Catalogue your settings.

Cataloguing your settings
A lot can happen when we are sailing around a race course. I don’t think I have ever sailed a race where the adjustments of sails, trim and crew placement have not been adjusted on scores of occasions. But a lot of necessary performance orientated adjustments are often overlooked with the hurley burley of the race going on around you. I am a big fan of having a set routine for a crew to adjust the sails and trim for different conditions. Due to the likelihood of some aspects of this being overlooked it is imperative these changes need to be catalogued and accessible. It can be invaluable for a new crew or to act as a simple refresher for existing crew. 

Even the experts
When you step on even a brand new racing boat, you will nearly always see a chart stuck somewhere in the cockpit with the relative speed, angle and VMG (Velocity Made Good) for that particular boat. These numbers are often supplied by the designer and act as a guide of what the crew should strive to achieve in terms of performance. With a star studded crew, all we need are the numbers as the experienced crew will know how to deliver the necessary tunings to get as close to those target goals as possible. In a lot of keelboat classes like MC 38’s, Farr 40”s and Sydney 38’s, these will have been refined to include all the necessary changes to rig and sail setting to enable the crew to set up the boat on the dock and only require a small amount of on water tweaking. One Design boats like Etchells and Melges 24’s right down to the smallest dinghy like the Optimist have had vast amounts of energy from sailmakers and coaches put into refining the setup and cataloguing gear changes to the finest degree. 

You and your boat
Well, we might say that is fine for the latest and greatest, but where do I start? Well the old adage about a simple footstep to begin is very applicable. Start off with a simple chart of what sails you should use in what winds. When should you reef and when should you change down. A lot of modern production boats do well to reduce sail early to a manageable level as they can have a tendency to round up when overpowered. This can be based on you own personal experience so far. Then add a few trim ideas, for example if you have a set genoa car position then in light airs you may do well to take it forward a couple of holes and a ease a touch of sheet to try and generate some more power. Conversely taking it aft as the breeze increase to open up the leech and shed some power may enable to ease a bit of helm pressure and enable the boat to be easier to sail. Similar with traveller and twist. It is so much easier is this kind of data is catalogued and the crew are aware of the required changes. 
The helm can simple say
 “Getting a bit overpowered, help me out” 
Rather than
 “ease the genoa car aft, sheet on, take up on halyard tension, take up backstay, bit more outhaul, a touch of Cunningham, down traveller and crew hike harder”, phew! 
See how easy it can be to overlook something? A lot of this will happen automatically with an experienced crew. But it can helpful for even the best sailor to have a logical process.
As mentioned earlier, a lot of classes have a detailed tuning guide which will give them all sorts of fine adjustments to make to the rig to optimise it for all conditions. You will often see crews hard at work with shifters and spanners between heats frantically making minute changes to shrouds and
rake. While most club racers do not necessarily need or want to go to this level, it can make a huge difference to just do a few simple variations like taking a few turns off forestay for light airs. The vast majority will sail around with the same setting through zephyrs and gales. A simple 10 turns off the forestay can make a big difference if knowing you are facing a light day. Just a quick note, in most sailing it is illegal to adjust your standing rigging whilst racing, so do it before or between races.

How do I begin?
If you are unsure of how to get the process started. I would highly recommend getting an expert out for a day. You may hire someone to come out and go through all the sails and sheeting angles and depowering/ powering up techniques. Plus an initial rig setup and a few suggested changes to make. There are many fine sailors at all the clubs, ask around and see who others would recommend, sometimes the chap who offer their services at the bar may not be the best choice. A lot of sailmakers will come for a sail not only to set up the new sail but are happy to spend some time with you going over the crew work and how to sail the boat more efficiently. Or if not purchasing a sail they can be hired for a day.

Keep working on it
It is so important to have nothing set in stone, things are always developing and changing. New sails may need different settings and diverse conditions can be encountered which require an altered approach. For example a lot of production boats will sail well in flat water and fresh breeze with a full main flattened out and a number 3 jib. In similar winds but choppy water a reefed mainsail and number 2 are the optimum choice. Worth remembering and much easier if it is on your tuning sheet!

Your Job is the one you do.
One final thing, I have noticed that a lot of the overlooking aspect we have talked about is due to people directing others at the expense of their own role. Concentrate on doing your particular task, there will be times when others will need priority help, but for the most part ignore all the white noise and work with the other crew members that are relevant.
So when you do something well, remember it and talk to others, catalogue it and add it to the tuning guide, that single sheet of laminated paper may well help you win races.



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