Following on from my last post on gaining speed when sailing in light winds, I wanted to look at sailing fast upwind in strong winds. By strong I mean when you are hiking hard and having to spill wind over about 30% of the time.
Again my focus is primarily on Lasers and Toppers but the principles apply to most classes.
In strong winds upwind speed is important in all water states but becomes increasingly so as the water gets rougher. Pointing high is useful but unless this is combined with good speed then you will be going nowhere.
First a look at the rig setup, get this right and the rest is a lot easier. There are many good tuning guides so I don't want to go into too much detail, just emphasise the key points. Have a look at the link below for a good one for Laser Radials.
http://www.wwsc.org.uk/TuningGuides/Laser%20Radial%20Tuning%20Guide.pdf
The outhaul: Leave some shape in the bottom of the sail to give you drive. I go for around a fist depth at the loosest point as a good starter for strong winds. If the boat is turning into wind a lot of the time it may be because the outhaul is too loose. If the boat lacks drive then the outhaul may be too tight.
Downhaul: Use more and more as it gets windier, I can't stress this enough. Spend some time getting rope lengths correct and blocks running smoothly, then work on wedging your foot against the front of the cockpit and developing a good technique so you can crank it on hard while sailing.
Kicker: Generally apply more as it gets windier, as a rule as you ease the mainsheet the boom should go out and not up.
This can lead to trouble getting under the boom during tacks. Practise tacking in moderate winds with max kicker on to work out a routine that gets you under the boom. Timing and body position in the cockpit are critical. Figure out what works for you by using your strong wind setup in moderate winds, and slow the tack down to give you time to get a routine in place.
With regards to the kicker and downhaul, both work together to stabilise the sail, if you crank one on and leave the other loose the boat will feel unbalanced. The most common scenario I come across is lots of kicker and no downhaul. This pulls the centre of effort back in the sail, and causes the boat to want to luff in to the wind. Pull on some downhaul and the boat should feel balanced again.
Now on to the sailing.
In a nutshell, hike hard, and play the main a lot.
I will look at hiking first.
Steve Cockerill has written a good article on hiking, have a look at the link below.
http://www.roostersailing.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=hikestyle&Store_Code=1
also have a look at
http://www.rya.org.uk/sitecollectiondocuments/racing/Web%20Documents/Coach%20Development/Resources/Hiking%20with%20David%20Mellor.pdf
Developing a good hiking style, and then hiking at a sustainable level is generally the best way to get upwind fairly quickly. However unless you sail in strong winds on a regular basis fatigue is going to set in, and limits all but the fittest sailors performance. There comes a point when to go faster getting fitter and stronger may be the only option. More on this in another post.
Now hopefully you have got your toestrap set up well and you are comfortable hiking the boat. Leave your lower body locked in place on the side deck and limit your movements to your upper body.
Lasers and Toppers will slip sideways quite dramatically if they aren't sailed fast enough in strong winds, or if the boat is allowed to heel excessively. Get your boat up to speed then keep that speed. To do this there are a few things to focus on
1. Keep the heel angle constant. A completely flat Laser is rarely possible in strong winds, allow some gentle heel but then try not to let it heel any further. Watch gusts approaching and ease the main as they hit, if you feel the boat slowing ease the main and bear away slightly to get the speed back up.
Once you have this speed and the foils are working you can squeeze the main back in and point a little higher.
The biggest errors I see in strong winds are sailors not reacting fast enough to gusts and letting the boat heel. Another big one is keeping the main in tight and pinching too much to keep the boat flat. This is not to say that you shouldn't pinch slightly to depower, but make sure the speed is maintained.
2.Get the right balance between pinching and easing the main to control power.
In strong winds, wind strength will generally not stay the same over the course of a race or even a beat, but will vary up to as much as 50%, that is to say if you took the average wind strength, the lulls would be 25% less than this and the gusts 25% more than the average. This variation will mean that different depowering techniques may be applicable depending if you are in a lull phase or a gust phase. In a lull pinching may be preferable, but in a gust phase pinching may completely kill your speed. Spend some time practising to get used to how your boat responds, and the level of speed you should be aiming for. (Generally in smaller less over powering gusts pinching will be fine, in stronger gusts easing the main will be necessary and a bit of both in between.)
I admit some of these points are slightly ambiguous, how fast is fast enough? When should you pinch and when should you ease the main to depower? The answer is going to be slightly different for each sailor.
The best way to work it out is to get out on the water and break it down to get a feel. Do a few upwind runs in the breeze concentrating on sailing the boat fast, work hard on playing the main sheet focusing on maintaining that constant heel. (When doing this make sure you have pulled hard on both the downhaul and kicker.)
Next have a few upwind runs where you go for height, pinching to keep the boat flat, only ease the mainsheet in the strongest gusts. You should start to get a feel of when the boat starts to stall, and when it feels happiest. The optimal way to sail upwind is likely to be somewhere between the two upwind runs.
The most practised (and fit) sailors will be able to get the boat up to speed and point high while maintaining most of this speed. This takes time to get the feel for, and takes a considerable sailor input. Keep practising and you will get there.
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