Capsizing and recovering quickly.

How to capsize

And more specifically how to get back upright again after a ‘death roll’. Sailing Lasers (and Toppers) it is a common hazard, and if you are not falling over occasionally when sailing on a run then you are probably sailing too safely downwind. When the inevitably does happen though, it is possible to be back up and sailing in under 30 seconds, however to do this there is definitely a right and wrong technique.

Providing the water is deep enough to invert the boat it is normally a lot quicker to complete a vertical 360 degree turn than try to right the boat the same way it went over.

When you get to this point it seems quickest to scramble to the centre-board and pull the boat up, unfortunately with the wind blowing into the sail and the momentum from the capsize the boat is trying to invert. It is a struggle to get up and when you do, the boat is prone to a second capsize.

 





It is actually faster to hang onto the gunwhale, and pull the boat on top of yourself, then scramble onto the bottom of the boat.

 

 

Keep it moving and the boat will quickly come up on the new side.

 

 

Do a normal dry capsize recovery and get going again.

 

 

Not convinced? Try it next time you fall in on a run. I recently watched a sailor at my home club capsize to windward on a run. The sailor tried to right the boat the same way it had just gone over. 2 capsizes later he was tired and frustrated at loosing 2-3 minutes and 10 or so places. In contrast a few weeks ago in a tightly contested race at Queen Mary SC I rounded the windward mark in second, inches behind the boat in first, I went for the bear away a bit too much and ended up capsizing. Righting the boat probably took 20 seconds, in which time I just slipped down to 4th, by the leeward mark I was back up to second where I finished. While capsizing possibly cost me a chance of fighting for the win I felt surprisingly satisfied about how I had lost so little. Knowing a capsize isn't going to finish your race is a great confidence boost when trying to sail fast on a run. I hope this helps.

 





 

The way to better sailing probably isn't sailing more.....

Time on the water….?

In my travels around many sailing clubs I regularly hear sailors and parents talking about how to improve. ‘It’s all about time on the water,” is probably the most commonly uttered sentence. While it is certainly true that to get better a sailor needs to go sailing, I can think of many examples of sailors who despite many thousands of hours afloat haven’t made it beyond the level of average club sailor. Now this in itself is in no way a bad thing, sailing can be about challenging yourself to see how good you can become and winning races, but ultimately it should be about enjoying free time and spending time with friends. If the sailing someone does is satisfying to them then why change anything?

However, if a sailor is really trying to get better and just can’t understand why sailors with less experience are beating them it is probably time to debunk the myth that more time on the water equals a better sailor. It isn’t all about quantity, quality is as, if not more important. Aim to do everything to a higher quality.

·        Aim to make each tack, gybe, mark rounding, leg of the course just a little bit better. Top sailors win by doing everything just a little bit better. All the small bits add up quickly.

·        Don’t think, ‘that will do,’ recognise if something wasn’t 100% and work out how it can be improved.

·        Every time you go sailing sail as if you are racing, sailing fast will become a habit.

·        Every time you go racing treat it as if it is an open you want to do well at or the national championships.

·        After training or racing analyse what went well/ what didn’t work out; areas to improve; how to improve. Then do it.

·        In training come up with activities which can provide you with feedback on how well you performed something. Use that feedback to improve.

·        Seek out some good coaching

·        Don’t wait to be told or expect divine inspiration. Sailing is a complex sport, read books, blogs, watch videos and ask questions.

·        Aim higher. Take part in bigger and better competitions.

·        Be disciplined, eat well, at least the night and morning before an event. Plan ahead with food and drink to keep you working through the day.

·        Get your boat in tip top condition.

·        Get a bit fitter. Aim for sailing specific fitness

·        Turn up early before racing so you are completely prepared.

·        Come up with routines to do before the start, do them.

·        Set goals.

·        Spend time on the water

·        Practice to a higher intensity than in racing

 

This is a list of some of the things that the best sailors will do, rather than more time on the water think more quality time on the water.

Try reading

The Mundanity of Excellence By Daniel Chambliss (1989) http://manzoid.com/static/mundanity_of_excellence.pdf

Deliberate Practice by Corbett Barr

 http://expertenough.com/1423/deliberate-practice

 

Is a fixed mind-set and a belief in innate talent always a bad thing?

Over the past few years I have become a great proponent of the growth mind-set view that ability isn’t fixed (see Dweck, 2012) but rather can be grown through the correctly applied effort. However not all see things this way.

I find it easy to comprehend how spectators viewing world class performance, only see the most prominent tip of the ice berg and fail to comprehend the vast number of hours and hard work that have gone into shaping that performance. Cambliss (1989) writes in his article on the ‘Mundanity of Excellence’ how the label of talent is oft used to explain what isn’t understood and mask the concrete actions that define excellence. How can a casual tennis fan comprehend the vast amount of effort Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic have put in, to be able to execute some of the millimetre perfect shots performed with the pressure of a grand slam final hanging over them?

I am also unsurprised if someone who has played a sport most of their life, reached a level and then plateaued, finds it easy to believe those that surpass their levels apparently within little time and effort are endowed with greater genetic ‘gifts’ than they were. While they may notice the vastly different quantitative amount of experience a competitor took to achieve the same level as they did. It is all too easy to fail to notice the qualitative differences in how they spent that time. As Ericcsson. outlines in his theory of deliberate practice not all practice is equal. To adapt the old adage ‘practice doesn’t make perfect’ however deliberate practice will (see Ericsson et al., 2008).

What does take me a little by surprise, is when I read about a top sports man or woman who believes that abilities are fixed and natural talent has a big part to play in success.  Shouldn’t the hard road to the top have taught them differently? According to Dweck someone with a fixed mind-set would unlikely be able to make it to the top. This contradiction has got me thinking that a bit of a fixed mind-set may be an advantage?

The two sailors I have read articles from that have got me thinking are Eilidh McIntyre and Robert Scheidt. Eilidh McIntyre is a world class 470 crew who just missed selection for the British squad to the Rio Olympics. Despite working hard to achieve the level she has, and facing setbacks with the positive attitude that she can learn and improve from them, she believes she has a natural talent for sailing which is largely attributable to her success. How could this be? I have two theories; her father is a former Olympian, the belief that she has the same talent as her father would lead her to the belief that she too could make it to the Olympics. This could be motivating and help foster confidence in high pressure races and events, the belief that you were born able to do this could take a lot of pressure off and help performances. On the other side, from her early days of sailing she had a top level sailor to guide her training techniques. Unknowingly she avoided many pitfalls and avoided wasting hours on fruitless practice. Quality practice helped her fast track past all of her peers giving the illusion of an innate talent to all observing including Eilidh.

For Robert Scheidt the situation is different, a multiple Olympic medallist and world champion he doesn’t believe he is a natural! However, he believes many around him are. In an article he claims his wife an ex Olympic Laser radial sailor is a natural talent and has to work a lot less than he does. This theme I have found in a number of other autobiographies and writings of world class sportsmen. There is a belief that they have to work harder than competitors to achieve the same standards. This iceberg effect I expected to see in novices to a sport but in world class professionals it seems odd. Could it be that a bit of a belief that talent does exist and they don’t have it has led the best in the world to work that bit harder than their competitors?

Carol Dweck puts across a compelling argument that a growth mind-set is a key attribute for success while a fixed mind-set and the belief that ability is fixed, is likely to lead to a lack of grit when the going gets tough and a quitter. However rather than being binary as Dweck suggests, does mind-set sit more along a continuum and while an extreme fixed mind-set may be detrimental to performance could an element of a fixed mind-set actually be beneficial to performance.

I am a big fan of the work of Mathew Syed and his book Bounce was a life changing read for me, however he seems to fail to recognise the contradiction he makes in his book. He is a big follower of the work of Dweck and the theory that holding beliefs that abilities are fixed is detrimental to resilience. However, he was the number one ranked table tennis player in Britain, and openly talks about how he believed that natural talent was largely to account for his success. Perhaps the belief that he had been gifted with superhuman reflexes helped at a psychological level when competing?

I would conclude that mind-set is important, but many other factors come into play for the aspiring athlete, and certain mixes lead to elite performances that contradict Dweck’s mind-set theory. Possibly where mind-set plays a bigger role is how the parents and coaches view a young sports person’s performances, I would be interested to see how Elidh McIntyre’s father and coaches responded to poor results? I would expect that they largely displayed a positive attitude to failure which developed a growth mind-set towards failure in Eilidh? Haimovitz and Dweck (2016) allude to this in their most recent work.

After digging up more questions than answers I continue in my search of what separates the best from the rest.

Andy Kerr

Sailing Coach and Student of Psychology.

 

References

Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindset. London : Robinson, 2012.

ERICSSON, K. A., PRIETULA, M. J., & COKELY, E. T. (2008). The Making of an Expert. ASCA Newsletter,         2008(11), 18-26.  

Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). What Predicts Children’s Fixed and Growth Intelligence Mind-    Sets? Not Their Parents’ Views of Intelligence but Their Parents’ Views of Failure.                Psychological Science (Sage Publications Inc.), 27(6), 859-869.

Eilidh McIntyre. One Closed Door and Endless Open. http://www.rya.org.uk/britishsailingteam/TeamBlog/Pages/one-closed-door-and-endless-open.aspx#.V2cOHuT2ZPY

Syed, M. (2011). Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice.

 

 

 

 

A bit of Learning theory.

How people learn has become a job and curiosity bordering on obsession for me over the years.

When I am coaching and sailing there are a few concepts to learning I find useful. Here I intend to give a brief overview of them and then give an example of how I apply them.

Ø  How you can spend your time on the water: A well balanced diet of all four is preferred.

o   Play: Looks like this. Unlikely to improve your sailing, but the fun can help to keep motivated and build sailing friendships. Best saved for warm days with light winds.

o   Deliberate play: Click here to watch this video. While the sailor is still playing and having fun, he is challenging himself and likely improving his sailing.    

o    Deliberate practice: This is the hard bit, but will lead to big improvements. This link goes to a nice article on what it is. http://expertenough.com/1423/deliberate-practice Think Rory McIlroy chipping balls into a washing machine drum for hours on end, or David Beckham practicing free kicks in his local park until the sun set.

o   Competition: It is always good to get out and and race to test your skills. No sailor wins them all and with the right attitude getting beaten can be very useful to work out how to improve.

•   Comfort and learning zone

If an activity is too easy improvement will be slow, if it makes you terrified improvement will likely be non-existent.  Between the red and green zones the magic happens. Sailors (with the coaches help) need to be able to work out where they are and to either make the activity more challenging or calm things down.

Ø  Learning and developing a skill

o   When learning a new manoeuvre or improving an existing one (e.g. Tacking) it is useful to go through a few steps.

1.      Start by breaking the manoeuvre down and practise each bit. (Focus on each bit of the tack one at a time)

2.      Bring it all together to practise (Get your tacks looking slick)

3.      Put it under pressure (Tack 5 times one after the other and keep them all as you practised)

4.      Put it under more pressure until you can do it perfectly without thinking

o   Make practise harder than competition and racing will seem easy……

Ø  To be great takes effort

o   Be pleased with and give praise to effort, results will follow.

a)      I feel clever when I am learning something

b)     I feel clever when I know something

o   Mind-set a) is the best way to progress.

I try to have all of these concepts in mind when coaching and sailing. I also, try to make the coaching as visible as possible. By this I mean I will start my coaching sessions by outlining what I am trying to achieve and the concepts behind it. I also try to get the sailors involved in planning and developing the coaching as much as possible. This is an idea I have taken from a book by John Hattie, 'Visible Learning For Teachers'. I find it gets the sailors to buy into the session and hopefully helps them learn independently in the future. 


As an example a possible session for developing boat handling. 
Start by outlining the aim of the session. I often get the sailors to determine what success will be. For example, maintaining speed when changing direction; smooth turns; controlled swift movements by the crew around the boat. 

Next outline how to learn and develop new skills and explain exercises will be designed to gradually increase pressure. The aim being to first learn the new skills then make it harder to make the skills automatic(ish). 

Focus on 2-3 key points, for example adjusting the sail when changing direction and using weight to aid steering. 

On the water exercise 1 would be sailing around a smallish triangle. Coaching focuses on the points identified earlier. 
As the sailors develop the correct technique increase the pressure a notch. 

Exercise 2: Either a 360 around the gybe mark or removing the gybe mark altogether to increase the angles of the turns. 

Exercise 3. Remove the anchor from the windward mark. Drifting mark gradually increases pressure by reducing the space. 
Or, a 360 at each buoy, sailors can be paired up to work together to improve their turns. They watch each others turns then as they sail to the next buoy discuss how they could improve. Peer coaching can be very effective. 
Challenge the more able to do a 360 without touching the tiller. 

Now for a bit more fun. Possibly sailing standing on the front of the boat using weight to steer, or tether rudders with elastic and do the same from the cockpit. 

Hope this helps to design training for others or yourself. These are just brief explanations of some theories I like to use when coaching, I aim to try to write more about them in the future. Happy to answer any questions. 

Andy 

Taking a Transit

 

This year I have really got into taking transits and have had a few cracking starts as a result of knowing where the line is. I have found that getting and using a good transit isn’t quite as straight forward as it is explained in some books, I have also come across a few tricks that have worked well for me.

Firstly what is a transit, why and how to take one.

A transit for starting

It is extending the start line to a third point so that when you are on the line it is easier to judge where it is by using two points that you can see. By using a transit you stand a better chance of being on the line especially if you are aiming to start towards the middle of the line.

 

 As in this diagram, the committee boats mast, the outer distance mark (ODM) and the tree are all in line as can be established by looking from behind the committee boat. When in the middle of the line, by lining up the ODM and tree you can be confident you are pretty close to the line.

First of all to establish a transit park your boat on the far side of the committee boat, line up the flag mast and ODM and see what can be viewed in a direct line. This is harder than it sounds as often committee boats are quite tall, and getting it in a direct line is tricky. Try doing this sailing slowly away and towards the committee boat to see which works best, I normally have to stand up to get a view. Spend some time practising this and trying different ways until you are sure you have a good transit. If you are sailing at your club and are on good terms with the race officer you may be able to ask them if the transit you have found is in fact a good one (after the race of course…).

 

Another method I have used to establish a transit is by using a technique outlined in Paul Goodison’s Laser book to tell if you are on the line. Basically you sit on the start line and point the bow of your boat at the ODM, you then centralise your tiller and look directly along it. If it points at the committee boat you are on the line, now look past the ODM to see what lines up for your transit. With this technique it needs to be repeated a few times to make sure you get the same result and a reliable transit.

 The next difficulty I have found is that there is rarely a good easily identifiable transit. Often it is just a line of trees, however with careful inspection there is normally a slight distinctive feature about the tree line such as a slight dip in the upper branches. Find anything you can. At my home club of Bough Beech SC there is rarely a good transit but by looking at the skyline of the tops of the trees I can usually find a small dip or a taller tree that I can use.  

Unless you have got lucky and found a church spire to act as your transit, just looking at it once then trying to find it again when you are about to start rarely works. I like to find a transit then get on the line and check it several/ many times to make sure I know what it looks like. Using the Paul Goodison method above works well to check a transit you have found from parking behind the committee boat. This also helps you to get super confident about where the start line is and how quickly the ODM and transit move together so you can plan your approach run.

A point to remember is that if your transit and ODM are perfectly aligned your head will be on the line, which may mean your bow is just over.  

At the recent Grafham Grand Prix I used a transit to great effect. I wanted to start around the middle of a long line with 52 other boats. In a handicap fleet I had to nail the start to get clear wind and any chance of doing well on handicap. I established the side of a shed was in line with the ODM from the far side of the committee boat. I then checked this along the line by pointing my boat at the ODM and looking down my tiller until I was confident I was on the line. It still looked good. Right up to about 1 minute 30 to go I kept checking so I was certain what my transit was (there were several buildings all partly obscured by trees). When the start gun went I was at least two complete boat lengths to windward of the melee. It was a clean start, I was free to tack at will, had a good lead on the boats around me and clear wind. At the end of the day I was awarded with a pair of thermal socks and box of chocolates for my efforts. I have no doubt that it was my starts that got me up in the prizes.  

Ultimately as with everything in starting preparation is extremely helpful to pulling of a good one. Find a transit, check it, check it again and again. Practise starting using it. Lastly if you have done the work have confidence that you are not over the line. This can be a bit nerve wracking when the black flag is flying and you are well clear of other boats around you.

When you get it right and start lengths ahead of boats around it is incredibly satisfying and makes the rest of the race so much easier. It also makes the start very simple as you are starting pretty much on your own.

 

See you on the water

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is my aim when coaching junior sailors?

Ahead of winter coaching this year I have been thinking, what is it that I really want to achieve when I run a series of training sessions? What I would really like to see is that in 40 years the kids I am coaching are still sailing and loving it.  Ultimately it would be great to see the kids carrying on to one day in the future, become some of the best sailors in the country, however to be the best in anything takes a rare mix of ingredients. From reading autobiographies and articles about some of the worlds best sailors what seems to separate them from the rest, certainly at a young age is....

          1. A lot of time of the water combined with a desire to improve. All cite they just loved being afloat and this was very self motivated.

          2. In their early days of racing there is always a group of likeminded kids worked hard to beat each other which they are part of . Great friends off the water and desperate rivals on.

          3. When the above two factors come together it seems a melting pot of talent is created, which can lead to some very skilful kids in a sailing club, however to get to the very top a third factor is needed. Namely some very committed individuals that are prepared to spend a lot of time and money on the young prodigy taking them around the country to sailing events and buying the right kit for them. This role is usually fulfilled by the parents.

The need for coaches to teach the fundamentals of racing, certainly at the early stages is questionable. It appears that many of the countries best had relatively little skilled coaching until they were already fairly advanced in their racing careers. So what is the point of me?

Certainly I think there is a big benefit in having help learning the complexities of racing, speeding up the learning process is always a good thing in itself, and improving is motivating to continue sailing.

In addition to this I see my role as a coach, who is coming in fairly early in the young sailors development, is to increase the frequency with which the above 3 factors come together. I want the kids to develop a passion for sailing and learning, with the aim of making their improvement self motivated. I want all sailors to spend as much time on the water as possible and when not on the water be watching YouTube videos trying to work out how to get better, and filling their school work books with sketches of boats..

My role could also be to help develop friendly competition whereby the sailors are learning from each other and trying like mad to beat each other.

While I can't directly influence point 3, maybe I can help parents to support their kids by giving advice on what to buy and where and how to help their children get to the next level.

This all seems a bit more complicated than running a bit of tacking on the whistle and follow the leader, I had better get planning.

Andy

The hidden complexities to getting to the start line.

 Why is getting on the start line so difficult? Even without the distraction of other boats and the pressure a man in a boat scrutinising your position and the ever present threat of OCS on your score card presents, a lot of perfectly decent sailors really struggle to get to where they want to be on a start line when the gun goes. One area that I have been coaching a lot on over the summer is that no two start lines are the same. Minor changes in the angle of the line to the wind can have major repercussions on how the line should be approached, however a lot of racers seem to perform the same start for all occasions and the first time they try their approach to the line is when the start gun is about to go.

I had quite a bit of fun while coaching starting over the summer. Playing with start line bias had a big and predictable effect on how a fleet managed to get to the line. A square line generally meant one or two boats were over, and most of the boats crossed the line within 15 seconds of the start signal. Dropping the start boat back a bit to induce a slight port end bias led to generally all boats being behind the line and about a quarter of the fleet struggling to cross the line within 20 seconds. A moderate port bias would normally mean the first boats crossed the line 5-10 seconds after the go and it would take about 30 seconds for over 50% of the fleet to get on course side. Change this to a slight starboard bias and no such issues with getting to the start line existed, quite the opposite. When setting a line with moderate starboard bias I frequently had to turn away and cringe as boats would pile into the back of my rib while other sailors reached down the line completely unable to slow down. Inevitably lots of boats would be over when the gun went and few managed to stay even remotely near the favoured end of the line.

Why was this happening? The kids I was coaching had developed one procedure for starting that sort of worked when the line was very slightly port biased but not for anything else. It seems obvious when you look at it, but changing bias of a start line means the sailor needs to change their approach to the line, not just to get to the favoured end but merely to get to/ not be over the line.

The first thing to consider is how to control your speed and direction. At a very basic level, to sail slowly the sail needs to be able to completely flap. This will only happen when sailing on a close reach or higher. The closer to the wind a boat turns, the less the boat will move forwards, however as the boat turns closer to the wind the ability to control direction diminishes and the boat will tend to drift sideways and if the sailor isn’t vigilant, backwards.

To put it in crude terms a sailor must approach the position they intend to start at on a start line on a close reach to close hauled course in order to control their speed, while still being able to control where the boat goes.

Now if I put this ideal route on a few different diagrams of a start line it becomes obvious why the same approach to all lines can’t work.

Fig 1: Shows a boat approaching a square line. It is fairly easy for the boat to reach the line on starboard tack. However if the sailor gets to the line a little early it can be difficult to slow down sufficiently to avoid being OCS 

Fig 2: Shows a boat approaching a port biased line. Now it is far harder for the boat to cross the line and in order to be on the line at go the sailor must position the boat a lot closer to the line in the pre start than in Fig 1. Dirty wind from other boats on the start line will have the effect of reducing how high the boat can sail meaning if you are in the second row it can take a frustratingly long time to cross the line. On the plus side it will be a lot easier to slow down if you are on the line early. 

Fig 3: Shows a boat approaching a line with starboard bias.  Now the boat will have little difficulty covering the distance to the line. However if they get there too early bearing away along the line will give the sailor no way of slowing down leading to being away from the favoured end or being pushed over the line early.

While line bias may influence the end of the start line you choose to start at, these diagrams also show that it has a fundamental effect on how you need to plan your run in to the line, and where you need to position your boat pre-start.

While other boats will strongly effect how you perform your start, in order to have a fighting chance of pulling off the start you would like to, I very strongly recommend working out the ideal line of approach to where you want be on the line, when the gun goes. This ideal line of approach will be slightly class and wind dependent but will ultimately be as described above, somewhere around a close reach. If it is as high as a close hauled course you are likely to drift sideways away from where you want to start, while if it is broader than a close reach slowing down will be tricky and you will be susceptible to boats to leeward luffing you and preventing you from getting to where you want to be.

Find this line into the start and try sailing into the start line a few times, controlling your speed on each run in. Work out how far away from the line you want to be at 1min and 30 seconds then be prepared to adjust this depending on boats around you.

Fig 4: For example to be at X on go find the red line in to start, then have an idea where on the line you want to be at set times before go, then work on being confident you can adjust your speed to adapt to other boats. 

Last year I was lucky enough to be helping out at an event at Queen Mary SC where a handful of Olympic squad sailors came to offer coaching advice to the club sailors. After videoing the Sunday racing a few of the squad did a video debrief, one of whom was Alexandra Rickman the Paralympic bronze medal Skud sailor. After watching the Laser start on video she turned to the club sailors and said incredulously, ‘why don’t any of you guys do run in’s before the start?’ (Or at least that is what I remember her saying…..) She couldn’t understand why none of the sailors practised their approach to the line, preferring instead to haphazardly approach the line for the first time as the gun went. Needless to say most of the starts in the video were far from Olympic standard.

Add working out your approach to the line part of your pre-start routine. It doesn’t take long and is a massive step into pulling off consistently good starts. It’s what Olympic sailors do and they are quite good at it. While there is a lot more to getting the perfect start by ticking this box you will be on the right path. 

Upwind sailing in medium winds

I have deliberately left medium wind upwind sailing to last, as it tends to have a little overlap with strong and/or light wind technique depending on the day in question. By medium winds I mean wind strengths from starting to hike, using full power in the sail, to depowering using controls, but not having to persistently spill wind.

In these conditions a lot of sailors tend to be quite fast, and there is often a smaller difference in boat speed between the front and middle, or middle and back of the fleet. To do well in these conditions speed is important but making the most of every fluctuation in wind direction will, especially in inland locations, make the difference between you and the competition.

Firstly a look at boat setup; keep your sail as powered up as you can, then depower progressively if you are having to spill wind. As in strong winds, there will likely be a fluctuation in wind strength by about 20% either side of the mean (Frank Bethwaites Higher Performance Sailing has a good deal on this and the causes) so be prepared to depower and power up the rig as the wind strength changes.

Outhaul: Leave it fairly deep, about a hand span at the deepest point should do the job. Unless there is a big change in wind strength I tend to leave it like this.

Downhaul: Just use enough to remove big creases unless you are having to spill wind, then pull it on progressively.

Kicker: No need to use it until you are starting to get overpowered. Just take the slack up and use the mainsheet as the principle control to control the leech. In flat water start depowering with the kicker, then use the downhaul, in waves use more downhaul than kicker to control the power. Having said this, just remember it is important to use both to balance the sail.

On to sailing the boat fast, revisit the basics, make sure you have good trim, and are keeping the boat close to flat. Beyond that power the rig up and be prepared to adapt the way you are sailing and the rig to suit the changing wind.

In medium winds I work hard to make the most of any change in wind direction, milking as much height as I can from the boat.

Most boats will naturally have a small amount of weather helm, hold the tiller extension lightly and use the boats natural tendency to head up to help find the wind direction and make the most of the fluctuations. If you are marginally overpowered, pinch to depower to gain more height. My rudder is rarely completely still in these conditions, lots of small movements to adjust the boats course to the wind.

Doug Peckover in his blog Improper Course, has some interesting thoughts on squeezing every last bit of speed from your boat. Definitely worth a read.

http://www.impropercourse.com/2012/11/laser-cheat-sheet-sailing-fast-pressing.html

In conclusion, if you can sail fast in light and strong winds then medium winds you should be able to get pretty close to maximum speed at any one time, to keep the speed and squeeze that last few drops from the boat, work hard at changing gears as the wind does, and make work of every tiny fluctuation in the wind, each small gain will add up to big gains.

This Video of me sailing a Radial at QMSC shows a lot of what I have written about. Notice how the heel of the boat remains flat or very close to flat. As the wind drops I release the Downhaul and ease the Kicker. I am constantly gently changing course to keep the boat on the wind. If you watch the boats in the back ground the sailors remain static, it is visible that their boats are rarely flat. In critique of myself, I was occasionally using too much rudder as I move my weight out of the boat, and have a slightly compromised hiking style. Both I can try to blame on the short tiller extension. To illustrate the difference all of this made, and as a little brag, I was comfortably second  to the windward mark from about 25 Lasers. I was sailing a Radial while most of the others were using a standard rig. 

To practise, get to know the weather helm in your boat, feel the boat, how the boat responds to the wind through the tiller and your legs/ backside. Try a few training upwind runs with the rudder slightly raised, this will amplify the feedback the boat gives through the rudder, try to keep a slight and constant leeward heel, this should help you feel how the boat wants to turn towards the wind, don’t fight it hold the tiller extension lightly (possibly holding the extension in a frying pan grip behind you will help) allow the boat to turn. Hopefully you should find that in any gusts or lifts the boat heads up slightly then as it depowers comes flat and may heel slightly to windward, at which point a slight pull on the tiller will power the boat up again. Once you are starting to feel how your boat responds pop the rudder down, and try it with your eyes closed. If you can do it blind you can then free your eyes up to look around the race course.

Happy sailing

Andy

Changing Gears

Changing gears.

A commonly heard phrase referring to changing the way you sail a boat and set the sail to suit changes in wind strength. ‘Changing gears’ is something that has cropped up a lot in my recent coaching and as a consequence I have been pondering over the best way to explain it. This blog post is the result of my current thoughts.

 

What is it all about?

Essentially, at different wind strengths, to optimise your boat speed, it is important to alter the sail shape (or adjust controls to maintain the sail shape) and alter the way you sail the boat.

Keeping with the changing gears analogy I have come up with a few of the main gears and the difference between them. This is just a rough guide to help illustrate what I mean and may differ between sailors and classes of boat. This guide is with a Laser or Topper in mind, sailed inland. Some minor adjustments would be needed for coastal sailing to take account of the prevailing sea state.

Gear	Wind strength	How to sail the boat
1st	Drifting, not enough wind to fill the sail. Few ripples and glassy patches on the water.	·        Weight well forward. Trim transom out of the water ·        weight induced leeward heel to allow gravity to fill the sail ·        Prioritising speed ·        Sail set relatively flat, Kicker used to hold boom down
2nd	Enough wind to fill the sail, can sit on the side deck of a Laser. Constant ripples on the water.	·        Similar to above, leeward heel less. ·        Slight wind induced leeward heel to help give feel to the rudder. ·        Weight forward, trim transom just skimming the water. ·        Speed still the priority, but watch tell tales closely to try to gain height in any slight wind shift.
3rd	Sitting on the edge of the deck, starting to hike.	·        Boat flat or very slight leeward heel. Squeezing extra power from any gusts. ·        Transom just in contact with the water. ·        Sail set with more shape to give more power ·        Mainsheet increasingly used to keep leech tension. ·        Speed and pointing equally important.
4th	Hiking most of the time, occasionally having to spill wind	·        Boat flat or slight leeward heel. Squeezing extra height and power (if needed) from the gusts. ·        Transom in the water, wake should always be smooth. ·        Prioritising pointing ·        Increased kicker and some downhaul used to control excess power. ·        Mainsheet block to block as much as possible. ·        Pinch to control excess power.
5th	Slightly overpowered most of the time	·        Hike hard, boat likely to have some leeward heel. Try to keep this constant by power control. Pinch and ease the sail to do this. ·        Controls used to depower and keep the sail controllable ·        Pointing important, but the sailor must work hard to keep speed up to prevent the boat stalling.
6th	Windy	·        Read my post on windy upwind sailing.

1^st and 2^nd gears are for light winds, 3^rd and 4^th represent medium winds, while 5^th and 6^th are when the wind is strong. (See my previous post on upwind sailing for a definition of wind strengths)

For me I think I probably have about 6/7 gears and while they are different, when the wind is around the changeover point from one to another there will be a blend of the two.

 

 When to change up or down?

As a car has an optimum rev range, so does a boat have an optimum wind speed, or power range to change gear. As you get to 3^rd gear and beyond this will vary depending on the weight of the sailor, but the change from 1^st to 2^nd to 3^rd and back again should be at pretty much the same wind strength for a given class of boat regardless of sailor weight. Simply put when you could be sailing more efficiently in another gear, it is time to change. To start with you can look at other boats around you to see what they are doing, if there is a range of gears being used look to see who is sailing fastest. As you get more proficient it is possible (and desirable) to develop a feel of when to change gears.

How often to change gears?

As often as you need, which is more often that most sailors do…….

Unless it is strong winds, I often find I will be changing through 3 gears or more during a race. On any one beat, especially in light to medium winds, 10+ gear changes is not uncommon.

 

What happens if you are in the wrong gear?

I often see sailors sailing in 1^st gear when there is sufficient wind to shift into 2^nd, which would give them greater speed and stop the boat slipping sideways by bringing it flatter.

Another common mistake is getting into 3^rd gear, sheeting block to block, but then as the wind drops not shifting back into second. Although the boat points well as a consequence the speed is rubbish flow over the foils is reduced and the boat slips sideways. Ease the mainsheet slip into second and keep the speed up.

 

In summary. The best sailors will be continually adjusting their sails and what they do to suit the changing wind and water conditions. If the wind has changed and boats around you are moving faster do you need to change up or down?

Happy sailing

Andy