The Geelong Members of the Australian team flying the flag


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Spiinaker Drops Part 2

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Add caption Last edition we spoke about the need to have a default program to dropping our spinnaker. Develop this and practise it.  As the competence level increases so does our ability to incorporate more complicated manoeuvres into our spinnaker dropping techniques. The first variation is the Port side windward drop discoursed last time which enhances the boats tactical options and reduces the need for a lot of the spinnaker packing/ tidying up around the boat. It is really refreshing as part of an afterguard to have a crew that can respond quickly to a simple call from the back when approaching the mark. If they can respond to a change of mind at the last minute it is even better. Regular enthusiastic crew and practise is needed to reach this level. So let’s have a look at a few more variations The Kiwi Drop Mostly used on asymmetric spinnaker boats. Called a Mexican drop in the northern hemisphere, it is a procedure where the spinnaker is dropped as the boat is gy...
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Losing the kite A lot can go wrong on the race track and retrieving the spinnaker is one area that is fraught with danger and too often goes wrong. A successful drop relies on a few key points. It is a drill that involves multiple crewmembers all working in synchronisation. They must all be able to do their roles in the right sequence. So allow a lot of time for each to do their job. One of the bigger issues these days is to find regular crew and this can be a real problem for a lot of racing boats. If you have a chopping and changing of the guard on a regular basis then it is important to have a default setting for your spinnaker work. This would entail a tried and true retrieval system that is fairly safe. A familiar dousing technique enables you to incorporate a few newbies into their roles with a minimum of fuss. Be precise with your instructions of when and where they need to be and what they need to do and look out for them. You can work all this out doing very conservativ...
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Turbo sailing, using your staysail

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More and more on the race course we are seeing staysails becoming increasingly prevalent again. Once upon a time the staysail was a very popular sail. In the days of the RORC rule in the late 60’s it was commonplace for every serious racer to have a reaching rig of overlapping staysail and a series of yankee’s for different wind conditions. In the IOR days that followed there spawned a whole range of “under the spinnaker” style staysails, mostly sporting ridiculous names; Tall Boys, Lazy Boy’s, Golden Dazy Staysails and even the ubiquitous Blooper and numerous others as all sorts of combinations and rigs were tried. As the IMS and later the IRC rules came along, the staysails narrowed down to two main groups, sensibly called the Spinnaker Staysail for off wind work and the Genoa Staysail as the name implies for closer to the wind. The use of these sails requires a lot of thought and attention, if not used correctly they can slow a boat down drastically, but when used ac...
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