Holding your position is one of those skills that separates the good from the average sailors. "He's good at holding his lane," is one of those phrases you'll hear about a really talented sailor. Etchells world champion Andy Beadsworth reveals some clues to this dark art...
Tactician Bucky Smith was a key member of the Australian team that achieved a resounding victory in the Audi Etchells World Championship 2009 held in Melbourne. He tells Tracey Johnstone how the Worlds was won...
Bill Hardesty has competed in three Etchells 22 World Championships, and he's won every time! In this half-hour chat, Bill shares some of his tips and insights into how to campaign this competitive keelboat to the max...
Chris Snow of North Sails One Design in the USA describes his experience and success in late 2015 of competing in the J/70 class, and shares some of his go-faster tips here.... eg. Very important to keep the boat at a constant angle of heel upwind. Use the head stay against the horizon as a guide. If you cannot hold the boat on a constant angle of heel the boat is either underpowered or overpowered. Decide which and adjust....
Skip Dieball narrowly won the Etchells World Championships in Hong Kong last November in a close battle with fellow American Steve Benjamin, the 470 Olympic silver medallist. Here, Skip looks back at that victory and talks about his plans for defending his world title in Cowes in 2016...
Audio: Olympic Gold Medallist and Melges 24 World Champion Jonathan McKee shares some of his tactical tips for racing in small keelboats like the Melges 24. 'Sail in bad air' is one of his more surprising nuggets of advice..."That rule that people say: 'Don't sail in bad air,' that's bad advice. Sometimes it's the lesser of two evils...."
Audio (9 minutes): The 30 minutes leading up to a start are critical times, especially when you're about to start in high quality big fleet. Melges 24 sailor Justin Chisholm is a creature of habit, and here he reveals his pre-start routine...
In his early 20s Robert Hopkins found himself coaching the British America's Cup team Victory 83 through to the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup where they came up against the mighty Australia II. A year later, aged 24, he was head coach of the USA Sailing Team at the Los Angeles Olympics, where the Americans grabbed four gold and three silvers from all seven medal disciplines. SailJuice asked Robert what he has learned about good team communication through his 25 years of coaching and sailing with the very best in the business...
America's Cup veteran Terry Hutchinson says that opposites may not necessarily attract, but putting different personalities together was still a vital part of creating a Quantum Racing team that was strong enough to dominate the European TP52 circuit in its heyday...
For the Oman Sail campaign for the Tour Voile, skipper Rob Greenhalgh was tasked with training up three inexperienced Omani sailors as part of the crew. Using this Excel spreadsheet, Rob got his sailors into top form in the shortest time. To get the Omanis up to scratch in every aspect of their jobs on board, Greenhalgh divided every routine, every manoeuvre - both inshore and offshore - into the tiniest detail. Now you can benefit from Rob's experience and apply it to your own sailing. For anyone looking to organise complex manoeuvres between a crew, this document is gold dust.
Nik Pearson won the Etchells World Championships doing the bow for skipper Stuart Childerley and Simon Russell working the mainsheet. Every team is different in its make-up of skills, but there are some good general principles of communication here that will work for any sailor looking to improve teamwork in the boat.
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....