Sailing upwind is a huge topic, too big to cover in one post, to make it a little more manageable I am going to start with what I consider to be the most important for the racer to get sorted first, speed. Once you have good speed you can then work on maintaining this speed and pointing a little higher, and then get you head out of the boat and pay more attention to tactics and strategy.
This post isn't intended as a basic how to, instead what I want to look at is how I see the best way to get the boat moving fast, and suggest a few activities to develop technique for the competent racer.
I am going to write specifically with Lasers and Toppers in mind, but it is applicable to a lot of classes.
Starting at the bottom end of the wind range I will first have a look at technique for light winds. By light I mean anything up to when you just start to hike. In these conditions speed is very important.
As an overview, the conditions are generally quite variable, so changing setup of the boat quickly and having a good feel for the boat is vital, as is maintaining the speed once you have it.
Rig Setup
It is important to make it as easy as possible for the wind to flow around the sail. Think of the wind flowing over gently rolling hills. If there is a big steep ridge the wind is going to become detached from the sail and slow you down.
The first potential ridge the wind can encounter is just behind a straight mast, use some kicker to flatten this out and achieve your gentle curved profile. Try it as you sail along, leave your mainsheet fairly loose and gently pull on the kicker. Watch the change in shape in the middle third of the luff. Too much kicker and the depth in the sail moves too far back resulting in the drive in the sail being more sideways than forwards. Use just enough kicker to flatten out the ridge. I like to have in mind a smooth curve, but with the depth towards the front of the sail to keep the power from the sail pulling the boat forwards.
Now to the key sail control, the mainsheet. Too much tension in light winds is a real killer for speed. Firstly the tension pulls the shape back in the sail and reduces forward drive, secondly the mainsheet causes the leech to hook. This increase in the curve in the back edge of the sail causes air to separate from the sail causing stall, which as the name suggests is SLOW. However if the wind increases slightly more mainsheet tension is needed to avoid the wind pushing the leech open and loosing power from the top of the sail.
As an additional point it is also vital to have the mainsheet blocks as far from the centreline as the traveller allows, to keep the boom over the far corner of the transom. If the blocks start creeping in towards the centre, ease the mainsheet then pull it in again.
How to sail fast
As I mentioned to begin with, the wind tends to be quite variable in light conditions, so the key to sailing fast isn't just setting the boat and leaving it. Regular adjustments of the rig are needed to keep the speed.
For the large part those adjustments should come from the mainsheet, easing as the wind drops and squeezing it back in as the wind increases, couple this with smooth upper body movements to keep the boat flat, or slightly heeled to leeward.
Having a good feel for the rudder is also key. Staying on the edge of the wind is very important, and little in the way of feedback from the rudder is available to help you. Very slight leeward heel can help give the rudder a little feel, as can holding the tiller extension behind you in a frying pan grip. Just rest the tiller extension in your cupped finger tips and feel what the rudder wants to do.
As I sit on my sofa typing this I can close my eyes and image the feelings and sensations I get when sailing up wind.
It goes something like, sailing along with the boat near flat, a slight puff increases the pressure in the sail, and causes the boat to heel slightly, as this happens I gently squeeze the mainsheet in while leaning my upper body outboard to gently accelerate the boat. The slight heel induced by the increase in wind has caused the boat to want to gently turn towards the wind, I allow this to happen to again some height, feeling the tiller moving slightly in my finger tips, as the boat comes on to the wind I firm my grip on the tiller to stop it loosing power. If the puff persists I keep this new position, as the wind lulls again I ease the mainsheet, readjust my upper body and may bear away slightly to keep the speed.
So that's it, now you have the speed don't loose it. Any sudden movements from the rudder or body can ruin all your hard work. Be gentle!!
Practise exercises
Spend some time sailing upwind in sub hiking conditions and really try to work on adjusting the mainsheet. Gently ease the sheet and pull it in again, where feels fastest? Focus on this and nothing else for a number of runs. It takes time to build up a feel of how pulling in a few inches of mainsheet affects the rig, so don't expect to be a master straight away, but having a good idea of what you are trying to achieve and focusing on it will really help.
The same is true for the tiller, again spend some time sailing upwind focusing on just the one element, go for a frying pan grip and hold the extension like it has spikes on, also heel the boat about 10 degrees to leeward to help give you more feel through the rudder.
A lot of sailors don't like sailing in light winds, I believe mainly as it requires a different set of skills to those than they usually use. Put in a bit of practise and work on those skills and you can quickly move up the fleet. As you get better the challenge of light wind sailing becomes a lot more interesting.
Happy sailing.
Andy
No comments:
Post a Comment