The importance of comparing your performance to another competitor during a race is an underrated part of sailing a boat competitively. We hear a lot about having good onboard communication about what’s happening on the boat. While that’s true, it’s also important to communicate what’s happening outside the boat and what’s happening relative to your nearest competitors. So, let’s cover some techniques to improve this aspect of your next race. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on calling upwind relatives.

It’s best to start calling ­relatives as soon as possible after the start. This first few minutes is a critical boatspeed part of the race, and the sooner your team can get locked in, the better. Oftentimes, the teams that get their performance going the soonest after the start are the teams that emerge from the fray in the best position.

Once you start calling ­relatives, do so with confidence, announce that you are calling relatives, and identify who or which boat you are calling relatives against. For example, “I have us with (name of boat).” Knowing who you are gauging performance against is important.

On a boat with true wind direction displayed somewhere, announce that number. For example, I might say, “Starting wind direction is one-eight-five.” If the wind direction changes during the lineup, this will be valuable information to provide accurate comparisons.

If there’s no TWD displayed on your boat, or you don’t have instruments, you can use your compass heading instead and say something like, “Starting heading is one-four-six.” It’s not quite as accurate as TWD, but it’s better than nothing.

Always refer to your boat first. For example, I might say, “Higher, same speed.” To avoid any confusion, don’t refer to them first. If they are higher than you, state, “We are lower.” Be consistent and always use the same process, no mumbling. Remember, the goal is to let your teammates know how you’re doing.

Some examples of ­describing clear-cut VMG differences are “higher, faster,” “lower, slower,” and “same angle, same speed.” However, if the speed and angle are split, you will need to judge which VMG is superior. For example, I might say, “Higher, slower, VMG them,” or “lower, faster, VMG us,” or “higher, slower, VMG even.”

Accurately and confidently judging performance and VMG differences takes time and experience, so if you’re new to it, there is no time like the present to start practicing. And speaking of practice: A great opportunity to get in the rhythm of calling relatives is during your pre-race tuning-partner ­lineups. (Of course, you do that already, right?)

At the beginning of an upwind lineup, try this technique: Imagine you were to tack. Where would you end up? Would you be behind them? Would you cross them? Would you hit them at their mainsheet winch? Their front hatch? Start every relative performance call with this information. For example, I might say, “If we tacked right now, we would miss them by 6 meters.” One minute into the lineup, I might say, “If we tacked right now, we would hit them on their transom; we have gained 6 meters since the beginning of the test.” Another minute later, I might say, “If we tacked right now, we would hit them at their mast; we have gained one boatlength since the start of the test.”

If you are clearly outperforming a competitor above you, or if they are in a compromised position, make the announcement that you are switching relatives to another boat. For example, I might say, “(Name of boat) won’t live there for long, switching to (name of new boat or sail number).”

If there are no boats above you to call relatives with, announce you are going to hike instead. This lets your team know why you’ve gone silent. For example, I say, “No gauges above us; I am hiking.” Or take it a step further and challenge your teammates to hike even harder. I say, “No good gauges above; showing the young guys how to hike.”

Having been a pro sailor and coach for a long time, I’ve experienced my share of situations where a lack of calling relatives or poor calling in general leads to unwanted outcomes. To prevent this from ever ­happening on your boats, let’s run through a few common scenarios.

Silence is deadly

What happens: We start the race and nobody says anything.

The result: We come off the line in a low mode that is not optimal VMG. The boats above us are able to live in an otherwise compromised position all the way to the layline, which costs us a lot of places.

The fix: Identify immediately who you’re calling relatives against and make it clear how your team is going against them.

Head in the clouds

What happens: We don’t take note of the TWD or heading when we start the relative calls. We state we are losing a lot to the boat above us, oblivious to the fact that the wind has lifted us 15 degrees.

The result: We start changing settings, away from what we know, to try to improve based on the feedback, but we only perform worse and lose a lot.

The fix: Announce the TWD or heading when you start the relative calls. Then you can allow for TWD/heading changes in your analysis of performance. For example, “We are doing well against the boats above considering we’re in a 15-degree lift.”

Comms breakdown

What happens: We say, “They are lower.” The helmsman puts the bow up to sail a higher mode because he only hears the words “are lower” (the other words err out in the wind), and the helmsman and trimmers assume we are the lower boat.

The result: We sail too high and slow, and get rolled by the boat above us.

The fix: Always talk about your boat first, not the other. In this case, we were already higher and should have said, “We are higher.” Instead, by switching between us and them, we ­create confusion.

Stay on task

What happens: We aren’t going well, so we stop calling relatives.

The result: At a time when we need to be honest and identify there is an issue with our performance, we go quiet. Nothing is done to address our performance issue, and we go backward because of it.

The fix: No one wants to be the bearer of bad news or a Negative Nancy, but this is an important part of the race. Be consistent. Be honest. Keep the process the same, rain or shine.

Lost in translation

What happens: We say, “Higher, slower.”

The result: Our skipper responds, “Is that good or bad? Are we gaining or not?”

The fix: If the speed and angle are split, finish your call with whether that mode is a gain or a loss.

Attention deficit

What happens: After a very long lineup, you are unsure as to whether it has been a gain or a loss over all the changes that have come and gone.

The result: You don’t really know how you have gone over the long term and just make something up.

The fix: From the beginning of the lineup, announce where you would be if you tacked. Five minutes later, you will know how you have gone by checking in using the same method. Maybe you haven’t gone well in the last 30 seconds, but overall you have moved forward by two boatlengths.

Hang up and dial again

What happens: The boat above you has a poor start, and now they are in your quarter waves going even worse. You keep calling relatives on them because they are closest to you.

The result: Your team thinks they are going very well based off your calls. But the boat you are calling is compromised. The next boat up is outperforming you, and you have not identified that your team needs to change modes to match.

The fix: As soon as the boat you are calling relatives against is compromised or going really badly, look for the next boat above them to keep improving your mode.

Lost in space

What happens: All the boats above you tack away. There are no other nearby boats to call ­relatives against, so you go silent.

The result: Your skipper yells, “Please keep calling relatives!” and loses focus in the rage.

The fix: As soon as there are no boats above you to call relatives against, announce that fact. And hike your butt off.

The takeaway from all these scenarios should be that it’s critical to continuously call your relative performance against your competitors, and when you do so, be clear, confident, accurate and consistent. Doing all of the above will help relieve tension on the boat and improve performance. If there is no one left to call relatives against, hike hard and do the rest of your tasks well. Enjoy yourself. And don’t forget to call your mom or dad after racing to tell them how well you went. If anything, it’ll be the most important call of the day.

The post How to Communicate Relatives appeared first on Sailing World.

Some tacticians like continual input, while others prefer a quiet boat, but the majority of tacticians at least like small amounts of accurate and timely information. In other words, provide the input only when appropriate. Before racing, and especially if you’re new to a team, always discuss the type of information the tactician wants to hear once, and follow these tips after the race is underway to make your input useful.

Sketching Out the Prestart

The tactician will certainly want to know if you spot a last-minute windshift. Indicators are if you notice that you are sailing deeper or higher up or down the line than you were before, or even watching another boat going head to wind or tacking. In a left shift (pin favored) it will take the boat longer to get to the start line. The inverse is also true if there is a right shift or if the boat end is favored. I’ll say something like, “Eyes out of the boat; looks like left shift; it will probably take a little longer to get to the line.” If possible, I’ll add whether it’s a small shift or a large shift.

Traffic is also important to communicate. During the last minute of a start, it is often hard to see everything and everyone. I will often report “shark” or “bogie.” A bogie is someone coming at us that we will have to deal with. Bogies are usually the biggest threat when there’s around two minutes to go and you’re sailing down the line on port. Sharks are boats approaching from behind, like a shark getting ready to bite. When you tack to starboard for the final approach, watch for both sharks and bogies.

The third bit of helpful prestart info can come in the last five seconds. This is where, in all likelihood, the bow person or someone else forward in the boat can let the tactician know if your boat is hidden from the race committee’s view. Sometimes this will let you get your nose poked out in a congested area. Be extra confident with this one, and remember your bow is poked forward of your line of sight. The consequences of getting this one wrong are costly. We only make this call if we are quite sure that boats above and below us are poked well forward and exposed.

Brushstrokes Around the Course

Immediately after the start, you’ll be looking to communicate boat-on-boat relatives. The driver and tactician are looking for comments like, “same speed, higher” or “same height, faster.” With these calls, the trimmers and helmsperson know they are in a good mode upwind. If they hear, “same speed, lower” or “slower, same height,” they know they need to make a change to keep up with the pack.

Where it gets tricky for the person calling the relative modes is when you say things like “faster, lower” or “slower, higher.” In these cases, the commenter must quickly evaluate the VMG and decide if it is a net gain or net loss and make that call. For example, if we are going upwind with a big gap to weather and I say, “Higher, slower, net gain,” the driver and trimmers know that it’s OK to be a little slower because our high pointing is letting us gain on boats around us. The rule of thumb is always talk about your boat when communicating relative speeds and angles. It’s best this information comes from someone in the proximity of the trimmer and tactician so the conversation can be quiet and not too distracting for the rest of the crew.

As we sail upwind, I like to let the tactician know where he is in relation to the laylines. This helps avoid getting too close to a layline from too far away. Many tacticians avoid the laylines early because once you arrive at a layline, your tactical options are limited. This communication also reminds the tactician to start looking at laylines when you’re closer to the mark. I refer to the laylines in percentages with whatever layline we’re headed at stated first. If we are directly downwind of the weather mark, I will say, “50‑50 on the course.” This means that there is equal time to spend on port and starboard before arriving at the weather mark. As we continue up the course on starboard, I’ll look upwind and perhaps say, “30-70.” The tactician will then know that he or she has 30 percent to go to the port layline or 70 percent to the starboard layline. Many tacticians will tack before getting within 10 percent to a layline when they are still far from the weather mark to take advantage of a windshift or leave room to tack back out if you get tacked on.

Calling puffs and lulls helps the tactician decide where to tack, but more importantly, it helps the trimmers and drivers. The trimmers can anticipate and adjust power in the sails, and the driver can pinch or foot slightly to keep the boat tracking properly at maximum VMG. “Short-lived puff in 3…2…1…” lets the driver and trimmers know that only a small change will be needed keep the heel angle the same and the boat sailing along properly. If they hear “more pressure consistently in 3…2…1…,” they will know that a more long-term setup will be required to keep the boat sailing optimally.

RELATED: Downwind Tactics For Planing Conditions

Calling chop and flat spots will help the tactician decide on where to tack as well, but equally important, the calls will help the helmsperson drive the boat. In a choppy section, you often need to foot, and you can really point in flat spots because there is less chop or waves to slow you down. We’ll use verbiage such as “chop in one boatlength,” or “chop continues” or “flat water for a bit.”

Lastly, in some areas, ­calling weed or kelp in the water is important. This can be a little complicated. I like when people keep these communications simple. “Up one, up five, down one, down five” are four of the only six calls I like when I’m driving. If I hear “one,” I know to turn a little; if I hear “five,” I know to turn a lot. I also like to know “clear,” meaning I can go back to driving normally. It can be important to know what mode you are in and where boats are around you. If there is a boat close to leeward, saying “down one” is probably bad when you could have said “up one.” Also, pay attention to boatspeed. Rarely should you say “up five” when the boatspeed is already low. The final two calls are “no lower” or “no higher.” This simply lets the driver know that he can stay on course as long as he doesn’t turn toward the debris.

As with upwind, calling puffs on the downwind leg is important. When soaking, the helmsperson and spinnaker trimmer can work together to make some gains. For ­example, if they know that a puff is coming, they can soak deep a little longer. Normally, after soaking deep, you have to head up to build speed. But if you know a puff is coming quickly, you can stay deep and let the puff help you accelerate rather than heading up and burning distance.

The tactician will likely want to know whether they are in clear air or not. This also helps the spinnaker trimmer. I will often call how many boatlengths of clean air we have. For example, I will say something like, “We have three lengths of clear air,” meaning there is bad air from a competitor three lengths behind us. Then later, if I say we have two lengths of clean air, everybody knows that we need to speed up or sail slightly higher to avoid bad air. Then if I say, “One boatlength of clear air,” the crew knows we are in danger of being rolled.

The rule of thumb is always talk about your boat when communicating relative speeds and angles.

Again, like upwind sailing, it helps to communicate relatives between boats. In some boats, such as the Etchells, the bow person can look behind and make these calls, almost becoming the boat-on-boat tactician themselves. If the trimmer, who is ideally talking to the driver about angles, hears “lower, slower, net gain,” they know their mode of sailing slower but lower is gaining on the competition and they can continue sailing in that mode. However, if they hear “lower, slower, net loss,” they know they need to change modes to achieve a better VMG. The tactician may be interested to hear “lower, slower, net even.” This means that you are simply sailing a different mode, but you are not gaining or losing overall. In this case, the tactician can decide how they want to sail for future positioning. The tactician may want to sail low and slow across someone’s bow so that after a jibe, they are again in clear air.

Last but not least, as you come into a leeward gate or finish line, the tactician can benefit from input on which end or mark is favored. Remember, it is OK not to have all the answers. However, even that should be communicated. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” It’s better than giving false information.

The post Racing Tactics: Valuable Input from the Rail appeared first on Sailing World.

As the sailing coach at Point Loma High School, I spend a lot of time talking to the team about crewing. I also crew almost exclusively in my role as a professional sailor, so between those two experiences, plus sharing information about crewing with other pro sailors, I’ve been able to boil down the essence of a great crew into three manageable parts. Keep in mind that these are “big ­picture” characteristics.

Let’s first start with mindset. In the morning, before you even get to the boat, you should be thinking: “I’m going to help out today in any way I can to help the boat and the team be as successful as possible. I’m going to work really hard; I’m going to have a great attitude; I’m going to show up early, stay late, and figure out how I can contribute all day long.” To do so, research what your job is going to be before you go sailing. Find out who’s in charge of the boat. Ask them what you’re going to be doing, when you’re going to be doing it, and the steps it takes, whether it’s trimming the sails, doing the bow, calling the time or whatever. And ask what you can bring—food, water, etc.

Next, show up early to help rig the boat. Showing up early allows you to check out the boat and see how everything works. And when the rest of the team shows up, you will feel more confident and in the know. Then work hard—help rig the sheets (or at the least offer to help), pull out the sails, and do whatever is necessary to help get the boat ready to leave the dock. While rigging, you can earn bonus points by being safety-conscious, looking around to make sure there’s no chafe on lines, missing ring dings, or anything that looks like it may break.

When it’s time to get the sails up, take great care in handling them. Gently flaking them out or unrolling them before attaching them to the boat is key and takes coordinated teamwork by two or more people. Taking great care with the main and jib is not only fast, preventing wrinkles and encouraging longevity, but it also shows the boat owner that you understand sails are expensive, like to win, and are grateful for the ­opportunity to be on the boat.

If you’re not sure what you’re doing while prepping the boat and putting it away at the end of the day, ask someone in charge or watch the veterans on the boat. Learn what they’re doing so you can offer to help them next time. Eager and attentive crewmembers are hard to find and always asked back.

The positive mindset used when preparing the boat for the day is even more important once on the water. I’ll never forget sailing in an alumni regatta with one of the best high school crew I’ve coached. I had noticed that anyone she sailed with did better at practice, and in that event, I found out why. She was always happy and positive, even after a tough race. At that event, we started with two great races, but the third wasn’t so special. But we passed a few boats before the finish. After the ­finish, it would be easy to be a little bummed out, but instead with a smile she said: “Great race, Steve! Way to pass four boats on the final downwind leg! That was awesome.” She kept the vibe in the boat so happy and positive that we went on to have some good races and won the regatta.

Sometimes a good mindset means keeping the mood light. An example of doing that at just the right time was when sailing with my buddy Erik Shampain. After I made a bad tactical call, and then we had a poor leeward mark rounding, the skipper and I digressed into a nonproductive discussion about past events. Although we didn’t notice it, that discussion was distracting us from sailing well. After a couple of minutes of this conversation, Erik, having had enough, interrupted us by saying, “Hey guys, hold on, I have a goldfish.” We both paused and with curiosity asked, “What?” He said, “Oh, I thought we were talking about stuff that doesn’t matter!” We quickly got his point, and we all started laughing.

With the mood lightened and our focus back on racing well in the moment, we went on to pass 20 boats and finished the race on a positive note.

Here’s another way to think of maintaining the mindset of helping out and contributing: The skipper often has the most pressure and typically has invested the most time and money into making everything happen. Their reputation is on the line, and they feel it. So, when I show up as a crew, I think, How can I help the skipper do really well? How can I help ease their stress and help them succeed? That’s my main focus. I use all the skills I have to do that: sailing skills, but also people skills by being positive and a psychologist, saying the right thing at the right time, and keeping the mood light. If you can do the same, you’ll be asked to come back—probably forever.

Now, let’s talk about skills. In small, two-person boats, your job may be pretty straightforward: trimming the jib and using your weight to keep the boat at the proper heel angle. On bigger boats, like Lightnings, J/24s and PHRF boats, you may be trimming, have other jobs, or a combo of both. You may be doing bow or simply calling the time in the pre-start. But regardless of what you’re sailing, knowing what you’re supposed to do and when to do it. By doing those jobs skillfully, you can add value to the team.

One skill that everyone needs to be aware of, and probably one of the most important, is weight placement. Moving your weight around to keep the boat at the proper heel angle is everyone’s job, and it’s critical for boatspeed. If you grew up racing dinghies, you’re probably tuned in to this already, but if not, be sure to ask the skipper or whoever is in charge on the boat where your weight should be at different points of sail.

Terry Hutchinson likes to remind his crew to “mind the boat.” In other words, pay attention to what the boat’s doing—its heel, its speed though the water, and how it feels. Tune in and let the boat tell you what it needs. At the end of the day, as Buddy Melges always says, we are presenting the boat to the wind, from the time the sails go up until they come down. Our job as crew is to affect its heel angle for optimal performance and trim the sails well while the skipper controls the angle the boat is to the wind. These three attributes determine our speed. Therefore, always be thinking about the boat, minding and paying attention to it, and feeling and listening to how it moves through the water. Try to get to the point where no one has to tell you to move.

An easy way to think of weight placement and how much you should be moving is to break it down into two conditions: telltale sailing, which is in light to medium air, and hiking conditions, which is when the boat is overpowered. When telltale sailing, the skipper mainly drives to the telltales, and it’s up to the crew to move around and keep the proper heel angle, hiking in puffs and scooting in during lulls. Once the wind is up, hike hard and let the skipper drive to the heel angle while the trimmers ease and trim sails. Knowing the difference between the two modes makes it easy to define your weight-movement goals. You’re basically asking, “Should I be moving around and paying attention to the wind and heel angle now, or should I just hike really hard?” Knowing the right time to do each is super important.

Another consideration while moving your weight is the view of the skipper. Top skipper Greg Fisher tells his crew: “Don’t sit in front of the TV.” For him, the TV is the telltales, the forestay and the waves. The skipper wants to see what’s coming, and they want to watch the telltales, so as you move in and out, don’t get in their way. When you scoot in, especially on a dinghy, you should slide in with your hips first, keeping your shoulders out and down so you don’t sit right in the skipper’s view. On keelboats, when you scoot in, you might lie backward to keep the skipper’s view open.

When you’re part of a well-oiled machine—maybe you’ve been sailing with the same ­people a while—you can get to the point where weight placement rarely has to be communicated; everyone understands what you’re searching for most of the time. With that said, it’s also something the skipper should talk about based on the feel of the tiller. If the skipper’s not doing it, ask: “Hey, how does the boat feel? Tell me what feels good, and I will try to keep it in the sweet spot for you.” And if you do that, the skipper will love you for it because you’re helping them make the boat feel right—and go fast. On larger boats with more crew, it’s best to have a skilled sailor call weight movements for the group so the whole team can move as one unit.

About that communication: Once you feel your skills are pretty good and you are doing your jobs on the boat well and at the right time, you can start to add more value by communicating. There is a lot you can say and, just as important, should not say at any given time. On ­bigger boats, it should be defined who should be talking and who should not. On smaller boats, the communication may fall on you, so knowing what to say and when is very important. If your job requires communication, follow this basic rule: Communicate what is important based on the current situation, and realize that the situation often changes.

For example, on the way out to the racecourse, the discussion might center on what sails you’re putting up. Then, while warming up on the course, the discussion is on boat setup and racecourse features. In the pre-start, it’s calling time and communicating threats coming during your final approach to the line. Once the race is underway and you’ve had a good start, the focus will likely be on boatspeed; if you’ve had a tough start, it will probably center on escape routes.

Let’s say we just started the race, had a clean start, and we’re going to sail straight for a while. Communication might focus on puffs and lulls, or our speed in relation to others. Then, later, after tacking onto port, the best communication may be ­identifying right-of-way starboard-tack boats. Once there are no more starboard threats and your lane opens up, the attention shifts back to the most important thing, which is simply to go fast for a while. Later in the beat, as you get close to the top mark, you may ask the skipper the downwind-leg plan, then shift into calling traffic to help get around the top mark clean, with no drama or fouls. That’s what I mean by communicating what’s most important at any given moment.

You may have heard that a fast boat is a quiet boat. Jimmy Spithill spoke to our high school sailors recently, and they asked him about communication. He said, “You want to be as concise as possible and convey ideas with as few words as possible at the right time.”

So, your job may be to be quiet in the pre‑start, or it may be to call the time, and you should do that really well. You should focus on being great at it. Ask the skipper or tactician, “How would you like me to call the time?” Is it every 15 seconds down to two minutes, then every 10 seconds down to one minute, and every five seconds down to 30 seconds, and then every second down to zero? Again, you’re communicating what’s important at that one moment in the race and working to be as concise as possible. Not overcommunicating during a race helps the skipper and tactician concentrate on making the boat go fast and making good decisions. And in Jimmy’s world, when you are foiling at 40 knots, things are happening so fast, there’s ­literally no time for long communications.

I heard one of the coolest tips for short and sweet comms while on a US Sailing team call. Tim Wadlow, a two-time 49er Olympian, mentioned his team had a communication for going straight. They just say “happy.” It comes from one of their favorite movies, Happy Gilmore. “If we’re ever in a situation where we’re in a big lane, sailing toward the mark, and we’re not thinking about tacking, our goal is just to go fast for a while. So, basically, we’re in our happy place,” Wadlow said. “So, we say ‘happy,’ which communicates that we’re going to focus on speed and heel angle, and simply go straight for a while.”

Knowing this, the crew can get low on the wire and fully focus on heel angle and sail trim—concise and in the moment. He also gave an example where they’ve just rounded the bottom mark, the lane’s kind of thin, and they’re pinching. “I’m thinking about tacking, but I’m not sure I need to yet, so I just say ‘looking.’ That one word lets the crew know not to get super low on the wire and be ready to tack because I’m looking around and considering bailing out.”

These two words convey a lot of meaning, and they mean something to the people on the boat. Come up with your own words for short and sweet comms, and have some fun with it.

In sum, know each step of your job and have a repeatable process that you follow every single time. If you do your job at the right time in harmony with everyone else, the sails will go up and down well, the heel angle will stay consistent, and the boat will go fast. Olympian Dave Hughes, who is one of the best crew in the world, says: “Be a student of the game. Ask questions, be curious, work hard, and you’ll always be invited back.”

The post Three Steps to Becoming a Great Crew appeared first on Sailing World.

After two years of ­campaigning the Olympic 49erFX, I recently returned to the Laser Radial (now known as the ILCA 6), and my enthusiasm for speed was ripe on one day of training in Fort Lauderdale. With the breeze pumping at 18 knots, I trimmed the sail for the first lineup of the day, feeling the load in the deck and the power in my quads. Then, with a big smile on my face, I eased the mainsheet 5 feet or so and let the boat rip. It felt awesome until I heard my coach, Erik Bowers, yell at me from the RIB, “Erika, it’s not a skiff! The boat’s not going to take off. Bring it back up!”

As much as I was enjoying essentially reaching around, Bower’s reality check was a good reminder for me to recalibrate what we all call moding, which is sailing the best angle for the given wind strength. The top sailors know how and when to shift between three different modes: high mode, velocity made good (VMG) and low mode. Each mode has its unique features and applications on the racecourse, but the key to speed is to select the correct one at the right time, so let’s explore how.

On an upwind leg, consider your high mode as the closest angle you can sail to the wind without the luff of the sail starting to break. Your best indicators in this mode are the windward telltales dropping slightly and the leeward ones streaming straight back. This mode sacrifices some forward speed and is similar to walking a tightrope; you have to balance speed versus height, and the sea state is especially critical because one small error in sheeting or steering will make you “fall off the rope” immediately.

The VMG mode is defined as the quickest way to make distance toward the mark. In other words, this can also be thought of as the best average speed toward the mark. This mode is a bit more forgiving because its boundaries are somewhere between the high and low modes. Oftentimes, true VMG touches both modes as you sail upwind.

The low mode is just below your VMG angle and somewhere above tight reaching. Placing the boat in this mode increases the load in your sail(s) and hull appendages, thus increasing your overall boatspeed. However, if there’s too much force over the sails and the underwater foils, drag increases and your boatspeed drops. Finding a low-mode sweet spot is important because having the same speed but sailing a lower angle than another competitor on an upwind beat never ­produces a good outcome.

Understanding the ­limitations of each mode is critical, but knowing when to exploit specific modes in different wind strengths is how the best sailors win the boatspeed race. For example, in light air, a high mode always trumps a low mode because sailing a lower angle doesn’t create fast-forward speed toward the mark. Thus, in underpowered conditions, the objective is to go the same speed and higher than other boats. When the wind increases in velocity, the challenge becomes finding the shifting point from forward speed in a low mode to optimal VMG. How to get to this point is different for every boat in different wind strengths and sea states. In the ILCA 6, for example, the transition to a low mode becomes favorable at about 13 knots. At this wind strength, the boat is able to pick up enough speed to overcome the benefits of a high mode. In the 49erFX, this crossover happens much lower in the wind range. At around 8 knots, or when both skipper and crew are fully trapping, the skiff wants to take off and tap into apparent wind sailing. During 49erFX races, it’s easy to identify boats stuck in a high mode off the starting line as they immediately drop back because the speed difference between high and low modes is colossal. In this case, the low mode produces the optimal height toward the mark without sacrificing speed.

Races are most often sailed in transitional wind strengths. On a single upwind beat, there can be moments where the high mode is the dominant VMG, and then a 1- to 2-knot puff causes the low mode to take command. The skill is realizing the subtle change in wind strength and instantly adjusting your mode while considering your tactics. A good rule of thumb is that your high mode will be your best VMG until your low mode becomes significant enough to be a real boatspeed weapon. For example, if you’re able to put the bow down to then promptly tack and get a cross in, the low mode becomes the best VMG to the weather mark.

Using relatives from other boats to check in with your mode selection during a race is extremely helpful for deciding which mode to maintain. The sailors on top of the results page have their mode selection dialed in. Though practicing these nuances before an event is great, the best VMG angle for a race can easily be determined during the pre-start. Going upwind and teasing the extremes of each mode only takes a few minutes, and testing what you find against another boat will confirm or deny your hunch. No matter what, establish a feel for the limitations of each mode. Once you have a good feel for them, find your room to play.

The post How to Find Your Speed Mode appeared first on Sailing World.

Sailing World contributor Mike Ingham explains the tactical nuances of ducking as well as the basic techniques of a fast duck.

The post The Tactics and Technique of a Duck appeared first on Sailing World.

Anytime the wind picks up enough that we get to plane downwind, there’s huge opportunity to make gains. When boats start to plane, differences in speed between a fast and a slow boat could be in excess of 4 knots, or 6 feet per second. In other words, you could gain or lose 300 feet in less than a minute. Therefore, it is important to have in mind the following priorities when planing conditions are in play.

1. Set yourself up for a clean hoist and exit at the weather mark

Mark roundings are where the most gains or losses happen. When you get tangled up with another boat, it’s easy to get stuck sailing below target speed while other boats are planing away at full speed. It is, therefore, important to anticipate the exit and have this conversation with my team (or yourself, if you’re sailing a singlehander) in the last third of the upwind leg. Ask yourself the following questions: Is the top mark going to be busy with traffic, or is the fleet spread out? What’s happening on this upwind beat and what side of the downwind is priority to defend? Is jibe setting an option? It could very well be that a jibe-set will keep you on the favored side of the downwind leg, but also think about staying in clear breeze and how far there wind shadow extends, especially if there’s a long offset leg. Sailing across a long wind shadow might be too big of a price to pay, so assess these factors, make a clear exit plan, and execute it successfully.

If it’s going to be a straight set, look around while you’re on the offset leg. If there’s space and you are not overlapped with boats around you, a clean bear-away and hoisting the kite at a low angle will work. If you are overlapped with boats to windward as you round the weather mark, delay the hoist if necessary and continue sailing on a broad reach across the offset leg. The key here is to make sure the boats to windward are not going to roll you before bearing away. As the leeward boat, you will decide when to put the kite up!

If you’re overlapped with boats to leeward, or if there is a big pack close ahead, holding a high-lane hoist becomes super powerful. I call it the high-road set. Hold for a few seconds and set yourself up to windward of these boats, this becomes very powerful when straight setting and holding a lane is the only option. Boats ahead of you that set early will have a difficult time trying to head up to get to your lane and any little gust of wind will favor this higher lane, allowing you to sail fast all the time.

If the goal is to jibe set or jibe early, make sure you are not overlapped with boats inside you as you round the weather mark. It will be a priority on the offset leg to break this overlap (either by rolling over the top of the boats to leeward or slowing down to let them get ahead in front of you but not overlapped). This will allow you to have the option to jibe at the mark or beat them to the jibe later on the run.

2. Always anticipate the next move

Think ahead because things happen fast at the top of the run and you should always remind yourself about what is coming next. Ask yourself: When are we going to jibe next? Do we want to lead this jibe, or wait and go to the layline? Keep in mind that maneuvers at high speeds are usually costly. So, jibing a few times down the middle of the course does not pay in most cases.

3. Be very confident with your layline judgement

For any boat I sail, I like to pick my references for laylines for each true windspeed. It is important to do this during training. In planing conditions, knowing exactly where the layline is will be crucial. You can use parts of the boat to determine this exit angle. I usually eyeball the downwind mark and try to align it with some part of the boat. For example, if the mark is aligned with the lower shroud in planing conditions, I know the layline is imminent. Make sure you always call the layline from the same exact position onboard so references are trustworthy. A good way to refresh this is by doing this exercise before the start, or on the way to the racecourse when going downwind. Use the race committee boat, a channel marker or any other fixed object as a mark to judge your layline call before the race starts. It is surprising the amount of boats that will fail to judge this correctly, opening up huge passing opportunities, especially at the bottom of the downwind leg.

4. Prioritize pressure over shift

If you want to plane, you’re looking for dark-water spots, so the goal is always to pick a good lane and make sure you jibe into dark spots. On gusty days, a good trick to know when to jibe to stay in pressure is by eyeballing your exit angle on the opposite jibe. Will there be dark water there? Maybe waiting to jibe another 30 seconds will keep you in more wind for longer.

5. Set yourself up to plane into the weather mark

Just like at the upwind mark, the same concepts apply when rounding a gate or a leeward mark. Again, assess the situation based on traffic around you, clean breeze and wind pressure. If you’re planing, which is the goal, you want be able to hold that speed for as long as possible. So, often it’s better to take the less favored gate mark as long as it keeps you in clean wind, clear of wind shadows, and in less traffic, which will allow for a better rounding in more wind, getting your team to upwind target speed in a shorter time.

About Carlos Robles

Robles, Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1995 is a 27-year-old sailor based in the USA. Son of a Spanish father and a Brazilian mother, Carlos was introduced to sailing at age 5 by his dad in their 30 foot family boat. From being part of the Spanish Sailing Team since the age of 9 and later on the Brazilian Olympic team, the passion to become a re-known professional sailor was always his primary focus. At his young age Carlos’s resume includes three World Championships and a European Championship in the 29er class and an Olympic Campaign in the 49er class representing Brazil, where he became North American Champion in 2016. Since transitioning into professional sailing in late 2019, Carlos is already a two-time North American Champion and European Silver Medalist in the J7/0 class, he finished second at the Melges 24 World Championships this year and second again at the J/111 North Americans. He also enjoys going offshore in bigger teams, racing around Europe in 2021 in the Volvo 65 class and finishing second at the Newport to Bermuda Race in the Pac 52 class this year. You can find him at @carlosrobleslorente and on Facebook as Carlos Robles.

The post Downwind Tactics For Planing Conditions appeared first on Sailing World.

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the top of the beat. Now it’s time to nail the first weather-mark rounding, which, when done well, will set you up for a good position on the run. For simplicity, let’s look at three useful weather-mark moves: the starboard-tack approach, the port-tack approach and the 80 percent approach.

Starboard-Tack Approach

We are doing well in the day’s first race, on starboard tack, and comfortably laying the windward mark. We are slightly overstood and threatened by a lineup of port-tackers coming in just below the three-length zone. They will be looking to tack to starboard, inside and to leeward of us. Our concern is that, if they do tack, they might gain mark room on us and control our positioning going into the offset. To defend our position, we want all port-tackers to dip our stern rather than tack to leeward of us.

When you see this situation ­developing, the move is to bear off sharply and aim well to leeward of the windward mark until you get right on (or slightly below) the layline. Then aim for the mark. Done well, the port-tackers have some difficult escape options: 1) forcing their tack below the layline and attempting to pinch to the mark, which risks them hitting it; 2) taking our stern, and probably several other sterns as well; and 3) worst of all, being forced to tack or jibe before laying the mark. We all know how that plays out, and it’s not pretty.

Don’t give the port-tacker room to pass in front of you on port tack, or they might do so. Bear off just enough that you can still make the mark when you head up again, yet without giving the port-tacker the room they need to complete a tack and still lay the windward mark. In other words, you will make it but they will not.

For you, there are two risks. First, if you bear off too much, you might end up not laying the mark, so you must know exactly where the layline is and be ready to pinch and use your momentum to get around the mark. (Don’t forget about the current strength and direction, if it’s a factor.) Second, because you are a right-of-way boat and altering course, you must do so early enough and far enough away from the port-tack boat to allow them an escape. Otherwise, you violate RRS 16, “Changing Course.”

Port-Tack Approach

It’s the next race, and now the shoe’s on the other foot. The first rule of a port-tack approach is to get onto starboard before the three-length zone. Therefore, we always aim to be tacking onto starboard at least four boatlengths from the windward mark or farther to ensure our tack is completed outside the three-length zone. Nothing good happens to a port-tacker tacking inside the zone.

As we approach the zone on port tack, we are looking at the starboard parade from a long way out. We need to know where and how we are going to fit into the lineup of starboard-tackers. They’re probably playing follow the leader, most of them slow and sailing in bad air. We have several options. First, if we find a gap larger than a boatlength, we can probably tack into it and not risk fouling the boat ahead or astern. We need to complete our tack in accordance with RRS 13, “While Tacking.” We might have to foot a bit to find the right gap, which could be well worth it compared to lining up in the ­starboard-tack parade of bad air. Here, speed is our friend.

Second, it might be possible to cross clear ahead of a starboard-tack boat and then tack to windward of them. This works well if you have a clear cross but not enough room to tack to leeward or ahead. Sure, you will probably round the windward mark and the offset mark behind that ­starboard-tack boat, but you will likely be ahead of everyone else. This is one of those moves I’m surprised not to see more frequently.

Our third option is the aggressive port-tack approach. Let’s refer to the diagram: We are on port tack, attempting to slot in between two starboard-tackers, S3 and S4. If we make our duck too late, we will be unable to complete a J-hook turn or tack without fouling S4. But if we bear away early, anticipating the necessary tack to starboard, we can pass astern of S3 and already be above closehauled on port. In other words, we do the turn early, approaching low, and start the turn as soon as possible after clearing S3’s transom. The advantage of this is we have much less of a turn to make to complete the tack and can more easily slot into the narrow gap between S3 and S4. With the port-tack approach, speed and momentum are our friends once again. It’s tough to get clear air near the windward mark, which is why the port-tack approach can be so effective. Plan the maneuver early and maximize speed while minimizing the final part of the turn from high port onto starboard, with sails filled as quickly as possible and ­without fouling S4.

The 80 Percent Approach

We’re in the third race, and things aren’t going as well. This time, we’ve had a bad start, the upwind slows, or perhaps we had a penalty turn or went to the wrong side of the course. For whatever reason, we’re mid fleet at best, and there’s a ton of bad air on both the starboard- and port-tack ­laylines. Now’s the time for the 80 percent approach. This means that for the first 80 percent of the beat, we stay away from the port and starboard laylines. By waiting until the final 20 percent of the beat to get to a layline, we should be able to enjoy relatively clean air to leeward of the starboard and port parades, and reach our goal of rounding midfleet. One measure of a top team is to always advance in the fleet. We think of advancing (or declining) throughout the race as the “delta factor.” We always strive for a positive delta and to pass more boats than any other team.

As we sail on port or starboard beneath the layline parades, we carefully watch for our perfect opportunity to tack and advance closer to or onto the layline in clean air. Our choices of when to tack also consider windshifts, wind gusts, traffic and perhaps current. But the 80 percent approach allows us to chip away at several of the nearby mid fleet boats, round the windward mark in a respectable position, and maintain a positive delta factor.

Offset Mark Exits

Once around the windward mark, we have a short reach to the offset mark in many keelboat classes. There are five basic exits from that mark, so the key is to have a simple, effective way to communicate to our crew which playbook maneuver we’ll be using. We use a simple code:

Hot Set The goal is to be higher than all boats ahead and behind, and immediately shift into the passing lane. To perform the Hot Set, plan ahead with the crew, be sure the vang has been eased, get the halyard up, guy or tack line on quickly, sheet in and hike. The Hot Set is a difficult maneuver that requires careful and skilled boathandling to avoid broaching, especially in heavy winds. It’s ideal for passing slow boats in front, particularly boats having trouble with poor sets. Do be careful, though, because those boats can be particularly dangerous if they luff you with the jib (only) still up.

Normal Set The goal here is to follow the boat in front of us. We don’t try to gain a leeward or windward advantage, just follow. The Normal Set is a go-to exit from the offset mark when you at least want to maintain the status quo. It puts you in position to gain, and you should never lose. Use it to maintain your position in the race and prepare for the next positive delta gain. The tactician must carefully inform the helms­person if an overlap does occur with the boat ahead, and whether it should be on the windward or leeward side.

Low Set The objective is to gain depth on the fleet ahead or behind, and to stay on the starboard jibe. With the Low Set, the helmsperson steers to leeward of the boat(s) ahead. We quickly square the pole or, on an asymmetric spinnaker boat, max out easing the sheet. Windward heel helps. The Low Set is best when there is a gap of clean air behind so we don’t get blanketed.

Set/Jibe Our intent is to set the ­spinnaker and then immediately get onto port jibe with smooth speed, maintaining our turn and ideally keeping the spinnaker full through the maneuver. On a boat such as an Etchells, a tip is to set the spinnaker pole on starboard because it helps rotate the spinnaker around the headstay for the jibe.

Jibe/Set The goal is to immediately jibe to port and then set the spinnaker. With both the Set/Jibe and the Jibe/Set, be careful of jibing to port ahead of port- and starboard-tack parades. They can seriously blanket all boats jibing within 100 to 300 meters of the windward and offset marks.

The post Weather Mark Tactics appeared first on Sailing World.

Sailing World Racing Editor Mike Ingham explains the basics of mainsail trim.

The post Sailboat Racing Tips: Mainsail Trim Basics appeared first on Sailing World.

For a couple of years, I’d been watching the results for Club 420 racing, and two names always kept appearing at the top: Cordelia Burn and crew Sarah Moeder, from Bay Head YC in New Jersey. I really wanted to know how they managed to win almost every Club 420 event they entered, some by wide margins. Since they were an East Coast team and I coach on the West Coast, I’d never seen them race. But this past July, at the 2021 Club 420 Nationals in New Jersey, I got my chance.

There, I observed and got a few great videos of Burn and Moeder implementing their winning strategy, and as luck would have it, I got to coach our group of West Coast sailors along with coach Sarah Burn, Cordelia’s older sister, who also dominated the C420 class until she moved on to college. Sarah told me her younger sister was pretty conservative on the starting line, seldom started at an end, avoided major errors and was very fast. In watching them, that’s exactly what I saw.

We were coaching a big group of mostly West Coast sailors, which included the eventual winners of the event, Piper Holthus and Sophia Pearce, both on a team I started coaching during the pandemic called NB4T, or Newport Beach 420 Team, based out of Bahia Corinthian YC. Holthus and Pearce followed a similar starting strategy to Burn and Moeder: They were also really quick around the track and sailed super-smart upwind legs. After the first day, they were in the top of the fleet. In our evening debrief, Holthus, the skipper, provided a succinct explanation of their upwind sailing strategy that was nothing short of brilliant in its simplicity. Their decision-making mostly involved the compass headings and the crew calling ­percentages to layline.

Two teams, two great approaches. Here’s how Burn and Moeder managed the starts and Holthus and Pearce called the first upwind legs.

The Start

For this event, the 132-boat fleet was split into two groups, which meant there were 65 boats on the line. It was a big line, and before the start, Burn and Moeder hung out above the center of the starting line, near the gate area, about five boatlengths to windward. In that time, they looked upwind for pressure and did a few head-to-winds to keep track of the shifts. They’d already figured out the bearing of the starting line, and their wind checks were to figure out the favored end of the starting line and recognize which phase the wind was in. That helped them make a game plan for where they wanted to start and where they wanted to go on the first beat.

By being upwind of the starting line and out of the melee of boats going back and forth, Burn and Moeder had few distractions and were able to focus more on the wind, as well as get accurate head-to-wind numbers with no disturbance. They could also see up the course a lot better. Once they did their final upwind check, they bore away and sailed wing and wing, dead downwind, toward the starting line. Or, depending on where they wanted to start, they reached back down. As they came down, they looked for an open space in the section of the line in which they wanted to start, which was almost always just left or right of center, depending on their game plan. The cool thing is, being above the line looking down at the fleet, they could more easily see groups or clusters of boats. Their goal was to avoid those clusters.

As they got back to the line, there were around two and a half to three minutes before the start—plenty of time to get into the mix, do their own setup, and manage the congestion, avoiding crowds. One time, I saw a crowd form around them at about a minute left, and Burn simply bore away, jibed, sailed out of it, and ended up 20 yards to the right of where she had first set up, which was more open.

With this technique, don’t come down so late that you can’t find a space. You have to know when your fleet likes to set up. And remember, the more crowded the starting line, the sooner you have to come back and claim your spot. I call it “coveted real estate.” That might be when the line is a bit short for the number of boats racing, or possibly everyone wants to go right and is setting up in the upper half of the line, creating a crowd. You can learn this through experience with your fleet and real-time observation of its behavior. The more coveted the real estate, the sooner you’ve got to get to your area and stake your claim.

One of the keys to ­starting in the middle of the line is you can’t be timid. It’s a mistake to start just right or left of center and be bow back or a little nervous about being over. That’s because, typically, one end is favored, and if you start bow back in the middle, you won’t have a decent race because you’re going to be too far behind those who started at the favored end. So, if you’re going to use this approach, be bold and push the line, making sure you have the confidence provided by a line sight, solid pings, or a great eye for seeing the starting line. Burn and Moeder did that, as did Holthus and Pearce.

You must also have good speed. If you do, you can give up a little starting-line bias by not being right at the favored end. In a 65-boat fleet, if the boat end is favored, position yourself slightly right of center in open space; if the pin is favored, set up slightly left of center in open space. It’s OK to let the open space dictate where you set up. Sometimes you can get a little closer to the favored end and that’s fine; sometimes you’re a little farther away. With solid boatspeed, you’ll make up some of the bias you’re giving up, and by starting in low congestion, your chances of a great start go up dramatically. This is a major key with this formula. You might not be winning races, but you increase your chances of solid single-digit finishes. Another way to look at it is that you are decreasing your chances of making major mistakes and finishing deep, such as trying to win the pin and getting caught in a pileup while the fleet sails on. Also, this conservative approach allows you to hedge, tactically. If you start at the pin, go left and the right pays, you will be deep. But if you start left of center, go left and the right pays, you are closer to midfleet when you start your comeback.

Once they started, both teams focused on sailing the long tack. In this regatta, it was often sailing straight—starboard was often long or at least neutral. But a couple of times there were big left shifts and port became long. By punching out a little bit at the start and being fast, if in a left phase, you can shortly get onto port tack. Then it’s just about locking it in and going fast.

Managing the Upwind Leg

After the first day of the regatta, Holthus and Pearce had all single-digit finishes, which in a 65-boat fleet is great, and they were tied for second overall. I asked them what they were doing upwind. Holthus said: “Coach, we started in low density, got on the long tack and focused on sailing fast. After the 50-50 midpoint, Sophia would start calling percentages to layline to help me know where we were on the course and how much time was left to layline. She would say, ‘40‑60, 30-70, 20-80,’ etc., and that information helped me determine what type of header we were willing to tack on. If we had plenty of time to layline, I would wait for a big header. If time was running out, I would tack on a smaller shift. Once on the new long tack, we repeated the process, maximizing speed toward the mark and minimizing ­maneuvers. That’s all we did.”

It sounded familiar because I have my buddy Erik Shampain call percentage to layline for me, as other tacticians have teammates do for them. It really helps the tactician place the boat on the course from a top-down view, without looking around too much. For example, dead center on the course, on starboard, is 50-50. That means 50 percent of the course is in front of you to the port tack layline, and if you were to tack, you would have 50 percent of the course in front of you to the starboard tack layline. If you were to plot your position on a grid system, you’d be in the center of the course, relative to the wind’s current phase. In other words, you might not be dead center geographically, but with the current wind direction, you’re equal distance from each layline.

Being 50-50 also means you have equal options: No tack is long, and you can sail straight or tack, depending on what side you like or what phase you are in—lifted or headed. If Holthus and Pearce got a big header at 50-50, they would tack, but if lifted, they would continue ­sailing straight.

Let’s follow them on a typical leg. They’ve gotten the start they wanted, and Pearce is now calling out the percentages and says, “40-60.” That means the other tack, port tack, is starting to become the long tack, but they still have 40 percent left to the port layline. If they were lifted at 40-60, they’d continue because they have time to wait for a nice header.

Pearce’s next call is “30-70.” Now Holthus is thinking, OK, if we get a header, we’re going to tack because the other tack is getting long. But we have a little time left to wait for a nice-size header. It’s a 15-degree oscillating day, and she’s ­waiting for a bigger shift.

Pearce soon says, “20-80.” Holthus is starting to itch to tack now. After being lifted for a long time, she is willing to tack on a smaller header just to head toward the mark again. So, they tack to port at 20-80, down 7 degrees from the all-time lift, which is actually just a neutral number. If they had been super-lifted and continued on starboard, they would have eventually reached 10-90. Then, even if they were still lifted, they should tack, leaving some real estate to play with and expecting the wind to shift back left at some point, lifting them up toward the mark on port. In an ideal world, you can tack in the 30-70 to 20-80 range to head the other way, but the shifts play a part in your decision, and sometimes you have to be patient, hoping for the header to come soon before you get too close to layline.

Being 50-50 also means you have equal options: No tack is long, and you can sail straight or tack, depending on what side you like or what phase you are in—lifted or headed.

In our example, Holthus and Pearce tacked at 20-80, which means that on port tack they’re now 80-20, the long tack toward the mark. Now while sailing on port tack the percentages start to change: 70-30, 60-40, 50-50, and then 40-60. In an ideal world, they could sail all the way to the starboard tack layline area, get a header and then tack, but that is rare. In this example, they get a big header when at 40-60, so they tack back to starboard to get on the long tack and stay in phase. One minute later, they get a big left shift, so they tack back, and that takes them to their final starboard layline call. They round the top mark a solid seventh. With great speed, patience and strong decision-making, they pass three boats over the next 20 minutes and finish fourth, a great keeper in a 65-boat fleet.

If you spend some time thinking about percentages to laylines, you will realize that if you get a header, it changes your distance to layline. Headers make the tack you are on shorter, heading you away from the mark, therefore putting you closer to layline. Lifts make your tack longer, which is why you sail them upwind. For example, if you are 40-60 and get a header, all of the sudden you are closer to layline and might be 30-70 or even 20-80, so you tack.

The girls executed the above strategy for the whole regatta, getting great starts, positioning themselves just to either side of center of the line in open space, and boldly pushed the starting line without being over. Then they simply sailed the numbers upwind using ­percentage-of-layline calls to help make decisions.

All of this came together in the final race. At the start, they liked the right side of the course where they saw more wind, and the wind shifts were in a left phase. Because of this, they started just right of center in a great hole, pushed the line, and shortly thereafter got onto the long port tack. After a solid first beat, they were in second at the top mark behind a boat that took a more aggressive approach and sent it hard right. They slowly reeled in the leader over the next lap in a dying breeze, and took the lead on the final run by getting low of the leader and jumping them on the final jibe into the leeward mark. Not looking back, they extended to win the race by more than 50 meters to top the 132-boat fleet and earn a national championship title. It was a beautiful way for Holthus to finish her Club 420 career before heading off to Georgetown, and it was an awesome win for her crew Pearce, who has been working harder than everyone on becoming the best crew possible throughout the pandemic.

I was so motivated by watching these phenomenal sailors’ simple strategy, I figured I would give it a try in the J/70 at the 45-boat J/70 Pre-Worlds and the 65-boat world championship a few weeks later in Marina Del Rey, California. Lo and behold, we had two great regattas, finishing first and
second, respectively. Thank you, ladies!

The post How to Win Your Next Race appeared first on Sailing World.

The post Sailboat Racing Tips: Up To Speed on Spinnaker Trim appeared first on Sailing World.