Is it typically easier to sail on a windy day when very depowered vs on a less windy day not depowered?
I've been pondering on this a while now.
The only time I really feel I have enough power in my boat is when there's too much power which in my laser (standard sail) is about 20-25knots, and I depower it. I'm a typical weight for laser, 75kg.
In lighter wind, I'm always wishing I could get more power in the thing, keeping boat flat - tick, going fast - not so tick. Reaches and by the lee are OK, I suppose, and it's mostly close hauled where I am forever feeling underpowered.
Anyway, when it's windy and I depower the boat, it becomes very easy to sail while still having plenty of power, it's strange to me, because I would think when it was less windy, not depowering the boat should have broadly the same effect.
Made more concrete what I mean by 'very easy to sail', it seems like at higher wind speeds, you can get away with a very wide range of angles of attack of sail, and it still works fine so less accuracy is needed there, and the power in the sail itself is more consistent. Since you're going faster, steering becomes a lot more responsive and easier. In short, the more wind you have, right until the point it's more wind than you can manage, the easier it is to sail.
My conjecture is, I sail on a very small lake such that effectively the whole lake is in the lee of a tree or building, and I feel that when it is windier the wind direction becomes more consistent, and this probably explains it in large part.
The small lake I feel must have something to do with it, because on the instances I have sailed on a large lake on a moderate day, I've been struck by how easy everything was, with the sail essentially not needing trimming for a whole leg some times. I would still say I felt I was underpowered, but the power that was there was very consistent and so a lot easier to use.