Mark Reynolds
December 8, 2015
Quantum Expert Answer
Crew weight depends a lot on where you are sailing. In steady boat speed type conditions the optimum crew weight is over 400 lbs. My crew and I are currently very close to max weight. I sailed a few weeks ago here in San Diego at 395 in pretty steady conditions and we did ok (we won) but not quite with the speed I normally have. The Star starts getting overpowered in about 10 knots of wind so from there on up the weight helps. In shifty stuff like on a lake I would say that weight doesn’t make much difference. Agility becomes more important and just finding the wind and playing the shifts become so much more important as well. I would rather have a good crew that is fast and can help with the wind and tactics that weighed 190 then a 270 pound person that couldn't help out.