What made the difference?

Last weekend I managed to sneak out of the house with the boat on the back of the car, and took myself to Datchet SC for a Laser open. I was pleased with my boat speed, and general tactical/ strategic decisions, and still need to work on my start. (The good thing about a Laser open is that with four races you can expect a couple of general recalls so get to practise at least 6 starts in one day.)
I managed to win despite 2 poor starts almost throwing away the two wins I had managed in the first two races.
After the open I have been thinking about what made the difference that allowed me to win? I was generally faster than most other boats, and more often than the others was on the right side of any shifts. This allowed me to win two races fairly comfortably and sail through the fleet to take a third place in the last race.
There are three things that I noticed I did differently to all or most boats.

1. When I got to the club I had some time to spare as the start was postponed due to lack of wind, I used this to flip my boat over and polish the hull, and make sure my boat was well prepared.

2. As there was a little wind I got out on to the water early, sailed around the race area and practised my tacks. I was first out by around 30 minutes.

3. I adjusted my mainsheet tension upwind as the wind dropped and increased, I didn't get the mainsheet block to block until I was close to hiking and then made sure I eased it again if the wind eased slightly. I didn't notice many other boats adjusting this key control upwind. Most went block to block and stayed there.

If it was just one thing that made the difference or a combination of all three, or something else, I will never know. One thing is for certain, there are three things I will try to repeat at my next event.

Andy

Sail setting

At a recent days coaching at Wilsonian SC there wasn't a lot of wind first thing. I made the most of the time on shore to look at sail setting using a Streaker and Laser 2000, this is the write up I produced after the day as I spouted quite a bit of complex information. Hopefully there are a few good bits in there that anyone can take something from.

Sail setting What each control does:

• Downhaul, adds tension to the front of the sail, flattening the sail and causing the leach to open towards the top of the sail. A very useful tool to depower the sail. It also pulls the centre of effort forwards in the sail.
• Outhaul, controls the shape towards the foot of the sail
• Kicker, Pulls the boom down, which will control the leach of the sail. Also pushes the boom into the mast causing the mast to bend, which has the effect of flattening the middle part of the sail, and moving the centre of effort rearwards. The angle of the kicker can give a good idea of which effect is likely to be more pronounced on a boat.

The streaker has a relatively low boom and kicker mounting point quite far back on the boom. When the kicker was pulled on the mast bend and consequent flattening of the sail was very noticeable, the effect on the leach was less so. If compared to a Laser 2000, one would find the kicker has a far greater effect on the leach as opposed to the mast bend as the kicker pulls the boom down to a greater extent.

·         The mainsheet: When pulling in the mainsheet, the last few inches will not only pull the boom in, but in the absence of significant kicker tension, will pull the boom down. This will effect the leach of the sail.

What to do in each wind strength?

Light winds: The ideal sail profile is relatively flat, so the the wind has the energy to flow around the curve of the sail. Be careful to leave the leach of the sail a little open to allow the wind to exit the sail. In light winds it is easy to tension the mainsheet too much hooking the leach, and causing turbulence at the back of the sail.

These pictures show different leach tensions, on the left the leach is very open, note how the back of the sail twists to leeward, on the right it is quite straight. The straight leach will give good pointing and is important in medium winds, but when the wind is light a slightly more open leach will give better speed.

A flater sail can be achieved by bending the mast slightly, kicker does this in most singlehanders. Spreaders will do the same job without affecting leach tension on boats with more sophisticated rigs.

Keep the outhaul fairly tight as well, any creases in the foot of the sail means too tight.

 

In medium winds when you are trying to gain maximum power from the rig, ease all controls. The leach of the sail should be kept tensioned using the mainsheet.

In strong winds progressively pull on more of each control to flatten the sail. The downhaul and kicker should be used together in most singlehanders to avoid the centre of effort moving too far back in the sail. These are your 2 main depowering controls. Pull the outhaul tight, but leave some shape in the foot of the sail as you need some drive.

Wind	Downhaul	Outhaul	Kicker
Light	0	some	Little, to bend mast
Medium	0	Loosest setting	Take up slack
Overpowered	Progressively more	Tighter	Pull on progressively
Very overpowered	Lots and lots	Bit tighter still	Tight

What does it take to become world class?

I have just been watching an excellent documentary from BBC, 100 seconds to greatness, the story of David Rudisha 800m Olympic champion and world record holder.

I though that it was an excellent story on two fronts, first it really shows what it takes to be a world beater as an athlete, it also shines the spotlight on an unlikely coach, in the process giving a glimpse into some excellent coaching ideals.

Why is David Rudisha so good? Undoubtedly he was lucky enough to be born with the genes that gave him a good physique for 800m running, but this is far from the whole story. Clues in the documentary hint at the likely reasons.

To become world class in anything takes a vast amount of hard work, something needs to happen in the mind of an individual to ignite the determination, passion and interest needed to succeed. For David this happened at an early age, with his father’s 1968 Olympic Silver medal ever present through his childhood. If this wasn't enough, athletics at the time in Kenya were booming. Athletes were celebrities held in high regard.

Anders Ericcsson (1993) Outlined the theory that to be world class takes around 10 000 hours of deliberate practise over at least a 10 year period. His early ignition set David running at a young age, in the documentary he says that he ran everywhere. In a community where a 10 mile run to school and back every day is not unusual you start to get an idea of the miles he was clocking up during his childhood. Add to the equation that he lived in the highest area of the Rift Valley, at close to 2,500m above sea level, you can get a sense of the strong foundations for athletic achievement that David was able to put in place before he hit his teenage years. An academic from Edinburgh University by the name of Yannis Pitsiladis spent several years studying top athletes from Kenya and other African Countries. He expecting to find a genetic advantage that they all possessed which their relative dominance in middle distance running could be attributed to. What he has so far found has in fact contradicted this theory, but what he has found is that 10 year old boys living in the area that David and 95% of elite Kenyan athletes are from, possess running economy on par with elite level athletes.

Nobody makes it to the top of any sport without assistance, both from the circumstances of the time and place they are brought up, and the people in their lives. David was lucky to have supportive and knowledgeable parents, and then just when he needed more, the guidance of a world class coach in Brother Colm, who was at a stage in his life where he could devote all his time and energies to David. He was also surrounded by other world class junior and senior athletes who were able to push him to great things. His timing couldn’t have better either, Athletics in Kenya was booming as he grew up, as he came of age scouts were on the hunt for a potential world beating 800m runner, and were keen to provide him with opportunities. All of these factors helped make a champion, but ultimately it was down to determination and a phenomenal amount of hard work that saw David rise above the rest.

The documentary is interesting in that it doesn’t just focus on the athlete, but also turns the spotlight on the coach. Possibly an unusual man to be a athletics coach? Brother Colm is a Christian missionary with no previous experience in athletics, before he came to Kenya in the 60’s. Working at St Patricks school he used athletics as a vehicle to reach the youth of the area. The school and Brother Colm, can now claim many top level Kenyan athletes as former pupils. What makes Brother Colm and St Patricks so successful?

As previously mentioned world class doesn’t come easily, it takes monumental amounts of hard work, to keep going while all around are giving up takes super human desire and determination. All around St Patricks and in Brother Colm’s words, are subtle ignition cues to say, "you can do it if you work hard enough." The plaques celebrating former pupils success at world level is one example, “where are you going to be in 2012?” from Brother Colm is another.

The regime at St Patricks athletics camps is set up to promote the fact that success doesn’t come easily, “there are no short cuts,” is uttered by most of the coaches in the documentary at some point. Days are long and gruelling. Honesty is used when giving feedback, never do you hear you are a natural, that’s amazing etc. The open mindset is actively promoted at St Patricks (See work by Carol Dweck on mindsets)

One area that Brother Colm is very good at with his coaching is making it student focused, he takes time to get to know each student individually and works hard at making each athlete feel valued; his coaching is adapted to suit the individual. Coaching like this is hard work and takes a lot of practise, but is ultimately vastly more successful than aiming generic coaching at the group. He clearly has good powers of observation, originally learning his coaching skills from watching how youths in the area were training. Since then it is obvious he has devoted as much time to studying athletics texts as religious ones, his knowledge is encyclopaedic. He knew David Rudisha's fathers PB at 400m, when David was unsure.

Making sure the basics are perfect is vital to build a top performer in any sport, in athletics it is also important to help avoid injury. During David’s first training session as a senior, Brother Colm just wants to see David running at a reasonable pace “I just want to see how you move” there is no pushing to get faster until he is utterly confident the basics are in place. Just watch the Olympic 2012 800m final to see the result of this insistence, David’s running style is beautiful to watch from start to finish. In the last 100m the chasing pack start to look more like a primary school sports day sprint, as the effect of fatigue, lactic acid and the pressure take their toll.

World class requires a drive to always improve, and looking to seek any way in doing so. Anyone who thinks I am the best, and stands still doesn’t stay at the top of the tree for long. This applies to Athlete and coach. Brother Colm questions himself, “am I the best thing for David?” At no point does he give up, he just accepts the challenge and tries to rise to it.  

Finally a point about the facilities at the school and in the area of Kenya that are producing so many world class runners. You would expect state of the art right? No far from it. Basic is an understatement. This is a phenomenon David Coyle discovers in his book ‘The Talent Code’ in which he goes in search of some of the facilities around the world which have produced a disproportionate number of world class sport performers, they are all dilapidated old buildings with basic facilities, he terms them “Chicken wire Harvard’s”

Yannis Pitsiladis helps to shed some light on this. "On a track in Kenya, say, you have a great number of Olympians and major athletes all there at one time. They're all watching each other and pushing each other all the time. Some of them are earning lots of money, but they're living in camps with no electricity, no water, that are horrible, dirty, awful."I remember saying to one of them 'Why are you staying here? This is a pretty awful place.'

"He said: 'See that beautiful house up there on the mountain? That's my house. If I live there I'll become fat. Here, I'm sharing a room with a 17-year-old who wants to kick my backside. I'm not going to let him do that.'

"And he stays hungry."(Scotsman 2011 interview with Yannis Pitsiladis)

What can we take from this that can be applied to sailing? I think the key point to take is that success doesn’t come easily, it requires a lot of hard work which in turn takes a spark to inspire and motivate someone to put in the level of work required. But hard work alone won’t make someone an Olympic champion, they need to have a certain amount of good fortune with regards to circumstances and the people they meet at critical points in their lives. Take a look at probably the most famous Dinghy sailor in the world, Ben Ainslie. At age 6 he moved with his family to a house on the shores of Falmouth’s extensive harbour, which offered him the possibility to spend thousands of hours sailing after school and at weekends. An opportunity which he grabbed, however he would never have become Olympic champion if that is where the story ended, he was fortunate to have a local club with some very enthusiastic and knowledgeable parents who were just setting up a junior race group. He along with a few other local children got hooked on racing and pushed each other, to get better, when the next step was needed, he was again fortunate to have parents who had the time, money and belief in him to drive thousands of hours around the UK. Ben’s story continues along a similar vein with him enthusiastically grabbing opportunities as they arose along with a good dose of good fortune.

From a coaching point of view the road is far from easy. It has been estimated that to become a world class performer takes 10 years and 10 thousand hours of practise. To become a top class coach must take twice this time. In his book ‘The Talent Code’ David Coyle states that all else being equal, when selecting a coach go for the older guy or gal. Father Colm must be in his seventies and has been coaching athletics for over 40 years, and teaching children for longer.

A last thought is about religion, a lot of top athletes have a strong faith in a god. In moments of intense pressure on the biggest of human stages, to step up and produce your best form takes a special person. Believing you are not alone but have the power and best wishes of the almighty has been shown to be a great psychological benefit. David’s journey to Olympic champion had immense highs, but also immense lows, for himself and brother Colm, having a god to turn to during both was undoubtedly a great comfort for them both.

 

Work rate in a boat

One big difference I notice between sailors from the back/ middle of the fleet and those that are challenging for the race win is the amount of concentration that is put in. Watch a good sailor, and there are very few occasions around the course they will stop adjusting the sail, their weight in the boat, and the direction it is travelling, they will always be searching for that extra bit of speed/ beneficial direction. Whether it be on a beat run or reach the boat and the sailor will rarely remain in a static state. It helps that the more proficient sailor knows how to play the rudder/main sail and move their weight to get the best advantage, but every sailor whatever their level will be able to make some significant improvements by having a go.

Think how often the wind shifts and/or the water state changes, if you don’t adjust your boat setup it is likely to be wrong a lot more than correct.

A stopped clock is the most accurate in the world twice a day, but is pretty useless the rest of the time.

Try playing the main on reaches, closely watching the luff, adjust it regularly to check you have the perfect sail trim. Then on beats try doing the same with the rudder, gently pinching up into the wind then away again to check you are as close to the wind as possible. As you get more proficient kicker, downhaul and outhaul can be included in the list of controls to adjust, particularly in medium wind strengths.

You may not get everything exactly right all the time, but hopefully you can get close to the optimum more often.

Have fun

Andy

Upwind sailing in strong wind

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.

Upwind sailing. Sailing fast in light winds.

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

Windy sailing

I had a fantastic days sailing yesterday, the forecast as the weekend approached promised strong gusty, challenging conditions. The weather on the day certainly didn't disappoint. Due to lacking a crew I was Laser sailing, inevitably after 2 hour long races in force 4-6 winds I was feeling a little 'tired', consequently today my thoughts turn to fitness for sailing, warming up and stretching after.

How to keep fit for sailing as I get older and my commitments grow, seems increasingly hard. Work commitments keep me off the water a lot of weekends through the year, family and work make time for exercising increasingly hard to find. However there have been a large number of professional athletes that have proven that age in itself is not a reason to give up and accept a future of puffing up stairs and sailing slowly upwind. The case studies show that fitness doesn't automatically drop off as years advance. It is normally the desire and drive (and time) to keep training at the level required that wanes first.
I try to incorporate as much exercise into my daily routine as possible, but it was painfully obvious after yesterdays races that this isn't enough.
My next area of focus is fitness. I will report how I get on fitting training in alongside looking after 2 babies, working and studying for an online degree.


Warming up and stretching is an area that all sailors could and should fit into a days sailing. It takes very little extra time and saves a lot of aching the following day. As I write this on the Monday morning, aside form a sore ankle (need to look at my hiking technique) I have very few aches. I know from past experience this is entirely down to 5-6 minutes spent stretching after the last race. My stretching routine has developed on the premise that if it aches the day after I need to stretch it the day before, and now seems to cover most muscle groups.
A quick rundown on what I generally include in my warm down stretch is, upper and lower back, shoulders, chest, quads, hamstrings, calves and forearms. A quick Google search revels many ways to stretch most muscle groups. I like to use the boot lid of the car to stretch shoulders, and find a laser is a good height for stretching legs and lower back. As was suggested to me yesterday I am going to try to stretch after each race, hopefully allowing my muscles to recover better for the next race.

The warm up I have neglected a little more than the after sailing warm down. A quick jog to the boat and a few exercises while waiting for a gap on the slipway, along with a few minutes of gentle sailing is about it. While searching for a more complete warm up I can across this.
RYA Sailing fitness Warm up
Next time you go sailing try the warm up and warm down. Hopefully it should reduce the Monday morning aches and pains.
Check out a blog by an American sailor called 'improper course' it has some good discussions on fitness, as well as many other excellent articles.

Relating back to previous articles, I am pleased to report my starts are getting a lot better. I am continuing with the starting preparation, and am not only making better starts (most of the time) but feel a lot more confident when starting. I even enjoyed the two starts yesterday.

After analysing my performance on Sunday, 2 things to work on that will make the biggest difference to my sailing.
1. Fitness, this should in turn help my upwind boat speed.
2. Be a bit braver down wind: I could have got more speed downwind by working the boat harder, and sheeting out more and getting my weight forward again in the lulls. Felt I was sailing a bit too conservatively/ safely. (although I kept the rig upright)

Leverage

A race on Sunday got me thinking about making and consolidating gains upwind. In the race there were a number of occasions I deliberately stuck close to or tried to get away from competitors sailing upwind.
If you are close to another sailor, and providing the shifts aren't massive, any wind shift will likely yield small gains or losses. As you get further apart gains or losses are likely to be bigger.
This is known as leverage. This diagram shows briefly what happens if all boats are struck by the same wind shift.



In the first diagram all 3 boats are making equal progress upwind 





The wind has now headed all boats, the boat furthest to the right now has the advantage. This situation would be reversed if the wind lifted.

 



As the diagrams shows, middle is close to right so loses a small amount. Left is further away, the loss is greater.

In addition to the consideration of leverage. If you are far from another boat you are more likely to get gusts and shifts that they don't and visa versa.

Back to the race. It was in Lasers, I was leading and wanted to stay that way. After one lap I was closely pursued by another sailor. I was keen to get a buffer between myself and him. Shortly after the leeward mark I saw more wind on the left of the course and it appeared boats over that side were getting a good lift on port. This corresponded with what I had noticed before the start (as it was shifty and gusty, this wasn't always the case, but seemed to be more often the favoured side).

 

I had an opportunity when my closest rival tacked early on to port, I stayed on starboard. I wanted to get a good distance from him to maximise any gains. It was a risk, but I was feeling very confident in my predictions. Fortunately it worked and I build a good 10 to 15 boat length lead at the windward mark. If it hadn't I would have had another lap and a half to regain the lead.

On the following beat (and last lap) I still had this nice cushion. I had two boats behind me who split tacks and went opposite ways. Knowing I could afford to loose some ground I kept to the middle watching my closest competition. When towards the end of the beat one appeared to be gaining I headed over that way to reduce the leverage. I lost just over half of my lead, but was able to go on and win the race. It wasn't the best beat I could have sailed in terms of tacking on the best shifts, but was controlled and calculated to allow me to hold on to a race win.

 

Two beats and two different tactics from the lead, first to build up a lead early in the race when I was feeling confident, then to keep the lead towards the end of the race.

Thinking in terms of leverage can also be very useful when trying to catch and pass people.

Sometimes it can pay to try to get far from your competition, big gains are possible. So are big losses though. Other occasions it is best to stay closer and chip away at a lead. Weigh up the options and decide the level of risk suitable.  

A few years ago I was racing a Queen Mary SC in a Laser. On this occasion, after a few laps I was coming second, a reasonable distance back from the leading boat. The wind was oscillating about every 4 minutes. The leading boat was close to being in tune with the shifts. There was little point in sailing away from him, as losses would have been likely. Instead I chose to tack on the shifts, gradually I closed the gap upwind, to finish a close second. On this occasion the win wasn't likely, but by keeping close I could have capitalised on any mistake, and could have got a good gust downwind, and didn't risk loosing any positions to the boats behind.

 

When you are next racing keep a close eye on your nearest competition. Do you want to keep close by, or increase the leverage by heading off on the opposite tack. It won't always work, but by considering the situation you can end up being a lot more consistent.

 

 

Starting weekend one.

Here follows an analysis on the first weekend in my aim to improve starting.

News to report.

A successful day of racing. Three races, one great start, one acceptable start and one fairly poor start.
What happened:
Before race one we spent some time finding a good transit, and then sitting on the line using the transit to get a feel of where the line was. Lesson learnt here was that sailing slowly away from the committee boat on port with the boat and pin in line was a good way to sight a transit. Stopping for long enough to identify a transit on starboard was hard.
The bias was moderately starboard, there was little advantage to be gained by going left, so starting next to the committee boat seemed the preferred option. Only problem was it was going to be busy. As stated in my previous post my goal was to be brave.
What happened and lessons learnt.

Start one was ok, was on the line (pre start exercises worked) at the starboard end, but came in on a close reach and was a little at the mercy of other boats, could have been travelling a bit faster, and controlled the boats around us a bit more.
Before the second race we practised accelerating from stopped, working on a set procedure.  We made a note of how long in terms of distance and time it took us to get up to speed. In the Merlin in a force 2-3, seven to 10 seconds seemed about right.

Start two. Came in  to the line far too close to the committee boat and was prevented from getting a good start due to boats luffing and blocking our path. Big mistake.
On a positive note accelerated well, and managed to get clear wind soon after the start.
Lessons learnt. Find the starboard layline to the committee boat end of the line, and approach from just above it, controlling boats above to get a clean start.

Start 3. As there were 2 starts before ours, we used a lot of the preparatory signals to practise accelerating and hitting the line at full speed, as the gun went.
This time the approach to the line was perfect, luffed hard to protect the committee boat end of the line. Timed the approach well and hit the line flat out, only one boat (who was well over the start line) was in front of us.
Great feeling when all the practise paid off, hopefully wasn't OCS and converted the start into a win. Will have to wait until next weekend for the results......

Next time you go sailing try to have some similar goals, and really analyse how it went. Writing a log is a great way to reflect, and can lead to some really significant improvements in your sailing.
Looking forward to the next time..

Coming up with a plan

Unlike most normal sailors, for me, the shortening of the days and the onset of colder weather signals a time to get some regular sailing in.
The boat is rigged ready to go, all I need now is for the wind to blow on a Sunday (something it sadly didn't last weekend.)
The prospect of time on the water has got me thinking about my own sailing and what to work on over the next few months, and more importantly how to work on it.

First step is to identify the biggest weakness(s) that are going to make the biggest differences. More about this later.
For me my biggest issue is easy to find. My starts are shocking. Too much time coaching and not enough time on busy start lines has left me woefully inept at starting of late.
Ok so I need to work on starts. But starts are a big topic, I need to be more specific and identify which areas need attention.
I can find the correct end, and I am ok at coming up with a plan for after the start.
It all falls down when it gets busy, I'm not aggressive enough and I don't control the boats around me enough.
Consequently I get buried or find myself shying away from the busy bit.

Right, now what am I going to do about it?
For me personally I feel I'm sometimes not confident about exactly where the line is, so am worried about being over.
Plan
Next race day for all starts, I am going to spend 10 minutes before the race finding transits, and running practise starts so I am super confident where the start line is.
On the start itself I am going to concentrate on using this practise and make sure I am on the line. If I am over and it messes up my race I won't worry. I will see it as an opportunity to practise sailing through the fleet.
Hopefully this will help on this area.
Right now to look at the how to get in the mix a bit more.

For the two or three weeks after, I want to really focus on this and deliberately put myself in an aggressive starting position.
Skills needed to be in a tight fleet and get a good start, are close quarter manoeuvring, stopping and accelerating, and timed runs into the line. Get out a little early and practise these.

On the starts I want to try a range of tactics. If port biased I am going to try a few different starts. The first is getting on the line early and hold position, defend my leeward gap, and get a good start near the pin.
The second is approach on port, tack on to starboard to leeward of the fleet, and hold them up to win the pin.
If starboard biased, I will try finding a gap, then defending hard at the boat end to try to be in the first row at the start.
The other option I plan to try is a timed run in on the lay line for the starboard end.
My aim is not to just go for a good start, but to aim to get the best start, and risk being over. , which should then help me with the confidence to get a good start in the future.

Closely analysing what needs to get better and coming up with a specific plan to improve, is a big step to improving your sailing, and don't just think it, ink it.
Ideally find a bit more time to get on the water and spend a few hours dedicated practise, or if not possible get on the water 20 minutes earlier and practise then. If you are willing to potentially sacrifice a few race results it may pay dividends in the future.

I will let you know how the plan went.....
Fingers crossed for some decent wind, and some heavily biased, and very busy start lines.

How do the pro's tack?

One area of sailing that has been on my mind lately, in terms of coaching and my own personal sailing is the tack.
In tacks, it seems to me that there are several consistencies through most wind strengths, and between boats that are fundamental to a good tack.

As a manoeuvre it can be done at a fairly simple level, success comes easily.
Some will be happy with coming out of their tack with the wind on the other side of the sails, and sat on the new side of the boat. Others strive for a more complete tacking experience, aiming to control the rudder through the tack and steer tidily through the minimum distance required coming out plum on the wind on the new tack.
Others will delve further into the mysteries of maintaining speed through the turn seeking out the roll tack.

However I have found from coaching and sailing at club level and at open meetings, that there is a difference from most of the tacks I see (and most of the time do myself) and what the best in the world are doing.
Have a look at this video and see what you think.

I am sure most can identify a few points that could do with practise in their own tack, myself included.
I am always impressed by the speed that is maintained throughout each of the tacks.
How is this done? It is subtle and needs a good watch of videos to really appreciate what is happening.

 The key areas that I find really sets these tacks apart from the average, is the entry and the flick through the wind.
First the entry. Focus on the tiller movement in the videos. It isn't a sudden movement, but rather a gradual progressive action.
The boat is gradually introduced to the tack, very slight leeward heel and the main sheeted in encourages the boat to sail in to the turn.


The Flick. Just before the boat reaches head to wind, as the power starts to come out of the sail, the boat is rolled aggressively to windward, coordinated with an increase in the amount of rudder used.
The timing and force of this is probably the hardest part of the tack.
Done well, as can be seen from the videos, the boat spins through the eye of the wind with speed.

For me the second tack by Paul Goodison is about as near to perfect as I have seen, and leaves me with no doubt of the countless hours he has spent honing his skill, and why he is deservedly one of the best sailors in the world.

What I see are main advantages from the above are....
The entry being gradual, carries speed into the tack, and also gains ground upwind on every tack, compared to tacks that are initiated with a more aggressive rudder movement.

The flick through the wind gets the boat through the no power zone quickly, and also seems to give a pump to the sail to give the boat speed at this critical moment.

YouTube is a fantastic resource, spend a while analysing a few of the best tacks on the web, and picture yourself in the boat. Then put it in to practise.

Happy sailing
Andy

Let your competition be your coach.

On Saturday I was running some windsurf training.
Running alongside was a junior windsurf regatta, (T15 for those that are familiar with the RYA initiative.)
After the racing one of the racers who I know (age 12) came and spoke to me. I asked him what he learnt from the racing today. His answer was one that many racers could learn from.

Tom "I watched the guys who were sailing better than me, if they were pointing higher or going faster, I tried to do what they were doing. I also tried to be more consistent than they were over all the races"
As it turned out this tactic served him very well as he managed to win his class, against, by his own admission better windsurfers than he was.
I tried a similar tactic at a recent Laser open at Frensham pond SC.
In the second race I finished second, the sailor who won was very strong in two areas.
Firstly his leeward mark rounding's were very efficient, gaining him half a boat length over the competition at the start of every beat. He was also consistently fast and pointing well upwind.
In between the races and over the next two races I worked on this, and managed to improve on my performance in these areas.
Unfortunately other areas of weakness held me back, and a 4th place finish was the best I could manage on the day. Never the less I left with a sense of satisfaction that I had taken another step forward, and had identified some areas of my sailing to work on.

Next time you go sailing try taking a leaf out of Tom's book. Treat the sailors ahead as your own personal coaches. It takes the sting out of being beaten, and gives you a way of getting better.

Happy sailing
Andy

Welcome

Hi
Welcome to my first ever blog.
The aim of the blog is to collect some of my musings, with regards to the ever complicated subject of racing dinghies.
Hopefully some of the blogs will help you to get more out of your racing, in terms of enjoyment and ultimately results.
If anything works for you, or you have found something out as a result of trying any of my tips, please let me know so I can continue to develop my own coaching.
Happy sailing
Andy