By David Dellenbaugh. Republished by permission - Speed and Smarts Unless you are lucky enough to sail every day, there are a few
things you should do before each race if you want to be fast. One of the most
important is to regain and refine your sense of feel, which is critical for
understanding what the boat needs. Practice a lot (if possible)
In order to be fast you must be smooth at boathandling, sail trim, changing
gears, steering and much more. Those skills obviously cannot be perfected on
your way out to the starting line, so try hard to find time when you and your
teammates can go out practicing, ideally with another boat that wants to improve
as much as you. Utilize existing resources
When you’re trying to improve your speed, you don’t have to start from scratch.
There’s a lot of information already available about how to go fast in almost
any boat. Other people in your class or fleet can also be excellent resources on boatspeed.
Most sailors love to be considered “experts,” and they are usually very willing
to share what they know. All you have to do is ask! After every day of racing,
make it your policy to invest some time talking with the top sailors (skippers
and crews) about their secrets to going fast. If you do this consistently,
you’ll be amazed at how much you will learn! Make sure your boat works
It’s hard enough to go fast when your boat stays in one piece. But if something
breaks, it can upset your entire rhythm and kill your speed. So treat breakdowns
as your enemy. Use other boats to help you!
It’s very important to understand that in almost all kinds of sailboat racing,
the only way to truly judge your performance is by comparind it to the
performance of other boats. In other words, boatspeed is relative. Of course,
your instruments (if you have them) can help you sail faster. But even the most
sensitive instruments cannot measure the subtle differences in speed and
pointing that are so critical in sailboat racing. The only way to measure those
is by guaging how you are doing compared to one or more other boats. Focus on speed priorities
There are many factors that contribute to good performance, and almost no one
has enough time to optimize all of them. So identify the key elements and try to
prioritize your time and resources to work on these.
Quantify your trim settings.If you want to improve your speed, you must be able to identify fast tuning and sail trim settings and then reproduce them from race to race, regatta to regatta and year to year. You won’t make much progress if you are fast one week but slow the next because you forgot how your boat was set up. This idea of reproductibility is a key building block for better speed.In order to reproduce your settings, you must label and code all your sail controls. For most boats, you can do this with a few basic tools (see above) including a tape measure (for rake, jib lead position); a tension gauge (for rig tension); and a magic marker/tape or a number strip (for calibrating your backstay, outhaul, jib halyard, cunningham and so on). Place a mark or a number scale on each of your key controls so you can see its setting while you are sailing. Whenever you feel like the boat is “in the groove,” note the corresponding trim numbers and record these in a notebook for future reference. The next time you go racing, start by setting your controls at the numbers that were fast for similar conditions in the past. |