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Reaching in a Flicka is sheer joy. From a close reach to a broad reach she is in her element. Under these conditions, she heels between 10 and 15 degrees, depending on wind strength and is a happy "little ship". In 15 knots of wind she will reach at 5 knots or better and in 20 knots of wind, the boat will approach 6 knots and sometimes exceed 6 knots as the boat comes more and more off the wind.
As with windward work, the Flicka will start to develop weather helm. Tucking a reef in the main balances the boat by moving the sails' center of effort forward. A second step which may be taken to reduce weather helm is to flatten the main. This is accomplished by attaching a vang/preventer from the boom to the boat's toe rail. In addition to helping decrease weatherhelm, sail chafe on the shrouds is also decreased. A well balanced Flicka under these conditions can be steered with two fingers on the tiller.
The Flicka has two sailing weaknesses. One is in wind speeds of 10 knots or less. Under these conditions, a drifter should be flown. With a drifter, boat speed may exceed 4 knots in 10 knots of wind. In 5 knots of wind, the Flicka will sail at 2 to 2½ knots with a well set drifter and the main vanged to the toerail with a preventer. This stops the boom moving in the seaway, which causes the main to lose lift. The second weakness is her short ends and blunt bow.
In a steep chop, the boat will sometimes hobbyhorse. This may result from pinching the boat too high into the wind or not carrying enough anvas to drive the boat hard. Footing to weather instead of beating and driving the boat hard will correct this deficiency under most conditions.
How well does a Flicka sail? For her size and displacement she is an exceptionally fine sailing machine. She is not only fast for her size, she is seaworthy, has a kind motion and a reputation for keeping her crew safe. In a personal conversation with Bruce Bingham, her designer, I remarked, "I don't know what you did when you designed the boat, but you created an extremely fast, seaworthy boat." Mr. Bingham replied, "I did nothing -- I just transferred the lines of the two boats I discovered near Wickford, Rhode Island."
In retrospect, what Bruce Bingham did was to not only give us a fine sailing machine which has stood the test of time, but he preserved a hull form that is part of America's maritime history. When you sail a Flicka, you are sailing a boat whose lineage can be traced to 1840.
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