Boat tuning is important, not just for making the boat go fast but making it more manageable too. However, if you start obsessively measuring your rig tension while you’re still capsizing three times a race, remember your priorities. Compared with boathandling and tactics, boat tuning is really just the icing on the cake...
Audio: Leading sportsboat sailor Justin Chisholm explains the importance of sailing in the correct downwind mode in a sportsboat. How do you know when to soak for depth, and when to 'heat it up' into planing mode? Justin has the answers....
Audio (2 minutes): The 2007 and 2008 Laser World Championships in Portugal and Australia were windy, and Tom Slingsby won both of them. He's also won two Skandia Sail for Gold Regattas in Weymouth in 2009 and 2010. The young Aussie talks about the technique that makes him so devastatingly quick upwind in the breeze...
Audio (6 minutes) and text interview: Olympic Champion Anna Tunnicliffe talks through her tuning tips for the Laser Radial, and how she adjusts the rig through the wind range. "The vang in the Laser has a big influence in your sail setup, so just really pay attention to what the vang is doing for you. In the big breeze, we see people not pulling on their vangs enough, and in the light air people don't use their vang enough..."
