is interested ?.... Unfortunately at the moment the boat is on the hard and half of it is stuck in the garage due to our covid lockdown...
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.