Originally Posted by TYPHOON

Its hard to tell speed and RPM for me in the boat. I rarely ever look at gauges in those water conditions. I try to get the boat set up with ballast, tab and trim as soon as possible and then make small adjustments in every lap. I look at the trim and tab indicator the most and remember the settings that work best at different locations on the course. Speed and RPM don't mean anything if the boat is out of control. The problem is you have already committed to RPM/speed with what ever pitch prop you put on. We know we cant get max potential speed in the ocean so we try to put on a prop that will keep us at the 5450 RPM limiter when the boat is tucked in and possibly some tab.
The AC race was est at the docks to be 2-3 chop for the first race. We opted for a 29 pitch 5 blade that should run max 85 MPH. When I looked at RPM in the race we were max at 5200 RPM and max high 70 MPH. What this means is we missed the set up for max performance. The water was bigger than we expected and we were over propped. A 28 pitch was the right set up for that day in that water. I hope this help and Im not babbling