Roll tacks - November 2004, #3

Take the coach

One of the things that people either love or hate about strict one-designs is that the only variable is the sailor. If you win you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done, if you lose, well... Of course in sailing we always have the ultimate excuse - the wind. But over the course of a regatta the luck tends to even out. The one thing you can't do is tinker around with the boat, the rig or the sails. If you're not satisfied with your results, the only thing you can do to improve your performance is yourself. And one of the great things about these off-the-shelf one-designs is that it has driven more people to seek some coaching or race training. No longer is coaching the exclusive domain of the Olympic or Youth squads. More and more weekend warriors are beginning to realise the benefits.

The desire for more coaching was one of the strongest messages to come out of a survey of Musto Skiff sailors, which I mentioned in this column about a year ago. Class enthusiast and marketing guru Rick Perkins has put together a second annual survey of his fellow Skiffies, and again it has thrown out some useful feedback that has some universal lessons for all dinghy classes. Asked what factors would convince them to attend open meetings and championships in 2005, respondents in the Musto Skiff survey ranked the following reasons in order or importance.

A chance to learn from other sailors was the clear winner as the number one factor in convincing people to attend events, which suggests coaching and training initiatives should be a high priority for any class. The buddy system, where a sailor from the top half of the fleet pairs up with a sailor from the bottom half, has proved very successful in a number of classes including the Fireball and the RS classes. Not only that, but it's a great way of breaking down any cliques that might form in the fleet. Some sailors are nervous about approaching the top sailors for advice on how to improve. In fact the vast majority of top sailors are only too happy to help others get better, and many are quite open about sharing rig tune settings and other hard data. But it's easy for newcomers to a fleet to get star-struck.

There is a high level of information sharing in the Musto Skiff class. In last year's survey, there was an overwhelming call to tag on a two-day coaching session to the front of their regatta in Lake Garda. Yachts & Yachting contributor Mark Rushall ran the session and used lots of video footage to illustrate what the best sailors like Richard Stenhouse were doing during manoeuvres. Feedback like this can speed up your learning curve by months or even years. Not only that, but you're less likely to break equipment if you sail the boat better. Learning to sail the 49er when it first came out eight years ago was an expensive business, because there was no one to ask how to do it. You learned by trial and error, and paid the price in broken masts and sails. These days there are plenty of people to ask and good videos to watch, and the sailors coming into the class are learning in a couple of months what it took us to learn in a year.

Another question in the same survey, about what the Musto Skiff newsletter should include, bore out the same response. ‘Sailing Tips' was the top thing that readers want to see in their newsletter, followed by advice on how to make improvements to the boat. Regatta reports and sailor profiles came further down the list. People seem keen to discover more about themselves and how to improve their own abilities over anything else. If you're looking to make a new year's resolution for your sailing, then promise yourself that you'll spend on coaching what you'd normally spend on a new sail. Both options will make you go quicker, but a new sail wears out. New knowledge stays with you a good deal longer.

Mast rake

If you haven't got the time or the money to spend on personal coaching, at least check out the forums on yachtsandyachting.com. There are some great people there who are only too happy to help out with advice. There is a very good discussion thread that has been running for some months, on the subject of mast rake. It's funny to see what a controversial subject it is for some people. It's as though some people refuse to consider trying it until someone has come up with a plausible reason for why it works. Their quest for knowledge is admirable, but just because you don't understand the reasons for trying something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. The fact is, in the vast majority of racing dinghies, an upright rig is fast in light winds and a raked rig is fast in a breeze. Why the need to know any more? Actually, you're always better off understanding the background principles of any aspect of sailing but it's not essential. If a non-sailor asked you how a boat can actually sail towards the wind, could you explain it to them? I'm not sure I could, and I suspect most sailors would struggle, but that doesn't mean we don't know how to sail upwind. A PhD in hydrodynamics and aerodynamics would be preferable, but Ben Ainslie doesn't have one.

In my experience, raking the rig makes an enormous difference, and certainly too big to ignore. In a strong breeze, raking the rig can transform the boat from bucking bronco into galloping stallion. You know when you've got it right because everything feels easier. You find the rig starts working for you and you hardly need to adjust the sheets. Instead of staggering and blowing sideways in every gusts, the rig breathes and the boat surges forward. A Laser 4000 sailor, who goes by the nickname of Redback on the forum, believes raking the rig can be the difference between staying upright or capsizing. "In a real big blow it can make the difference between getting round or repeated capsizes and in some classes it makes the difference between keeping the stick in the boat or breaking it. I sail a 4000 and it is a great strong wind boat - if the tune is right.  If the sail is too full it flogs and this really slows the boat.  My rig is adjustable enough to almost completely flatten the top third of the sail and open the leeches, which means that in winds of 30mph the sail isn't flogging and the boat really motors."

There's a general rule to take away from this mast rake discussion - experiment with everything. By all means take the sailmaker's tuning guide as a baseline to start from, but don't stop there. No one has all the answers, so while you should certainly listen very intently to advice from the best sailors in your fleet, don't take it as gospel.

There are some other more frivolous threads to be found in the forums, notably a discussion on which is the ugliest dinghy, and also a great proposal by ‘Scooby Simon' for a race format that requires not only a boat but a car and trailer.

"Had an idea a while back to race Hurricane 5.9s against Dart 18s, with no handicap:

Start a race at Grafham with Hurricanes and Dart 18s. The Hurricane sails for 100 minutes around a square course and then a chase boat drops a buoy. The Hurricane team then sails to the shore, de-rigs and loads the boat onto the trailer and checks out at time 'X' at the gate at GWSC.  Dart 18 does the same distance and heads in (approximately 17 minutes behind on handicap), de-rigs and does the same. 

Drive to Rutland and re-start the race with no handicap so the Dart needs to sail for 118 minutes and the Hurricane for 101 minutes."

Scooby Simon believes the Dart 18, while being slower, should be quicker to rig and unrig, and so pull back the faster time of the 5.9. He also suggests that someone ensure that the trailers were roadworthy and secure before departing Grafham. I'm wondering, is the idea also to drive as quickly as possible from Grafham to Rutland? If so, I'd like to know which day they're planning on running the Wacky Races, and I'll make sure I'm nowhere near the A1 that day.

Dinghy sailing in the Southern Ocean

I've had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Golding each day as he charges around the planet on his Open 60 Ecover. By the time you read this, the Vendee Globe fleet should be half way through the Southern Ocean. I have to admit to pangs of envy as they travel at breakneck speed down waves taller than a house. Of course, there's much that I don't envy - the ever-present danger, the isolation, sleep deprivation, the relentless damp and cold, and freeze-dried food. But some of the sailing sounds spectacular. What a shame that we dinghy sailors will never get to experience it. If ever there was an opportunity to get air-dropped into the Southern Ocean for a couple of hours of skiff sailing, scaring yourself silly as you surf down 8-metre swells in 25 knots, and then get air-lifted out again, I'd be there like a shot. Easy for me to say, I know, cos it ain't ever going to happen.

Rob Greenhalgh is one skiff sailor who this time next year will be entering the Southern Ocean for the first time. He has just been chosen as the ‘wildcard' in skipper Mike Sanderson's ABN Amro crew for next year's Volvo Ocean Race. Sanderson, or Moose as the Kiwi skipper is better known, makes no secret of his admiration for Rob's skiff sailing skills, and believes that his prowess in the International 14 and 18-foot skiff is directly applicable to sailing a highly-powered canting-keel boat such as the new Volvo Ocean 70. I saw Rob at the Amsterdam press launch for the team, and he has changed shape beyond recognition, thanks to two hours a day, six days a week in the gym. He's not a tall bloke, but he's bulked out to 85kg in a bid to be strong enough for the physical demands of helming the 70-footer. He was a little concerned that he might sink the transom of the 18-foot skiff when he returns to Sydney early next year to defend the JJ Giltinan Trophy. That will be his last splurge of dinghy sailing for a while, as he gets fully immersed in the demands of the Volvo campaign. It's great to see his skiff talents being recognised as an asset in the world of high-speed ocean racing, and I'm sure he will take to the V.O. 70 like a duck to water.