Spiinaker Drops Part 2

Sailing by feel It is quite a fascinating thing to sit and watch a fleet of yachts sailing upwind in a heavy wind; so much can be learnt from observing the different styles and techniques from a bird’s eye perspective. It is amazing how much variation there is between the good ones in the lead doing it easy and the ones having all sorts of trouble at the back. The leaders always look so much settled and in control, whilst at the back of the fleet there are roundups and flapping sails and it looks like they are sailing in twice the breeze. Two things are always obvious to the naked eye; the leaders nearly always have less angle of heel and as well seem to have their sails a lot more stable and flapping or ragging a lot less. Teamwork This ability to handle these conditions is a result of teawork between all the crew, in particular the trimmers and the helmsman. In these most testing of circumstances it is the ability of both parties to have an inate “feel” for the boat and its performance that enables them to work so much better. When the boat becomes overpowered, it is quite obvious we have to shed power and the easiest way to do this is for the helmsman to point the boat higher into the wind and allow the sails to stall slightly thus reducing the load on the rig, this feathering into the wind is a real bonus when done right. It has several benefits in that as well as gaining a small bite to weather, it help keeps the boat upright and this obviously prevents leeway but also keeps the rudder further in the water and the boat easier to steer. It is obviously ideal to flatten the sails as much as required so the mainsheet trimmer should ease the traveller down and bring on the backstay, whilst the headsail trimmer sheets on and moves his sheeting position further aft to accommodate the higher pointing required in this “height” mode. This is a great technique for heavier winds and flat water and can be used very effectively; however it is a much more difficult task to sail like this when we encounter waves or chop, this feathering technique will simply mean the bow of the boat will hit the waves more head on and slow the boat drastically. So we have to alter the whole trimof the boat to give the steerer a wider groove to sail in. We need to twist the sails off quite dramatically in choppy conditions to depower the boat enough to sail up and over the waves and allow the helmsman to pull away on the crest of each wave and prevent the bow from slamming. So whilst sheeting on will enable a flatter sail and higher pointing in flat water, easing the sheets will induce twist and enable the top of the sails to fall off and spill wind and make the boat easier to steer in a seaway, so when sailing in these conditions you will find life so much easier with the heads of the sails open and depowering, remember mainsails and headsails need to work in concert, so don’t make drastic trim alterations to just one or the other as that will unbalance the the boat, trim them together as one entity Different indicators In the blustery conditions where we need to physically move the boat around with our helm whether it is feathering through a big gust or sailing up, over and around waves, it would be foolhardy to try and sail by the telltales. They are jumping all over the place, they definitely are the ideal trim guide in light to medium conditions but we need to look at other indicators in these more difficult winds. Very important is the angle of heel, we know that sailing around leaning right over is not fast, sliding sidesway with a hell of a load on the tiller or wheel and a real danger of rounding up is not a lot of fun. So just depower the boat enough to keep it on a manageable angle, this is where good trimmers are a godsend, they can almost preempt the gust and ease you through the rough patch by adjusting the sails as the winds hits. A designated person sitting on the rail advising and counting down to the gust impacting is very handy as well and makes every one aware. Not only should this spotter be counting down to the gust but also letting you know the severity of the gust. A small building front will require a gradual dropping down of traveller and a hand on the backstay and genoa car adjustment ready to begin depowering, but on the other hand a real “bullet” will require sheets uncleated ready for a big dump to get you through the moment and importantly keep the boat on its feet. A steerer should still be focussing on the the front of the jib, but rather than reading the telltales they will be viewing the amount of bubble or backwind needed to keep the boat moving in that fine line between speed and height. Others like to look at the forestay, they can see it sag when they power up under the weight of the wind and it will stand up a bit straighter when they pinch or feather into a gust. This is a great technique to learn for night time sail sailing when the forestay is just a black shape against the horizon. Learning to sail by the luff of the jib as well as the telltales is important. Remember it still does rain sometimes and then your telltales are useless. As always, practise .

It is important to develop techniques for dealing with sailing when overpowered, when setting up for each race make sure you set up primarily for the lighter patches, as we have explained it is possible to develop techniques to get us through the heavier gusts by depowering and working as a cohesive team. On the other hand, setting up for the heaviest expected conditions means we will be very slow when stuck in the lulls, with a smaller jib or a reef in the main watching the opposition sail away. So go out there and sail around intentionally a bit overpowered and be analytical and methodical. Set the boat up, delegate the roles and involve everybody on the crew in what you are trying to achieve. It is not easy, but work at it and you will be one of those boats up the front making it look easy.