Bull Sails. Sailmakers

We have a lot of technology helping us sail boats, when we look at the recent America’s Cup we see not only an absolute showcase of sailing engineering but also a vast amount of information collation being collected for use by the sailors themselves. Seeing James Spithill the skipper of BMW Oracle resplendent in a microphone helmet with a back pack of paraphernalia all wired up. He more resembles a character from a sci-fi flick than a helmsman. The weatherman will stay onboard right up to the starting sequence. He is gathering information on the wind shifts and wind pressure models before he jumps into the water prior to the warning signal. He and the weight involved in having him onboard is then superfluous to requirements. I have been fortunate enough to sail on a few high-end racing boats over the last few years and am still amazed at how much info we have at our fingertips. When organising a start plan we are able to have a man with computer tablet in hand telling us not only t...

The Pyramid of Sailing Improving our sailing is what it’s all about. The reason we head out each week to the race course is to sail as well as we can, as yachtsmen and women we thrive on the competition and whilst nearly always glad to be just out on the water. The fact remains we all have a much bigger smile on our face when we have won. Sailing is a very complicated sport, in order to do well we require a huge knowledge base. In fact we never stop learning. On a typical day on the water so many variables can be encountered which can lead to so many possible scenarios, how we deal with them determines success or failure. I am often bemused by fellow yachtsmen who spend a great deal of time on the more advanced racing tactics and subtleties of sailing when on the water I see them struggle to master even the fundamentals. Before we can really develop as sailors we need to prioritise our goals. We need to go back to the basics and learn how to handle our vessels before a...

1 Jul 2010 Australian Sailing - April/May 2010 Persistent Shift Those who fail to learn from their mistakes are bound to repeat them, says Tony Bull. Lost a yacht race recently? I know I have! In fact I am sure that the vast majority of people reading this are nodding sagely. We have all done it on a regular basis. It’s not that the opposition wins them but we tend to lose them. Sometimes we lose days before the race even begins through poor preparation, but mostly we lose them on the actual race course. In any sport it is virtually impossible to jump in and win consistently without effort, and sailing is no different. We need to develop our skills and knowledge to enable us to perform at an appropriate level. Exposure to sailing at an early age in fairly rudimentary vessels enables a sailor to develop innate skills which will stand them in good stead through the years. The ability to perform simple tasks like steering, tacking and gybing as second nature frees up the mind for the m...

Sailing downwind in strong wind and waves is definitely the most challenging time for a helmsman. Incorrect technique or lack of concentration can have catastrophic consequences for the boat and is downright dangerous for the crew. Those readers old enough to remember the halcyon days of IOR boats with their masthead rigs and pinched in sterns will all have tales of horrendous broaches and involuntary gybes. It was a welcome relief when Bruce Farr and other New Zealand designers came along with fractional rigs on lighter boats with wider sterns. Today's IRC racers are a delight to steer and a welcome relief to all of us sufferers of "IOR back", incurred while wrestling those huge lumps of boats downwind. Heavy air running is probably the aspect of steering that requires the most natural ability of the steerer. A lot of sailors can be taught to steer by looking at the telltails, waves, angle of heel, etc, and after a while become quite competent, but only a rare few instin...

Everyone knows the helmsman is the driver of a yacht; he or she is the person who actually points the boat in the (hopefully) right direction and turns the corners when tacking, gybing or mark rounding. But imagine how hard it would be to drive a car with little or limited control over the accelerator. This is the vitally important role of the mainsheet trimmer on a keelboat; he is as important to the steerer as his right leg would be if he were driving a car. If he does his job correctly he can make the world of difference to the helm and in fact the actual setting up of the whole boat begins with what he does. He is the barometer of the boats performance. It is a cruel fact that when a mainsheet hand does a good job no-one notices them, but do a bad job the whole crew knows about it. So being on the mainsail is a tough gig, as most main trimmers need to be very competent and knowledgeable sailors in their own right. It is always an advantage if they personally have a fair bit of helm...

The start of a boat race is where you can set up your whole race, get into clear air and going the right way initially and the rest of the day can fall into place fairly easy. A good start preparation begins a long time before the race commences. We need to develop a plan and in order to implement that plan we need to accumulate as much pre start data as possible. Begin by reading the starting instructions, look at the mark descriptions, the starting sequence, the recall procedures and the appropriate division flags. Out on the water we need to look at the bigger picture and what we think will eventuate on the first leg as this will have the biggest bearing on our starting strategy. Is one side of the course favoured by breeze, land mass or tide, is the wind building or dying, is the wind direction fairly regular or oscillating? These are all factors we need to consider when putting our start process together. To my way of thinking the definition of a successful start is not where or h...

Pros Vs Amateurs In these current times there can be a lot of top level sailing in the course of calendar year, there are a myriad of sensational regattas to be sailed in, if one was to atttempt to sail most of them it would require a herculean logistical as well as expensive exercise. We also have the club racing scenario, the weekend warriors who go out each week and battle around the course on a Saturday afternoon and make it home for dinner and have Sunday off to mow the lawns. The truth is that most serious yacht racers are some sort of compromise between the two, on one hand we will have the gung-ho racers who will target quite a few regattas or ocean races as their primary goals for the year, but will also squeeze in as many local club races as they can. For them the local scene is a training opportunity to trial out crew techniques, sailtrim experimentation and data collating in a racing enviroment. On the other end of the spectrum we have the sailors who actively pursue the lo...