Coaches Corner

Speed and Style

This article gives some tips on how to get upwind and downwind faster! It is written mainly for Laser® and small boat sailors, although many of the tips apply to all sailors.

Upwind speed in breeze and chop comes from having a good sail setup and good sheeting, steering and hiking. Pull the cunningham tight and match the tension on the luff with the breeze strength. If the breeze is 10 to 15 knots pull the cunningham grommet down between 3 and 2 inches above the boom. If the breeze is 15 to 20 pull the grommet down between 2 inches and 1 inch. If the breeze is 20 or more pull the grommet between 1 inch and pinned to the boom and if it seems very breezy pin it to the boom. On a newer sail these settings give a tight luff for the wind strength and when it is breezy it will be better to err on the tight side of the settings until you really get your hiking strength up.

After you set the cunningham set the outhaul for no more than a 3 inch draft when the breeze is above 15 knots (measured from the side of the boom to the deepest part of the foot of the sail). When your hiking strength comes up you might experiment with 4 or even 5 inches of draft when it is breezy, but for now go for a flatter, not so powered sail, and focus on keeping the flow over the sail high. The radial and full rig sails have decent depth cut into them and even if the foot is set fairly flat the depth of the sail through the first panel and just above the window is still pretty full. After you set the cunningham and outhaul, if it is still too breezy for you to hike the boat flat you need to de-power with the vang by bending the boom (super vanging). When you are sheeted in block to block and you pull the vang and bend the boom, the top third of the sail flattens out and the power is reduced. To set the vang sheet in block to block and hike the boat flat, reach forward with your arm fully extended and grab the vang handle or wrap the line around your hand. Pull back with your whole body and bend the boom, then cleat the line. Remember, this is a whole body move and not just an arm move. You should be able to apply the vang from a hard hiking position. If you are still able to sail block to block you may only need a moderate amount of vang. But if you have to sheet out to keep the boat flat, you need to pull the vang hard enough so that the boom goes out more than it goes up. When you have this much vang on you can ease the sail in and out to control the heel of the boat and the leech tension will remain tight. This is called vang sheeting and this can be very fast.

Steering with the “bow down” is the fastest way to get upwind. I define the bow down steering range as 1 to 4 degrees down from just feathering on the breeze. This is power sailing or sailing “fat” on the wind. It is the difference between steering high and sitting up or steering down and keeping your shoulders out and low. This means you have to work harder, but the boat goes faster. If it is windy and wavy and you can't keep the bow down because you aren't hiking hard enough or don't have the sail set up right, you will luff the sail a little over each wave. This course is pointing higher but you are going slower and increasing leeway (sliding sideways). Even though the bow down course points lower, you will go faster and power through the waves better, decrease leeway and end up higher on the course. This is the principle of speed equals height. Because you are sailing bow down and your speed is up, you generate more lift and climb the course faster, even though you are pointing lower. Here is a hint: when you are heeled from a puff, hike fully out with shoulders down and steer up to flatten the boat out. When the boat is flat, DO NOT SIT UP! Keep your shoulders out and then pull the tiller to re-power at a bow down steering angle. Keep the heel of the boat at 5 degrees or less and steer up to flatten in a puff, but then steer the bow down again for power. The speed equals height principle is also true in lighter breezes.  Use the bow down angle to accelerate the boat and gain as much speed as possible before trying to sail high on the breeze.

The biggest error I see in light breezes are sailors being too quick to sail right on the breeze when steering down for a bit would result in more speed. On the flip side of sailing bow down is sailing “low and slow”. This is sailing consistently off the breeze on a low course and there is no gain in speed from doing it. The point to remember is that upwind if you steer too high on the wind the sail luffs and you lose power. If you steer too far off the breeze the flow stalls and you lose power. There is a fast steering range (bow down) that is generally 1 to 4 degrees down from light feathering.

To improve your hiking you need to just sail the boat in breeze and do some fitness work for your legs and stomach muscles. Adjust your hiking strap so you can slide out with the edge of the deck between the middle and the bottom of your hiking pads. Keep your shoulders out and down to the deck level. Your hiking power comes from your shoulders being out and down! Work on your hiking and fitness so you can get into this position easily, with good posture. Your legs should wrap over the deck nicely and your toes should be pointed. You do not need to have straight legs all the time. Keep working on getting your sail setup right, improving your bow down steering and hiking power, and your speed in breeze will improve.

In light air slide in toward the cockpit and keep your shoulders outward and keep tension on your stomach muscles even in very light breeze. Make it easy to heel the boat to leeward and then kinetically flatten and accelerate the boat. Steer behind your back when sitting in on the edge of the cockpit.

Sailing a Laser fast downwind is all about steering and sheeting angles, transitions, pumping and kinetics. Work on your transitions from by the lee to reaching and try to let the boat roll onto the lee half as you sheet in and steer up. Use the hull shape to help turn the boat. The easy transition is from reaching to by the lee, but the fastest downwind sailors make great turns from by the lee to reaching. The most important thing downwind is to get a good feel for what steering angles are fast. Whether you are broad reaching or by the lee there are fast angles and slow angles. Generally, going dead down wind is slow because flow over the sail gets easily stalled. You have to remember that flow over the sail is what drives the boat downwind the fastest. A good angle with high flow that doesn't take you too far off the rhumbline is usually best. Sailing by the lee in light air is usually better than reaching because you heel to windward and get more of the sail up in the air. But if that good angle takes you too far off the rhumbline then the other jibe probably points closer to the mark when powered up by the lee. Another thing to remember is sailing by the lee does not mean letting your sail out far and leaving it there. You have to trim the sail in just as you would on a broad reach. The angle of the boom is not important, where the leech is counts the most. With the vang off and the mast straight up sheeting in the boom about 15 degrees in from 90 is a fast sheeting angle. This means that the bottom third of the sail is in from 90 degrees and the leech at the middle of the sail is about at the 90 degree mark. The top third of the sail twists forward of 90. Somewhere around this sheeting angle creates the most flow across the sail when you are by the lee. The biggest mistake going downwind is having the sail out too far and stalling the flow.

I've listed here some key style points for sailing upwind and downwind.

Upwind

1. Sit facing across the boat and right to the front of the cockpit.
2. In light air, sit so that your feet are flat on the cockpit floor and slide in onto the edge of the cockpit as much as necessary to allow the boat to heel to leeward when necessary.
3. Keeping your back straight, lean your upper body out to flatten the boat. Sit right to the front of the cockpit with your center of balance even with the main-sheet block. Step over the strap with your rear foot or both feet (feet flat on the cockpit floor and knees up). Keep mild tension in your stomach muscles all the time so you can feel the changes in wind velocity and its direction. Ease out and make sure the flow over the sail is the greatest and your speed is up before you sheet in tight and sail high on the breeze. If the flow stalls ease out, steer down, heel to leeward a moderate amount and pressure the lee bow. Straighten your course and flatten to accelerate the boat. Then sheet in and steer up on the breeze. Repeat this cycle as often as necessary. Try to be kinetic...you have to help the boat glide and move forward. As pressure builds slide out onto the deck and then into the hiking strap, while keeping your upper body leaned out.
4. Steer behind your back in light air. Along with a good light air body style you need a good light air steering style. You have three options for this: 1) steer with the extension aft holding it in place on the deck (open hand pressing down on the extension with thumb toward the bow) 2) steer aft holding the extension from underneath (your thumb faces to leeward) and rest the extension end along your arm just below your shoulder 3) wedge the end of the extension in your lap and hold the extension closer to the tiller. Any of these light air steering techniques control the rudder better than normal overhand steering. This eliminates small rudder movements and over-steering when the wind velocity changes. This improves average boat speed and apparent wind flow. The big majority of the fastest Laser sailors in the World steer with the extension aft in light air.
5. When there is breeze and you are hiking out, steer overhand near the end of the extension and rest it down onto your thigh. This will help control your steering movements.
6. In breezy conditions slide out far enough so the rail is at least to the middle of your pads and keep your shoulders out. Set your hiking strap tight enough to point your toes.
7. Keep your eyes forward and focus on the water area about 2 lengths forward and 1 length to windward. When the breeze drops be quick to sit in to the light air position and avoid any heeling to weather.
   

Downwind

1. Sit forward so your center of balance is even with the main block. Keep this far forward position until it is breezy enough to feel the bow plowing a bit. Then move back to help the boat plane.
2. Sit in on the edge of the cockpit facing across the boat as much as possible while still being able to get weight to your feet quickly.
3. In light conditions wrap your rear leg around the strap and then push up with your toes so the hiking strap puts pressure on your calf muscle. Lean out and heel the boat to weather.
4. Steer overhand with your steering hand near the end. Use your forearm to control steering. When carving down by the lee steer with the extension lying on the lee deck. Sail big angles, either by the lee or reaching. When the boat is powered up and has speed, burn it off toward the mark and then reload by steering another fast angle. Anytime you change course you should trim or ease and keep the flow over the sail as high as possible. Stay active by letting the boat rock a bit and then pumping the sail.
5. When the breeze comes up slide back and place your feet flat on the cockpit floor. Keep your knees up and sit on the edge of the cockpit and put weight on your feet. Make it more like riding a surf board or skate board than sitting on the deck of a sailboat. Move around the cockpit to keep your balance and pump and trim the sail a lot while steering angles that keep the flow high on the sail and not stalling.
   

I hope these tips do put some speed and style into your sailing and your results improve.

Good Luck and good sailing!

Kurt

Kurt Taulbee is a 3 time US SAILING TEAM member in the Laser Class and US SAILING Level 2 Certified
Coach. He can be reached at 727-631-7025 or kurt@sailfit.com.