Sailing To Win Blog!

Downwind Secrets

Upwind, Downwind and Reaching

-

02/01/2020

Sail away from shifts and toward better pressure.

Downwind Secrets – When you are racing upwind, the principal rule of thumb is to sail toward the next shift, on a run, however, you should sail away from the next shift because you are trying to make progress downwind, not upwind.

By getting farther away from the direction of the next shift you will end up on a lower ladder rung when that shift comes, and this means you will be closer to the leeward mark, one clear exception to this rule is when the next wind shift also brings an increase in wind velocity.

Your main priority should be finding the best pressure, once you take care of that, you can play the shifts.

Gaining ground to leeward

One common thing that happens on a reach or run is when the boat behind sails higher than you want to sail. This forces you to sail above the VMG course in order to keep your air clear in front of them. The problem is falling into their bad air and then losing ground to the rest of the fleet.

To avoid this happening try two things, first, as soon as the other boat starts heading high, luff up sharply in their path to let them know there is no way you will allow them to sail over you. The windward boat believes that they may be able to roll over you, so squash that early.

The second thing to try is talking to the other boat, and suggest they sail lower so that both of you can gain on the rest of the fleet.

If neither technique works and the other boat keeps sailing high, gybing is one way to keep your air clear and regain the ability to sail your VMG angle, but often this is not a strategic option.

The basic idea is to keep your wind (just) safely in front of the other boat, and at the same time try to work farther to leeward and away from them. In other words, pick a safe bearing to that boat and then try to hold this bearing constant while increasing your range (or distance) from them.

Sail your own race.

As they say, the best defence is usually a good offense. If you find the puffs, hit the shifts and sail your boat as fast as possible, there is little chance that boats will catch you from behind.

Sometimes the worst thing you can do is get overly defensive and reactionary; if you let the boats behind dictate how you sail down the run, you could easily miss the puffs and shifts and slowly lose your lead.

Instead, stay aggressive and proactive.

You want to minimise the amount of time that you sail in bad air, and you should generally stay between your opponent(s) and the leeward mark.

Avoid Laylines and Corners.

When you get to the sides of the course, you risk being cornered with no option to play wind shifts, cover the boats behind, or avoid wind shadows.

The only time when the layline is a good place for the leader is when the boat behind gets there first, then it’s easy to stay between that boat and the mark.

Improve your Exit Angles

One of the most important steering techniques for downwind boat speed is exiting gybes. Your exit angle affects your heel angle and acceleration.

During gybes, you should come out just a bit higher than your normal course and accelerate before steering to your downwind angle.

Constantly Ease the Kite

A good spinnaker trimmer is always easing the kite until they see a slight curl in the luff, and then trimming in slightly to eliminate the curl.

Once that process is complete, they do it over and over again to ensure that the spinnaker is not over-trimmed, which we all know is slow.

Experienced trimmers can even sense lifts and headers by constantly easing for a curl and watching the bow to see if the boat has turned.

If you ease more than normal before getting the curl, and the skipper sailed straight, you got lifted. If you get a big curl without easing, and without the skipper heading up, it’s a header.

Stating this aloud helps the helmsman immensely because he’s looking to gybe on lifts and sail straight on headers.

Sail fast on the longer Gybe.

When you come around the windward mark and you are almost fetching the leeward mark, the last thing you want to do is sail below your VMG angle or speed.

If the wind shifted left or increased in velocity, there was a fair chance you would fetch the mark on starboard gybe. If the wind went right, you could gybe across the boats that sailed lower.

In either case, you would gain the most by sailing fast down the run without worrying about fetching the mark until you were very close to it.

SAILING REGATTA CHECKLIST

Preparation and Planning

Brett Bowden

-

25/12/2019

0

Sailing Regatta Checklist – For those of us travelling interstate or overseas for National or World championships, you need a Sailing Regatta Checklist to help you get packed for the regatta.

Good luck, go out there and sail fast and smart but above all have fun and learn heaps.

Essential stuff

□ Notice of race

□ Sailing instructions

□ Rulebook and class rules

□ Appeals book

□ Charts of the racing area

□ Money/cheque book/credit cards

□ Rating/measurement certificate

□ Class membership card

□ AUS Sailing membership card

□ Your personal racing notebook

Car and trailer – SAILING REGATTA CHECKLIST

□ Trailer registration

□ Car registration and insurance

□ Spare tire for trailer

□ Trailer license plate

□ Wheel Nut spanner that fits trailer

□ Extra wheel bearings for trailer

□ First aid kit/safety items

□ Extra key taped under the car

□ Road maps/directions

□ Plane tickets

Personal items

□ Water bottles to bring on the boat

□ Cooler and frozen ice packs

□ Hiking pants

□ trapeze harness

□ Hiking boots

□ Sunglasses

□ Sunblock lotion

□ Hats/visors

□ Sailing gloves

□ Life jacket

□ Wet weather gear

□ Stopwatch and spare watch

Boat preparation gear – SAILING REGATTA CHECKLIST

□ Ditty bag

□ Toolbox and extras

□ Spare rigging and blocks

□ Lifting bridle

□ Boat cover(s)/sail bags

□ Masthead fly

□ Extra corrector weights

□ Wet/dry sandpaper

□ 2 protest flags/I flag

□ Class identification flag

Sailing things

□ Mainsail and spare(s)

□ Jib or genoa and spare(s)

□ Spinnaker and spare(s)

□ Sheets, spinnaker pole, etc.

□ Rudder, tiller, daggerboard

□ Battens (heavy and light air)

□ Bucket, bailer, sponge

□ Required safety equipment

□ Tow Rope

□ Compass

Miscellaneous stuff

□ Roll of paper towels

□ Plastic cups, plates, utensils

□ Wet/dry hand wipes

□ Garbage bags/sandwich bags

□ Snacks (e.g. granola bars)

□ CDs/tapes for trip

□ Bug spray/lotion

I am sure there may be other items that are specific to you and your boat but the list above is a great start.

PUBLICITY FOR A SAILING REGATTA

Preparation and Planning

Brett Bowden

-

17/12/2019

0

Publicity for a sailing regatta. Sailing has always been tricky to get across to the spectator but now TackTracker can show every spectator what all the sailors know …. and more!

How To Watch Ashore

The spectator can be at the hosting clubhouse’s bar or restaurant, at home, the office, down the road in a cafe or even on another continent.

Coaches, sports lovers, friends, family and sailors researching their competition or sussing out the local conditions for the regatta they’ll be sailing in soon all love it.

TackTracker’s ability to bring the sport to the spectator means spectators now exceed many thousands for any significant event

TackTracker’s analytical features also add to the spectator experience. Spectators now understand what happened to their boat of interest out on the course but also to all the other boats in the race.

They now know the what’s, why’s and how’s!

Races can be embedded almost anywhere – on yacht club’s sites, sponsor’s sites, yacht class’ sites, local council sites, etc.

For The Sponsor – Publicity For a Sailing Regatta

The lucky sponsors can have their logo on the races and a direct link to their site or a chosen landing page so that every time a replay is watched the sponsor’s logo and contact details are displayed again.

Considering the number of spectators TackTracker attracts, the number of races and the number of times races are replayed by spectators and competitors, this amounts to great exposure and a direct path to a sponsor. As a bonus, this publicity is for eternity.

Ask your next sponsor if they will enable TackTracker-ing at your next regatta and make it a win-win.

Australian and New Zealand Distributor

Brett Bowden
Telephone Australia: 0417 005755
Telephone International: +61 417 005755

brett@sailingtowin.com
www.sailingtowin.com

International Inquiries

Greg Seers
Telephone Australia: 0402 302403
Telephone International:+61 402 302403

sales@tacktracker.com

European Distributor

Simon Lovesey
info@sailracer.co.uk
www.sailracer.org

Racing in Big Fleets

Strategy and Tactics

Brett Bowden

-

12/12/2019

0

Racing in Big Fleets

With national championships and annual long-distance races fast approaching, we need to turn our minds to sailing in bigger fleets than we have been racing in all year.

Racing in big fleets requires a number of different disciplines to think about and master. In general, you can take more risks in a small fleet and if you make a mistake you are not likely to lose many boats.

There tend to be more highly skilled sailors in bigger fleets, a faster pace and less opportunities to carry out your strategic plan so you need to adjust your strategies and tactics accordingly.

Some important considerations in big fleets are –

Be conservative,

in a big fleet, there are many other boats that influence your sailing so that you are often forced to take tactical decisions over strategic decisions.

A conservative approach means not going for the best position or the best strategy but always being close to it, and accepting small mistakes or small disadvantages to avoid major mistakes.

In the regatta, you may not win every race but by being conservative you will be able to avoid really bad results and be close to the top in most races. At the end of a series, the winner often hasn’t won a single race but was always placed well.

Clear Air,

this is a no-brainer to any competitive sailor but even more critical in a big fleet. In small fleets, it’s much easier to get clear air. In big fleets, there will be heaps of boats getting slowed down by sailing in dirty air. Don’t be one of them.

The Start,

there is more chance of a disaster in a big fleet and avoid the ends. They are generally more crowded. Try to have space below and above you so that other boats cannot force you to tack away. Tacking early can also cause you to lose ground which means losing many boats in a big fleet.

Boat Speed,

set your boat up for the conditions and line up with a known performer before the start. This makes sure you have the settings right. You will not be able to win a big fleet if your speed is not at least equal to the top boats.

A word of warning though, boat speed doesn’t help you if you stuff the start or sail in dirty air.

The best preparation for sailing in a big fleet is to race in big fleets. This is not always possible so there are ways of training to prepare yourself.

Practice

When you are out practicing with other boats, simulate the big fleet by staying close together. Learn how to sail in dirty air. With a small practice fleet using a really short line is a good way to practice a big fleet start. This gives you plenty of boats in close proximity.

Train at holding lanes of clear air and practice how to stay in the windward position of a boat that is going high.

Learn how to go for speed to pace it with fast boats around you. Get in the habit of putting the bow down a couple of degrees to get the water flowing over the foils.

Learn how to adapt to each situation and the sailing styles of boats and helmsmen around you. Doing this helps you to hold your lane for a long time but also teaches you what you need to do when you drop in a leeward boat or get gassed by a boat that has come out from under your lee bow.

These are all situations that you will encounter regularly in big fleets. Instinctively knowing what to do will ensure that you make to right split-second decision every time.

How To Prepare for Unstable Conditions

Preparation and Planning

Brett Bowden

-

04/12/2019

0

How To Prepare for Unstable Conditions

Regattas generally bring with them diverse wind conditions. Crews need to be prepared to handle whatever the venue hands out.

Researching the most up-to-date forecasts, in combination with understanding the venue is absolutely critical in preparing for success on race day. It is great to speak to the locals about what to expect. By all means, take this into account, and do your own research as well.

Research The Sailing Venue

How many regattas have you been at only to hear the locals say, “its not normally ever like this”. They mostly only sail on weekends so their experience generally does not cover a week-long regatta.

If they had done the research they may have found that what you got is exactly what always happens. Local knowledge is a key weapon when dealing with current and knowing where and when to hide on the course.

Shifting from a heavy building breeze one day then down to light air the next can take a toll on even the best crews and staying connected is essential.

Understand the limits of technology. As much as it helps, it can also hinder boat awareness. Its important for the helmsman and crew to be aware of what is actually going on.

Remember the basics and be aware of what the telltales are communicating and how the boat feels as conditions shift.

Communicating weight management and sail trim relative to tactics and strategy. Doing this in varying conditions will keep the team focused on the impact their individual roles have.

Keep fun in the program. and make sure everyone is enjoying the day.

Dialling the rig and managing the tune as conditions build or diminish will have a direct result on how the boat responds in varying conditions. An important consideration may be the differences between symmetrical and asymmetrical car set-ups to take advantage of favoured tacks in chop.

Whether races are in a big breeze or light air, it’s important to know and communicate when it’s time to change gears along with changing conditions. Develop a strategy and be aware of what is happening both on the course and in the boat, then adjust as needed.

Evaluating and Calling Puffs

Weather, Wind, Waves and Current

Brett Bowden

-

27/11/2019

0

Recognising, Evaluating and Calling Puffs. Looking at the water on light air days with little cloud cover, it’s easier to see a puff approaching because the extra wind causes the surface of the water to ripple and change to a darker colour plus it will be moving away from the source which will tell you whether it’s an approaching lift or knock.

It’s always a little more difficult as the wind increases in strength or it’s overcast but by continually observing the water whenever you are out sailing, you will get better at recognising puffs and their direction.

Upwind

When you see a puff approaching even if it’s not your job to call puffs, it’s always good practice to run through the motions in your head, it’ll help you stay sharp the next time puff calling is your job.

When you see a line of breeze rolling down the course, there are four important pieces of information about the approaching wind that will make a difference to your helmsman and trimmers.

Is it a lifting or heading puff?

If it approaches from 45 degrees or forward of your course, it’s a heading puff, from 45 to 60 degrees, it’s a median puff, and from aft of 60 degrees, it’s a lifting puff.

How much more wind is it?

This helps the helmsman and trimmer know how much to adjust their trim and angle for the new wind.

How long will it last?

This tells the helmsman and trimmer how long they’ll sail with the new trim.

When will it hit?

A countdown helps the helmsman and trimmer time the adjustments they are making.

Downwind

Calling puffs downwind is just as, if not more important than spotting incoming breeze upwind as you have more flexibility to sail higher or lower to meet the approaching puff.

When calling puffs downwind, ask yourself the same questions as you would sailing upwind: (Lift or header? How much wind? How long will it last? When will it hit?).

Make sure to converse with your trimmer and/or driver beforehand to determine the language that will be most helpful for them.

You have to remember that while you are looking up the course, your fellow crew trimming the sails will likely be looking down the course, or up at the sails.

Saying “puff coming on the right” might be confusing – your right, my right, course right, downwind right?

A good general rule is to call the puffs where they fall over the shoulder of your forward-facing crew members.

As an example, say”puff over your right shoulder,” this makes it easy for trimmers or helmsmen to look back over their shoulder to see the incoming breeze and react accordingly.

Crew Assignments

Offshore

Brett Bowden

-

13/11/2019

0

Crew Assignments

On a single-handed boat you steer, trim sails, watch the instruments, read the compass, track the fleet, call the tactics and attend to a myriad of other responsibilities to get you around the course as fast as possible.

Two Person Boat – Crew Assignments

When there is two or more crew on a boat it is important that each sailor’s roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and understood.

On championship two-person boats, the driver steers and the crew does tactics. On a three-person crew, the forward crew and helmsman focus on trim, while the middle crew handles tactics and so the responsibilities get divided up as the team size grows.

Crew assignments should be based on the number, skill, experience, and interest of your crew. Each crew position should have clearly defined responsibilities during each maneuver, and maneuvers should be executed the same way each time.

In a perfect world, you would have the same people in the same position for every race but unfortunately, that is not always possible. In larger crewed boats you should work toward a nucleus you can count on. Pair new or less experienced crew with a regular crew member.

The key to developing good crew work is practice, it’s simply impossible to train crew during a race and you must practice winning, there is no other way.

Go through maneuvers one at a time: tacks, gybes, sets, douses, reefs, sail changes, plus straight line trim and speed and then debrief after each training session to answer any queries that crew mates may have.

Large Fully Crewed Boat

In a large fully crewed boat another effective practice tool is rotating crew positions. When you switch places, each will understand better what is going on. This enables them to anticipate the other’s needs during a race.

Similarly, trimmers and drivers who trade places will better understand how they impact each other.

Don’t discount changing places occasionally in a one-design, two or three-person racing boat either. There is nothing like sailing in a different role on the boat occasionally to understand what is required. You now know how easy or difficult the task of the other athlete is.

Find a tuning partner once you are happy that your crew roles and responsibilities are established. Sail parallel courses to work on boat speed, and use cat-and-mouse drills to improve boat handling. Next engage in short match races to add competitive fervour.

The difficulty of boat handling increases with increases in the wind speed. Keep practicing until you are confident in all conditions.

Try to refine your techniques to reduce crew movement but pay attention to weight placement. This can be either fore and aft to reduce drag or across the boat which affects the heel. In many designs, the heel affects waterline length and thus boat speed.

In most one-design dinghies excessive heel creates drag and the boats must be sailed flat for optimum performance.

Read Situations at the Leeward Mark

Brett Bowden

-

07/11/2019

0

Read Situations at the Leeward Mark. All the good work of the upwind leg can be undone at the leeward mark.

Leeward mark rounding in a competitive one-design fleet can be a daunting experience and when a mix of boats are arriving at different speeds and angles it can be even tougher to work out who’s going to get there and when.

Learning to read situations as they develop comes through practice and with some clear thinking you can make big gains at the bottom end of the course.

Begin the leg with the end in mind –

What are the priorities for the next leg? Get in phase with the oscillating shifts? Hold a lane to the advantaged side? Get onto the ‘long tack’ as soon as possible? The answers to these questions should shape your positioning against other boats on the leeward mark approach.

For an early tack, avoid being overlapped outside another boat at the mark: drop early, weave around if necessary to break the overlap and exit tight on the mark so following boats cannot pin you out.

If you are making a charge for the left-hand side (in a port-hand rounding), a tight rounding is only necessary if there are boats close ahead: a smooth arc gives better VMG.

Understand Rule 18 – Sailing Rule 18 is by far the longest and wordiest of all Part 2 rules. Its main purpose is to state when one of a pair of boats must give mark-room to the other. The boats must both be required to leave the mark that they are near on the same side. One of them must be in the three-length zone around the mark.

An inside right-of-way boat can generally push for the classic ‘wide in, tight out’ rounding: a keep clear boat cannot if the right-of-way boat is close outside. If there is doubt about whether there was an overlap at the zone, the protest committee will go back to the last point of certainty.

Choose the right Gate Mark –

If one mark appears favoured, ask yourself why. If it’s due to an oscillation, the only way to bank any apparent gain would be to tack immediately. This may not be possible. The boats rounding the ‘unfavoured’ mark will get straight in phase, and cross you on the next shift.

Depending on leg length, if you are three-quarters of the way down the run and you can’t tell which one is favoured, there is almost certainly something more important to think about. Go back to point 1 and chose the mark that is going to get you on the tack you want.

Think Ahead –

Hoist the jib part-way in plenty of time to avoid last-minute fumbles. Check the conditions early and get everything onto its mark well before the rounding.

Nothing is more frustrating than a saggy jib luff or in-haulers that need adjusting. It’s the most important part of the beat when the weight on the rail is at its most critical.

Use the Angle –

A gybe drop inside the zone guarantees an overlap on any boats approaching on the other gybe. Aim to hit the zone directly to windward of the mark. Be prepared to slow down by sailing extra deep to give a little extra time.

Avoid overshooting the layline at the last gybe in. If a gust then forces you down to or below the layline on the final approach, the gybe drop will be almost unachievable for the crew.

When to Pinch and When to Foot

Boat Speed and Handling

Brett Bowden

-

30/10/2019

0

When to Pinch and When to Foot. The concept of going fast-forward in a lift, or pinching in a header, has been around forever.

When to Sail Low and Fast

Going fast-forward or making a bearing gain is a great weapon to have in your tactical arsenal. Bearing gain is when making trees on your competition.

To gain bearing you need two things:

A boat that is capable of going faster when you put the bow down. A dinghy can make a better bearing gain than a heavy displacement boat.
You need an understanding of what you’re trying to achieve by sailing high and slow or low and fast.

Planing Boats

In a planing boat, such as a 505 or 470 there’s a fine line between going fast and sailing out of your lane and you need to set up your sail trim to be able to do both. The extra load put on your foils by going fast should help you hold your lane.

To reproduce the settings for a variety of modes and wind conditions, mark your sheets, backstays, and any other adjustments. If you spend a lot of time trying to get the sails set up properly, chances are you’ll miss a brief window of opportunity to go fast.

There are many different situations, but generally, you are looking to go fast-forward when you know you are lifted and leveraged near a corner.

Examples – When to Pinch and When to Foot

If you are sailing a long beat and have tacked on a lift to go toward the top mark, anywhere within 2 minutes of layline, you should work on gaining bearing with the fleet to leeward while also maintaining gauge on the boats to leeward.

Another time where you’d look to gain bearing is in a breeze where the shifts are oscillating within a 5 to10 minute period. Sailing fast across an oscillating shift allows you to maximize your leverage and use the maximum amount of the shift before the breeze oscillates in the other direction.

When it comes to which mode to sail, the decision will be based on true-wind direction, heading and feel.

It’s important to be aware of what you’re doing when you’re going for bearing gain. You don’t want to sail into a corner potentially sailing extra distance for a shift that never materializes.

When to Sail High and Slow

There will be times when you need to know how to sail the boat two-tenths under target. for a short time.

Instances where this may be necessary include getting off the starting line. Getting away from a leeward mark, when a boat is on your leebow. Heading into a persistent shift or when you’re on a layline in the dirty air of a competitor.

If you are stuck in traffic but want to go the side of the course that the traffic is heading, you would intentionally sail a higher slower mode to play out the long-term tactical plan. More often than not, the high/slow mode is a traffic mode. You need to adjust your sail setup accordingly with traveller up and more sheet or vang tension.

Knowing your set-up allows you to quickly and efficiently go from a normal, to fast, to high mode trim.

If you’re blindly sailing high and slow and gaining bearing, there needs to be a tactical goal. This needs to be constantly re-evaluated based on what is happening with the fleet.

HYDRATION IS ESSENTIAL

Fitness, Diet and Health

Brett Bowden

-

23/10/2019

0

Good Hydration is essential in Competitive sailing.

When we sail in higher temperatures we need a regular intake of fluids to maintain performance capability.

The consequences of a lack of fluids –

Effects on mental performance

Mental tiredness increases, and attentiveness and concentration decrease.
Co-ordination ability decreases; special manoeuvres don’t work anymore as they should.
Our decisiveness is impaired and this has negative effects on our tactical decisions.
Distances and angles are harder to judge and the chances of an incorrect decision increase.

Effects on physical performance

Our cardiovascular and central nervous systems are affected by the lack of fluids.
This causes an increased pulse rate, lower blood pressure and loss of muscle strength.
Physical tiredness leads to lower performances in all areas and all movements become more strenuous.
A reduction of the body mass, caused by a lack of fluids, reduces muscle strength by up to 6%.

The consequences of loss of water –

An 80kg sailor only has to lose 1.2 kg in order to feel negative effects on mental and physical performance.
With light physical effort in moderate conditions, say 18-22 degrees, the rate of perspiration equals 400ml per hour. Hydration is essential.
We assume the sailor is on the water for 2 hours including the journey to the race. The critical limit of 1.2kg loss will be reached by the end of the first race.
Electrolyte balance maintains muscle contraction and function while avoiding fatigue, nausea or disorientation.
By the second or third race in hot weather, decision-making and response time can deteriorate without electrolyte replenishment.

Normal sailing clothing and sailing in warm areas will heighten these effects.

If you are thirsty its already too late

Research results confirm that light dehydration can affect your mood, your energy level and your ability to think. Hydration is Essential.

Thirst occurs when our body mass has been reduced by 1-2%. At this point that dehydration has already begun.

At this stage, our mental and physical performance are generally already lowered.