How do the Hallberg-Rassy Rasmus 35 and Najad 34 compare with the Albin Ballad upwind?
I'm considering a Hallberg-Rassy Rasmus 35 or an original Najad 34, but I know the Albin Ballad sails well upwind. How much windward VMG would I lose, particularly in light winds and short coastal chop?
Answer
The Albin Ballad usually sails upwind best of these three, with the original Najad 34 closer to it than the Hallberg-Rassy Rasmus 35. The difference shows most in light winds and repeated tacking, but no fixed percentage for windward VMG is reliable without comparable trials or polar data.
Why the Ballad leads
Check sail condition, hull cleanliness and cruising load first. On boats of this age, these can outweigh differences between designs. A Ballad with a stretched genoa and fouled bottom is a poor benchmark for a well-prepared Najad.
The Ballad's lighter displacement and fin keel suit windward sailing. It generally accelerates faster after a tack and needs less wind to get moving. That matters when beating through narrow channels or recovering speed after meeting a steep wave.
The Rasmus 35 carries considerably more weight and has a long keel profile. It offers cruising accommodation, shelter and steady handling, but neither its extra overall length nor its displacement guarantees better progress to windward. Pinching takes a particular toll: the bow appears to point high while speed falls and leeway increases.
The original Najad 34 is also a heavier cruising design than the Ballad, but it is generally the more promising alternative for owners who want to retain windward performance. Check that the boat under discussion is the original 34 rather than the later Najad 340. They are different designs.
What VMG tells you
VMG combines speed with the direction actually travelled through the water. A close-winded heading alone proves little. Leeway can turn an impressive compass angle into disappointing progress.
These three hypothetical results use the angle between the boat's actual track through the water and the true upwind direction:
- At 5.5 knots and 45 degrees, windward VMG is approximately 3.9 knots.
- At 5.5 knots and 50 degrees, it is approximately 3.5 knots.
- At 5.0 knots and 55 degrees, it is approximately 2.9 knots.
These are arithmetic examples, not measured figures for the three models. They show why a boat that feels only slightly slower can take substantially longer to complete a beat. Over ten miles directly to windward, those figures imply roughly 2 hours 34 minutes, 2 hours 51 minutes and 3 hours 27 minutes, before allowing for tacking losses.
Do not compare apparent wind angles from different boats as though they were true wind angles. Boat speed changes the apparent wind, while masthead instrument calibration adds another source of error.