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.
Tips and ramblings from a sailor and coach.
Tuesday 18 March 2014
Tuesday 4 March 2014
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
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
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