Coaching Double Handed Resources Sailing
Skill breakdowns and troubleshooting guide to assist double handed coaches.
[Type text] Double Handed Sailing
Acknowledgements
Written by: Jen Braem
With: Erik Van der Pol
Contributors: Steve McBride Oliver Bone Michael Leitch Jessica Round
Editors: Rob Fox
Photographs taken by: Teddy Skiffington Jonathan Parker
Sailors in Photos: Jen Braem Erin Flanagan Fraser McMillan Erik Van der Pol
Written in Partnership with Royal Victoria Yacht Club, BC Sailing, and the Canadian Yachting Association
Written October 2011
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2 Table of Contents Introduction ...... 5 Roles in the Boat: The Crew and the Helm ...... 6 Communication: ...... 6 Roles in the Boat ...... 7 Weight Placement and Body Position ...... 8 Upwind Body Position ...... 8 Body Position: Going Through the Gears ...... 9 Trapeze ...... 10 Clipping In and Getting out on the Wire ...... 10 Unclipping from the Wire ...... 11 Trapezing: Form and Weight Placement...... 11 General Form ...... 11 Tacking a Double Handed Dinghy ...... 12 Roll Tacking ...... 13 Wire to Wire Tacks ...... 15 Spinnaker ...... 16 Symmetrical Spinnaker Hoist: ...... 16 Troubleshooting Spinnaker Hoists ...... 18 Windward Spinnaker Hoists ...... 19 What’s the difference between a windward and leeward hoist? ...... 19 Reach Hoists ...... 20 Troubleshooting Windward Spinnaker Hoists ...... 20 Spinnaker Gybes...... 20
Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybe: ...... 21
Troubleshooting Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybes ...... 22 Spinnaker Douse: ...... 25 Troubleshooting Symmetrical Spinnaker Douses ...... 26 Trimming and Helming with the Spinnaker ...... 27
Reaching with the Kite ...... 28 DoubleHandedSailing
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How a Sail Works: Trimming for Speed ...... 29 Basic Sail Theory ...... 29 Mainsail Trim and Controls ...... 33 Mainsheet and Bridle Tension ...... 33
General rule of thumb for mainsheet tension upwind: ...... 33 CoachingResources
3 Boom Vang ...... 34 Cunningham ...... 34 Outhaul ...... 34 Mainsail Trimming Guide ...... 35 The Jib ...... 36 Trimming the Jib ...... 38 Windward Sheeting and Barber Hauling ...... 39 Jib Cunningham ...... 40 Jib Halyard Tension ...... 40 Centre of Effort ...... 41 Centre of Lateral Resistance ...... 42 Heel and Helm ...... 43 Tuning a Double Handed Dinghy ...... 44 Aspects of Tuning ...... 44 Mast Heel Position ...... 44 Mast Rake...... 45 Rig Tension ...... 46 Pre-Bend...... 46 On Water Rig Changes ...... 47 Go Fast Tips for Race Coaches ...... 48 Club 420 Body Placement: ...... 48 Club 420 Bridle Setup ...... 48 Club 420 Tuning Guide ...... 49 Conclusion ...... 50
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4 Introduction
Double handed sailing is not so different from single handed sailing. It incorporates all aspects of single handed sailing, in particular, those skills which sailors will have learned throughout the Opti program. The fundamentals of balance, propulsion, and direction are all essential to the double handed team. What makes double handed sailing so special is the added dimension of teamwork. Suddenly there are two people in the boat. Two sailors means two brains, two styles of sailing, two personalities, and two bodies to deal with. On top of all that, we add in a jib, shrouds, a trapeze system, and a spinnaker! All of these added tools mean that double handed sailing is extremely complex.
This document is a guide for coaches to assist new double handed teams as they work to become just that… a team. We have worked to describe complex boat handling manoeuvres in easy, step by step, breakdowns, so that coaches have the resources to coach their athletes in the “best practices” of current racing styles. What does this mean? It means that there will always be sailors who develop their own styles of sailing and executing manoeuvres, but here we attempt to break down skills so that the average sailor is most likely to succeed. We strongly encourage coaches to begin coaching their athletes in these best practices, and wait to modify the skills once athletes are comfortable and can execute these skills within a racing context and in a range of conditions.
We also seek to describe the roles and responsibilities of the helm and the crew in this resource. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the crew in a double handed team. Special attention is given to crew skills throughout this document, so that crews are given the coaching resources that they need to excel and to really understand their roles in the boat.
Finally, we take a look at sail shape, the rig, and the whole sail system from a double handed perspective. We try to link various aspects of the rig together, so that coaches can help athletes truly understand how one thing affects another on a double handed boat.
In addition to this resource, there are manuals targeted towards singlehanded sailing and skiff sailing. Likewise, these two manuals will act as resources for coaches to go out and learn about today’s style of sailing for each type of boat. Go out, try all of these resources, and keep pushing yourself beyond the contents of what we have to share!
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5 Roles in the Boat: The Crew and the Helm Teamwork and communication are of the utmost importance in double handed sailing. The helm and crew must each know their own role and understand their partner’s role in the boat as well. Once each member of the team becomes comfortable with his or her role, he must allow the other to perform his role. At this point communication becomes key, and teams who are able to communicate effectively often find themselves at the front of the fleet on the race course.
Communication: So how do teams communicate effectively? Each team must develop its own style of communication, because each team’s personality differs. As a general rule, however, communication should be factual, concise, and impersonal.
Factual
Concise Impersonal
Factual: Communication based on facts means that the team can focus on what is actually happening, such as “we’re in a lull, the boat feels stalled” or “puff in 3 seconds, it should be a lift”, rather than perceived themes such as “we feel slow.”
Concise: This one is a given, especially if you’ve ever tried to communicate to your helm in 25 knots or on a start line with 40 luffing jibs! Keep sentences short and consistent so that they are easy to understand. Short statements mean that the other person will need to spend less time deciphering the message. Consistent statements mean that the other person will always know what is being said. For example, if one crew consistently communicates gusts to her helm by saying
“puff in five” and then one day says “pressure coming,” the helm could easily be confused by this different message.
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Impersonal: Communication between partners should be impersonal. This is difficult, especially during the heat of the moment. However, teams should constantly strive to communicate to each other in a professional and respectful manner, and this means avoiding criticism, blame, or other personal remarks. When training, remarks should be directed at performance, rather than at the individual. When racing, this becomes increasingly important, as emotions can run high and athletes can begin to blame each other for mistakes. CoachingResources
6 Roles in the Boat In order to communicate effectively, each member of the team must know his or her role inside out. Again, each team will develop its own specific roles over time. With new teams, however, coaches should follow these general guidelines to help athletes understand their roles within the boat.
Helm Crew
Upwind: Tactics Upwind: Fore and Aft Weight Mainsail Trim Keeping boat flat Steering Calling puffs/shifts Centreboard Trim Overall race course management Jib trim
Downwind: Downwind: Steering to keep pressure in kite Flying kite Tactics Communicating pressure to Calling puffs/shifts helm (kite) Steering for waves (weight & Boat trim (body weight) driving)
Spinnaker pole trim (topping lift)
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7 Weight Placement and Body Position Weight placement is key to creating a balanced boat which sails efficiently through the wind and waves. As a coach, spending time on achieving effective body position in the boat will help your athletes to feel the boat and sail the boat effectively. There are different positions for the helm and the crew at different wind strengths, and teaching athletes these different positions as well as when to transition between them will make a world of difference to the balance of their boat and their sailing. Below are some overall guidelines for body position, and different combinations of weight placement for both upwind and downwind.
Upwind Body Position
Helm: The key for the helm is to sit in a position which will allow for maximum feel of the boat. When sitting properly, the body can actually begin to feel the subtle changes in power and balance with each puff and lull. This means that he or she can use his or her body to make subtle adjustments to trim and balance, rather than the tiller. The more that the helm can use body weight to trim the boat rather than the tiller, the faster the boat will sail because tiller movements are reduced and flow is maintained over the centreboard and the rudder. So, what’s the best way for the helm to sit? Here are some basic guidelines:
Knees Knees should be together with feet tucked up underneath the body so that the helm’s core can be engaged. When the core is engaged it’s much easier to feel the subtle differences in the trim and balance of the boat. Legs should also both be directly aft of the traveller bar. While it’s important to keep weight forward in the boat, keeping one leg in front of the traveller bar prevents the helm from engaging his or her core and can’t feel the boat as effectively. It also hampers subtle mainsheet adjustments. Moving the helm aft a few inches and allowing him to keep his core engaged will be more effective to overall boat balance than keeping one leg in front of the traveller bar. To keep weight forward, keep legs aft of the traveller bar but body forward.
Shoulders The helm should try to keep his shoulders out beyond his hips. This again keeps the core stomach muscles engaged and allows for subtle but effective weight adjustments, and reduces excess tiller movements and allows for comfort and visibility when driving.
When to hike? The helm should begin hiking once the crew is fully trapezing. Having crew weight on the wire
helps the performance of the rig, and the crew can make many small and intricate adjustments
to balance from the wire. Fore and aft balance as well as keeping the boat flat are priorities, so the helm should remain seated on the windward gunwhale until the crew is fully trapezing.
Crew: The crew is the engine which drives the boat. He or she will be responsible for keeping the boat flat and thus will find herself moving around as the breeze changes in order to keep the boat properly balanced both windward and leeward as well as fore and aft. The key to crewing effectively is agility and anticipation. The crew must be able to
transfer weight from leeward to windward in order to keep the boat flat but without disturbing the flow over sails and
DoubleHandedSailing | | foils. He or she must also be able to move fore and aft for puffs and lulls to keep the boat moving through waves, to initiate surfing, and to prevent the bow from blowing off of the wind.
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8 Body Position: Going Through the Gears Different wind conditions and sea states call for different positions for both the helm and crew. The team must decide together which is the best position at the time, and when it’s appropriate to “switch gears” from one position to the next. Again, this is where communication and team work are key. Below are some guidelines to help sailors move through the gears as breeze builds or decreases when sailing.
Gear 1: Drifter & Gear 2: Medium Air Gear 3: Heavy Air Light Air
Helm: Sits just behind the Helm: Sits on the rounded Helm: Sits on the rounded traveler with feet under the part of the tank with hips part of the tank with hips hiking straps to hike the boat forward of traveler bar, feet forward of traveler bar, feet flat once the crew is fully tucked up underneath knees. tucked up underneath knees. trapezing.
Crew: Sits on the windward side either in front of the thwart or on the windward Crew: Depending on how tank. If on the windward light the wind is the crew can Crew: Full trapezing, crew tank, the crew can place his steps aft in the boat to help either site on the leeward front arm the trapeze handle tank or in the leeward side in lift the bow once planing. to pull the boat down if a Crew can be as far back as front of the thwart. The most gust comes in. He can even
the traveler bar when it is important thing is that the clip into the trapeze hook crew is on her feet and is really windy. Step forward and trapeze off the and back on the gunhale agile. The crew progressively centerboard case. If this is moves to the windward side depending on the gusts and still not enough weight to lulls. as the wind increases. keep the boat flat, the crew can trapeze of the gunwales. The most important part is
that the crew is agile.
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9 Trapeze Trapezing is one of the things that makes double handed sailing so exciting for athletes; it requires a fast and powerful boat and windy enough conditions to power up the rig. Trapezing is very simple: clip on and get your shoulders back. Trapezing well, on the other hand, is an art form. In order to trapeze effectively, the crew must be well balanced, agile, and able to balance his or her movements with those of the helm. The crew and helm must work together to keep the boat as balanced as possible and they must strive to move as smoothly as possible together.
Clipping in on the Wire
Clipping In and Getting out on the Wire
Skill Breakdown for Clipping In Crew sitting on ww gunwhale, jib sheet in aft hand Crew grab wire above trapeze puck with front hand Crew put front foot up onto edge of ww gunwhale Crew push body out with front foot (leg press motion) while hanging straight arm from front hand -drag aft hand along jib sheet to keep ahold of it, if Crew drops jib sheet, Helm can hand it back to Crew Crew grabs puck with front hand and drags Crew bring aft foot out as front leg reaches full extension jib sheet out with aft hand. Using aft hand (with jib sheet) clip trapeze hook to harness Let go of trapeze system, and press shoulders down
The key with clipping in on the wire is to get out as quickly as possible. This is why it’s important to teach athletes to clip in AFTER they have pushed themselves out on to the wire. As a coach, encourage athletes to clip in once they’re out on the wire rather than clipping in from a seated position on the gunwhale and then pushing Crew extends body weight to flatten boat. out onto the wire. Clipping in from the gunwhale is generally much less smooth and will disturb flow over the sail and the foils. As a
coach you’ll be able to see this by watching the leech of the main as the crew struggles to clip in and push out on to the wire. The smoother that the crew becomes when pushing out and clipping in, the less he or she will affect flow over the boat and therefore speed.
Once fully extended, crew can then clip in.
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10 Fore and Aft Placement Tips for Teaching Trapeze on Trapeze: On land with wire system clipped to wall, have athlete clip in using straight arm In order to keep the boat technique. This way he or she will build muscle memory in a safe environment. sailing fast, the crew can use his or her body to trim On water, pair athlete with an experienced helm and again practice clipping in using straight arm. An experienced helm will provide a smoother platform for the athlete the boat during puffs. By learning to trapeze. stepping fore and aft during sustained puffs and If upper body strength is an issue, ensure that the front arm is kept straight as if in a lulls, the crew can reduce dead hang. Trapezing with a bent arm will cause the athlete to tire prematurely. the helm’s need to ease during puffs, and thus keep more power in the rig. This is particularly helpful in short chop and puffy conditions. Unclipping from the Wire Again, it’s important to emphasize that the crew must be smooth and light footed when Puff: Crew should step aft unclipping from the wire and coming in. This is why it’s important to unclip from the initially, and then ball down trapeze while still out on the wire, and then to straight arm hang in order to keep weight on if need be. the wire while stepping into the boat. Keeping the weight off of the crew’s feet will help to Lull: Step forward in a keep the manoeuvre smooth and minimize any disturbances of flow to the sails and foils. short lull instead of balling
up. Ball up if the lull is Skill Breakdown for Unclipping sustained. Crew holds jib sheet with aft hand (if tacking then clears jib sheet) Crew grab wire above trapeze puck with front hand Rule of Thumb: Crew Crew lift hips to release trapeze hook from trapeze bale should step aft with Crew is now hanging straight armed from puck increasing wind strength Crew bends knees and steps into cockpit with front foot first and speed in order to Crew releases trapeze system and sits on windward gunwhale promote planing (if bow is being blown off by the wind, you’re too far aft!)
Trapezing: Form and Weight Placement
General Form
The whole concept of trapezing is that of using a lever to keep your boat flat. If we accept this concept, then it’s logical
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that the longer the lever, or in this case crew, the more effective he or she will be at keeping the boat flat. This is why in racing situations, the ideal crew is tall, so that he or she has natural leverage to keep the boat flat. Further effectiveness can be achieved through proper form. Proper form is all about the crew becoming the most effective lever possible. It’s also important to maintain balance. A balanced crew will be able to move effectively on the trapeze so that he or she can maintain the overall balance of the boat. Below are some guidelines to help your crews achieve effective trapezing
postures: CoachingResources
11 Feet: Together with toes pointed and facing forward or together and pointed with front foot forward and aft foot straight
Legs: Straight but knees unlocked, aft knee can be slightly bent for balance. Legs should not be splayed far apart
Torso: Fully extended with little to no bend at the hips unless light wind and the crew is high wiring. Torso should be facing forward so that crew can look to weather and the body should be as stiff as possible to transfer energy to the boat. As a rule of them when coaching, you should be able to draw a straight line from your athlete’s ankles, knees, hips, and right to their shoulders
Arms: Holding jib sheet (420) or mainsheet (29er), can have an arm overhead for further leverage. Avoid holding the trapeze puck or dangling arm underneath body
Head: Looking to weather
Figure 1: Trapezing form for both light air and heavy air. In both cases, the crew is the engine which keeps the boat flat and balanced.
Ball Up or Ball Down? The crew plays a critical role in keeping the boat balanced and moving in trapezing conditions. He or she can raise or lower his or her height on the trapeze by using the tackle on the trapeze wire. This is called ‘balling up or balling down.’ It’s important to remember that this is a coarse adjustment, though, and the crew should strive to use fore and aft weight placement as well as shoulders as much as possible before reverting to the trapeze tackle. Bending the knees
(while keeping the upper body straight), are another effective way to make fine adjustments to boat balance.
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Ball up: The crew should ball up if knees are constantly bent and the crew’s waist is constantly below his or her knees.
Ball down: The crew should ball down if he or she is fully extended and the helm is frequently easing the main while
fully hiking. CoachingResources
12 Tacking a Double Handed Dinghy Tacking a double handed boat requires communication and timing between the helm and the crew. The longer that a team sails together, the smoother and more efficient their tacks become as they learn to anticipate each other’s movements in the boat. There are also many different types of tack for different conditions, and different styles for different sailors. For instance, some helms tack with their tillers in front of them, as in the way that Laser and Opti sailors are taught. Other helms will tack by rotating the tiller extension behind them like a helicopter wing. Both are right, it just depends on the style and preference of the sailor. There are also best practises for drifter conditions, marginal trapezing conditions, and wire to wire tacks. We will outline common breakdowns for roll tacks and wire-to- wire tacks in this manual, but it’s important that sailors develop their own feel for the boat and when to switch gears into another mode of tacking.
Roll Tacking Tiller Switch: When to roll tack: Roll tacking is used to pump the sails and maintain Frying Pan vs velocity out of the tack. It is used from drifter conditions through to and Microphone including marginal trapezing conditions.
Skill Breakdown for roll tacking a double handed dinghy There are different methods for switching the tiller after a tack, and Helm Crew each has its place. Ask Helm “Ready to tack?” Helm confirms when ready to tack Crew counts in tack Frying Pan: Useful for dinghies with centre mainsheets such as Club 420 Helm gently heads up and keeps boat Crew keeps boat flat, holds ww or the 470 because the extension flat (mainsheet is trimmed tight), note trapeze puck with front hand, holds that there is no pre-roll jib sheet with aft hand swings around behind the tiller and As front 1/3 of jib luffs helm rolls boat Crew places full weight onto trapeze can’t get caught on the main. to ww by leaning shoulders outboard puck with front hand and leans and tucking feet up under torso outboard onto puck to roll boat Method: If Helm wants to steer with Helm ease main 2-3 inches As jib begins to back, crew uncleats it tiller extension on the deck, keep and lets go of sheet tiller extension facing down beside As boom crosses boat, helm runs aft Crew releases trapeze puck and trims hips and run hand up to the universal hand up tiller extension to universal jib with front hand (same hand as was as back footsteps across boat. As (assuming a frying pan tiller switch) used to hold trapeze puck) helm crosses boat, rotate tiller Helm crosses boat with aft foot first Crew crosses boat and brings new jib extension aft towards the transom (facing forward) and rotates tiller sheet to ww side with him/her, and then place tiller extension on
extension behind tiller. Keep trimming to 3 inches from max trim mainsheet in front hand. new gunwhale as helm sits. Helm pumps boat flat as he/she Crew pumps boat flat together with Microphone: Used for dinghies with reaches new ww gunwhale, once boat Helm. As boat accelerates to full is flat, sheet all the way in, and reach speed, trim the last 3 inches of the jib aft mainsheets such as 29ers and back to tiller extension using Lasers mainsheet hand. Then reach around with old tiller extension hand to grab Method: Helm switches tiller by
mainsheet. reaching back to extension with DoubleHandedSailing
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and tiller extension in mainsheet hand. Then old tiller hand reaches
around to take mainsheet. CoachingResources
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Figure 2 : Holding the tiller down on the deck is useful for steering in light wind. Holding the tiller like a microphone is good when trimming frequently or hiking
Troubleshooting Roll Tacks
Coach, I can’t get my boat to roll enough!
Common error: This is likely a timing error. Either the sailors are rolling the boat at the wrong time or they’re not rolling together (or both). Make sure that both sailors initiate the roll together; this can be done by having either the helm or the crew call when to roll the boat. The timing of the roll itself is critical to ensuring that the boat rolls smoothly and powerfully. Wait until the front 1/3 of the jib breaks to initiate the roll, then roll hard to weather.
I feel like I’m going to fall out of the boat!
Common error: If the crew is complaining of feeling like he or she will fall out of the boat, then ensure that she use the trapeze puck to pull herself back into the boat. Core body strength is important here, as it will be fundamental in pulling oneself back into the boat to flatten it out.
If the Helm is complaining of feeling like he or she will fall out of the boat, make sure he is tucking his legs up
underneath him prior to rolling the boat. He can press his heels into the gunwhale underneath him to further
brace his body into the boat. Then, when he needs to flatten the boat, he can engage his core and essentially stand straight up to cross over to flatten the boat.
Coach, my boat feels slow after the tack!
Common error:
Over steering: Over steering will cause the jib and main to stall after the tack because they are over trimmed. DoubleHandedSailing
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Have the sailor work on reducing steering throughout the manoeuvre instead of jamming the tiller over. Alternatively, check to ensure that the helm is easing the main 2-3 inches during the tack.
Over Flattening: Over flattening the boat will negate the effects of roll tacking in the first place. Watch the mast, if it comes past vertical, then sailors are rolling too much. In this case, have the crew and helm reduce their roll
or move inboard as they finish their rolls. This is particularly important in light wind. CoachingResources
14 Wire to Wire Tacks
Helm Crew Ask Helm “Ready to tack?” Helm confirms when ready to tack Crew counts in tack, clears jib sheets, usually by ensuring they are not fouled by draping them behind him in the boat with aft hand Helm gently heads up and keeps boat flat (mainsheet is Crew unclip trapeze hook and transfer into the straight trimmed tight) arm. Crew should be straight arm hanging
As front 1/3 of main luffs (or jib begins to luff), helm As crew swings into the boat, he/she should land with steps back foot across cockpit both feet on the old windward side of the CB casing, on the cockpit floor Helm ease main 6-8 inches as the main breaks and Crew eases old working jib sheet as soon as feet hit begins to luff cockpit floor As boom crosses boat, helm runs aft hand up tiller Step and twist through the boat, leading with old aft extension to universal (frying pan style tiller switch) foot and stepping onto the thwart. Grab new jib sheet with new aft hand
Helm crosses boat with aft foot first (facing forward) As crew twists through the boat he/she should trim the and rotates tiller extension behind tiller. Keep new jib sheet and grab the new trapeze wire mainsheet in front hand. Helm pumps boat flat as he/she reaches new ww Crew steps on to the gunwale with her/his front foot, gunwhale, once boat is flat, sheet all the way in weight should be on the new trapeze wire with arm straight Helm switches tiller by reaching back to extension with Transfer out into the straight arm position mainsheet hand to hold both main and tiller extension in mainsheet hand. Then old tiller hand reaches around to take mainsheet. If Helm wants to steer with tiller extension on the deck, Adjust jib trim if necessary and then clip into trapeze keep tiller extension facing down beside hips, if Helm hook wants to steer with tiller extension as a microphone, then slip extension over aft shoulder using aft hand
Tips for Teaching Tacking
Communication is paramount for identifying opportunities to tack. Each team must develop its own system for communicating through the tack. It’s often best to have the crew identify opportunities to tack and gain on the beat while the helm focuses on driving fast and selecting waves or ideal spots to perform the actual manoeuvre.
Trouble Shooting Wire to Wire Tacks
DoubleHandedSailing | | Coach, I can’t get clipped in soon enough!
Common Error: When sailors are new to tacking wire to wire, they often get stuck on the edge of the gunwhale trying to clip in to their trapeze harnesses while the boat powers up and heels after the tack. Instead, have sailors grab the puck and push themselves out onto the wire first, and dead hang from the wire until they clip in. This will keep the boat flat
and moving fast out of the tack. CoachingResources
15 Spinnaker
In this section we will break down the skills necessary to hoist, gybe, and douse a symmetrical spinnaker. The order of operations is listed in its entirety first, so that you can see the skill from a holistic point of view. However, spinnaker skills should be broken down into their component parts for initial coaching. This may seem frustrating to you as a coach, and it may seem at first as though breaking the skill down into smaller components will be time consuming and inefficient. The opposite is actually true; athletes will learn each small component more quickly when it is practised in isolation. Then as skills are strung back together the athlete will have a clearer idea of the steps involved, why each step might fail, and the overall manoeuvre will be much smoother.
Symmetrical Spinnaker Hoist:
Overall Skill Breakdown for a Bear Away Symmetrical Spinnaker Hoist 1) Helm eases main and bears away as crew heels to ww a. Crew ease jib 1/3 and cleats (to prevent head of kite fouling on jib) Before the Bear Away 2) Helm hoist kite as crew holds in jib (so that kite doesn’t catch on jib) 1) Crew cleat guy/ pulls windward kite 3) Helm cleat main and raise centreboard sheet tight so helm can pull twing on a. Tiller can be either in aft hand or between knees and cleat (pre-hoist into the reach hook) 4) Helm takes up spinnaker sheets to fly kite (pull guy aft), keeps 2) Ease Vang boat flat and stable for crew 3) Crew uncleat jib in preparation for ease a. Crew attach topping lift b. Crew attach pole to guy and push pole out to fill kite c. Crew attach pole to mast 5) Crew sit next to shroud and take up guy, helm sits to leeward with tiller extension against gunwhale (frying pan)
6) Helm hand sheet to crew 7) Crew ease cunningham
As you can tell, this is a complex manoeuvre, and there are many intricate steps involved in a proper symmetrical spinnaker hoist. As a coach, you must break the skill down into its components so that your athletes can learn each skill in isolation, master this skill, and then incorporate it into the hoist itself. Time and time again athletes become frustrated as they try to learn spinnaker skills. They simply repeat the entire skill over and over, and they can’t figure out
why it’s not working. If you as a coach take the time to break the skill down and teach its components, you will
DoubleHandedSailing | | accomplish two things. First, both you and your athletes will be able to isolate problem areas within the skill as a whole. Second, you’ll actually reduce the overall time that it takes to learn the skill. Right, now that we’ve broken down the spinnaker hoist manoeuvre, let’s group the skills into categories.
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Footwork/Balance for Symmetrical Spinnaker Hoist Attaching the Spinnaker Pole Helm Crew Steer at a close hauled course while Maintain a flat boat either (trapezing you prep for the hoist (hike if in heavy air, sitting to windward, or necessary to keep boat flat) to leeward if necessary) Bear away and hike to windward if Keep boat heeling to slightly necessary to keep boat flat windward as you bear away (if on the wire, unclip and straight arm until you can swing into cockpit) Once sailing downwind, stand up in Sit or stand on windward side as you centre of cockpit to hoist kite, keep attach pole to kite and mast boat balanced for crew Once kite is flying, sit to leeward Sit to windward beside traveller bar, tiller extension in frying pan mode on deck.
Attach pole to guy and keep kite flying
Pole Work for Symmetrical Spinnaker Hoist
Pole work should be taught separately before adding in the kite so as to give the crew the opportunity to learn this “choreography.”
Helm Crew After the bear away, attach pole to topping lift Hold guy out to get kite flying Bring pole to guy and attach it Attach pole to mast Hand spin sheet to crew Take up guy and then pick up spin sheet from helm
Sheeting/Handwork for Symmetrical Spinnaker Hoist
Helm Crew Push pole forward to keep kite flying Reach forward with front hand to Cleat guy/set guy in reaching pull guy tight and cleat (keep hook/pull ww sheet tight if twing mainsheet in aft hand w tiller) system is used Ease vang Ease mainsail and bear off, cleat Ease jib 1/3
main
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Hoist kite Hold jib in until head of kite has cleared jib, then ease rest of way Take up spin sheets Fly kite by pulling spinnaker pole aft Take up guy and then pick up spin Trim main for max efficiency (AW) sheet from helm
Jib Trim Ease cunningham CoachingResources
17 Troubleshooting Spinnaker Hoists There are some common areas of difficulty for beginners as they learn to hoist the kite. As a coach, you should be able to identify these problems and offer solutions to your athletes. Here are some common issues that sailors encounter as they learn to hoist their kites.
Coach, my kite won’t hoist!
Common Error: Check to ensure that the halyard is running clear all the way up to the halyard box in the mast. It can easily be wrapped around the jib halyard, forestay, or through the topping lift.
Common Error: Check to ensure that the halyard has been released out of the reaching hook prior to launching.
Coach, my kite’s all tangled!
Common Error: The pole has been attached to the sheet rather than the guy.
Common Error: Sheets were crossed when rigging the kite or rigged under or behind jib or forestay. Have your athlete run the tapes on their kite before launching so that they are absolutely sure that the spin sheets are clear prior to going sailing. Ensure kite sheets are running in front and outside of everything
Coach, my kite’s hour glassed!
Common Error: This can happen to the best of sailors. Just drop the halyard six inches, trim the sheet, and re- hoist to clear the hourglass.
My kite won’t fly once it’s hoisted!
Common Error: Once the kite is hoisted, the helm needs to go straight to the spin sheets to get them flying. This will help get the kite flying while the crew sets the spin pole.
Common Error: In light breeze you may be sailing too deep to fill the kite. Have the helm head up 5-10 degrees to fill the kite. Alternatively, the pole might be too far forward, and the kite is stuck in the lull behind the main. In this case, have the crew trim the pole aft to bring the kite out from behind the main.
Common Error: If the kite isn’t flying on a windward hoist, it could be that the helm is sailing too high. Bearing
off to a run should solve this problem. Also, step to windward to help the kite get all the way around the
forestay on the hoist. This helps the boat to bear off and helps “swing” the kite all the way around.
Coach, why do I always capsize during hoists?
Common Error: While the crew is busy sorting the pole, the helm must work hard to keep the boat flat and stable. The helm must hike if necessary to keep the boat flat and if a big puff comes, the helm can ask the crew for “weight” to help flatten the boat until the puff passes. It’s better for the crew to leave the pole and help
keep the boat upright than to try to get the pole clipped in a few seconds earlier in a big puff. DoubleHandedSailing
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Common Error: In wavy conditions, the bow can often submerge while the crew is forward clipping on the pole. In this case, the helm can move back in the boat to compensate for the crew’s weight, and keep the bow from submerging under the waves. Again, if it’s a big wave, the helm can call the crew’s weight back, as it’s faster in
the long run to be upright and hold off a second or two on the pole than it is to be full of water or upside down. CoachingResources
18 Windward Spinnaker Hoists Windward hoists are an important component to any sailor’s boat handling vocabulary. Knowing how to execute a perfect windward or leeward hoist at the top mark means that the team is free to sail according to its strategy without being hindered by limitations in boat handling. For example, if the kite is packed on the port side, then the team is free to gybe around the windward mark and hoist immediately. Likewise, if the kite were packed to starboard on the first downwind leg, the team is free to make a bear away set around the second top mark if this is the strategy.
Helm Crew Steer at a close hauled course while you prep for the Maintain a flat boat either (trapezing in heavy air, hoist (hike if necessary to keep boat flat). If the crew is sitting to windward, or to leeward if necessary). In trapezing, the Helm pre-hoists the kite by pulling the light air, Crew pre-hoists the kite by pulling the guy guy back and cleating it in the guy cleat. back and cleating it in the guy cleat Bear away and hike to windward if necessary to keep Keep boat heeling to slightly windward as you bear boat flat away (if on the wire, unclip and straight arm until you can swing into cockpit) Once sailing downwind, stand up in centre of cockpit Crew pushes the pole out at about a 45degree angle to hoist kite, keep boat balanced for crew from the bow while holding the guy along the pole. Keep the pole pushed out as far as possible until the clew of the spinnaker has cleared the forestay. Once kite is hoisted, grab guy and sheet to get it flying Crew brings topping lift to pole and then clips pole as quickly as possible onto mast. Once kite is flying, sit to leeward beside traveller bar, Sit to windward, cleats guy and then takes the sheet tiller extension in frying pan mode on deck. from the helm
What’s the difference between a windward and leeward hoist?
Leeward Hoist Windward Hoist
Helm bears off and hoists as crew sets Helm bears off and hoists as crew trims
pole sheet
Helm continues trimming sheet as crew Helm trims sheet sets pole
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19 Reach Hoists Reach hoists follow the same steps as above, however after you have rounded the mark, the helm continues to balance the boat and sail just low of a beat. This protects yours position by having no one sail above you and take your wind. Once the crew has cleated the pole onto the guy and pulled the tack of the spinnaker to the pole, he is ready for the launch. The Helm then checks there is no danger of a boat from behind to sail above you, then bears off to keep the boat flat while hoisting the kite.
While the helm hoists, the Crew pushes the pole out at about a 45 degree angle from the bow while holding the guy along the pole. The crew needs to keep the pole pushed out as far as possible until the clew of the spinnaker has cleared the forestay.
-Once the spinnaker is all the way up, the Helm must grab guy and sheet to get spinnaker flying as soon as possible while the Crew attaches the pole to the topping lift and then to the mast. Once the pole is set, the Crew cleats the guy and then takes the sheet from the helm. Now that the kite is up, the Helm must get back onto a reach angle and sail towards the next mark!
Troubleshooting Windward Spinnaker Hoists
Coach, I can’t do a windward hoist! I’ll run over my kite!
Common Error: Many crews will throw the kite in front of the boat because they think that this helps the helm to hoist quickly. This seldom helps, and the result is more often that the helm runs the kite over while trying to hoist it. The crew should instead focus on trimming the spinnaker sheet as the helm hoists the kite. Once the kite is up, hand the spinnaker sheet to the helm and go for the pole.
Coach, when I hoist to windward the whole thing gets caught in the jib!
Common Error: This is likely because the boat is not on a dead run. For a windward hoist, the boat must be dead down wind. The helm can also step to windward to induce a bit of windward heel, and this can help the kite to move around the jib.
Spinnaker Gybes
Spinnaker gybes are intricate manoeuvres which require precise and delicate actions as well as coordination between the helm and the crew. Fortunately, they lend themselves brilliantly to skill breakdown, and can be taught effectively in
small chunks. Below is an overall skill breakdown for a spinnaker gybe, but by no means does this mean that the skill
DoubleHandedSailing | | must be taught in its entirety at first. In fact, taking the time to break the skill down into smaller pieces will actually speed up the learning process for sailors, leading to greater success, and far less frustration. Read on to see how gybes
have been broken down into the components of footwork, steering, pole work, and hand/sheeting. CoachingResources
20 Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybe:
Overall Skill Breakdown for Spinnaker Gybes
1) Helm “ready to gybe”, cleats mainsheet in main block 2) Helm uncleats leeward jib and pulls cb down a few inches 3) Crew brings pole aft to clear kite from behind main as helm bears away 4) Crew hands guy and sheet to helm as helm bears away, then crew releases guy from guy hook. Helm continues to pull kite around while steering through the gybe 5) Helm steps across boat (to new lw side) and kneels on gunwhale as crew gybes main using boom vang a. Helm pre-gybes tiller extension as he/she crosses boat b. Crew remains on new lw side of boat to induce roll 6) Helm straightens out boat and crew steps to ww side to flatten boat 7) Crew switches spin pole to new ww side a. Pole switch as follows: i. Unclip pole from old guy ii. Unclip pole from mast iii. Hold new guy outboard with hand to keep it flying iv. Clip pole to new guy and push out v. Clip pole to mast 8) Crew cleats new guy in guy hook 9) Crew cleats new jib sheet and both helm and crew sit 10) Helm hands guy and sheet to crew 11) Helm raises cb retrims jib and main if necessary
Footwork/Steering for Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybe
Helm Crew
Pulls centreboard down a few inches
Select wave to surf, pre-gybe tiller Shift weight accordingly to induce surfing Bear off and step across boat to new lw side, kneel Remain on old windward side for a moment to induce roll on lw gunwhale facing across boat (not forward) Straighten out as jib hits new side (may need to Step to new ww side to pump boat flat and switch pole head up to keep kite full in light air) Once crew has switched pole, sit down on lw side Sit to ww beside shroud Raise centreboard
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Pole Work for Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybe
Helm Crew Unclip pole from guy Unclip pole from mast
Hold guy out to keep the kite flying CoachingResources
21 Bring pole to guy and attach it Attach pole to mast
Sheeting/Handwork for Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybe
Helm Crew Cleat main, uncleat jib Bring spin pole all the way aft so that kite is out from behind main, release guy from guy hook Receive spin sheets from crew Hand spin sheets to helm UNDER the mainsheet Continue trimming pole aft with front hand, steering Gybe main using boom vang as top batten in main with aft begins to flick Set new guy in guy hook Hand spin sheets to crew Cleat jib Receive spin sheets from helm
Troubleshooting Symmetrical Spinnaker Gybes Spinnaker gybes can be the trickiest thing to learn on a double handed boat. They can also be the trickiest thing to coach. Fortunately, there are some classic mistakes which, once detected, are easy to correct. Here is a list of common issues that athletes have when learning to gybe the kite:
Coach, my kite collapses as I steer into the gybe!
Common Error: This is likely because the boat is not on a dead run. Make sure that the helm has steered down to a dead run so that the kite can fly free from out behind the main.
Now my kite collapses as soon as the main is gybed!
Common Error: Check to make sure that the pole is all the way aft heading into the gybe. If the pole is not The most important things when gybing are brought all the way back before the gybe, then the kite to keep the kite filled and the boat balanced will try to swing around during the gybe and then and sailing fast. All skills should be taught collapse. with this in mind. Don’t hesitate into the gybe, as this causes instability!
Common Error: If the new leech (the side still attached
to the pole) is luffing, then the helm needs to head up a bit to fill the kite. This is especially true in light breeze where heading up will provide more pressure in the kite.
Common Error: If the new luff (the side which the pole will be switched to) is luffing out of the gybe, then the crew needs to keep more sheet tension on the kite before passing it off to the helm.
Coach, why do I always capsize during my spinnaker gybes!?!
DoubleHandedSailing | | Common Error: Not enough speed going into the gybe. It seems counterintuitive, but the faster the boat is moving before the gybe, the less load there is on the rig and therefore the easier the gybe (there will be surprisingly little load on the vang). Try to get the boat surfing down a wave as you steer into the gybe. This is all about confidence in the beginning, but it’s important to teach your athletes that gybes aren’t scary or
dangerous…they’re just technical. CoachingResources
22 Common Error: If the helm forgets to bring the centreboard down a few inches going into a gybe, the boat can wash out during the manoeuver. It will feel like the boat is being washed out from under the helm’s feet.
Common Error: Coming out of the gybe too high. The boat will load up and then capsize to leeward. Try to have the helm straighten out once the jib switches sides.
Common Error: Leeward heel pre gybe causes over heel post gybe and this causes capsizes. The helm must work to keep the boat flat before as well as after the gybe and move aft to keep the bow from digging into waves in breezy conditions. The crew must try to keep as far aft as possible to keep the bow from submarining.
I can’t get my pole clipped in!
Common Problem: This actually isn’t the crew’s issue at all, but rather the helm. This is caused by the helm either heading up before the pole is clipped onto the mast or by pulling the guy too tight before the pole is clipped to the mast. In either case, the guy will be too loaded up and will pull the inboard end of the pole aft making it very difficult for the crew to clip it to the mast.
Coaching Tip:
As a coach, it’s important to teach sailors that gybing in heavy air is not scary or dangerous…it’s just technical.
Figure 3: In light air, the helm can kneel on the new leeward gunwhale to roll gybe as
the main comes over
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23 Gybing Knots
Gybing knots are very simple to set up, increase safety, and facilitate gybing. The most important thing is to make sure that the spin sheets are long enough to allow the crew to be fully trapezing on a reach while holding the sheet up by his or her chest. If the crew cannot do this, then the spin sheets need to be lengthened.
Set Up: Rig the kite and have it doused in the port side of the spinnaker bag. Have the tack of the kite just packed into the bag so that it will not fall out or blow out while sailing. Pull the slack out of the spin sheet on the starboard side and mark the sheet with a permanent marker just behind the block. Now change the spinnaker sides and have it doused on the starboard. Repeat the same process for marking the sheet. Once the sheets are marked, untie the sheets from the spinnaker and tie eight knots in the sheets behind the spin blocks. Re-rig the spin sheets, and now you have gybing knots set up!
Safety: Gybing knots are not only fast for racing but they also provide more safety to the sailors while afloat. The main safety factor is that they simply do not le the spinnaker fly too far away from the boat. A capsized boat with a spinnaker in the air flying and full drags the boat away form the sailors in the water, and gybing knots help to keep the kite closer to the boat which means that the kite itself will end up in the water, rather than in the air, pulling the boat away from sailors. They also prevent the spinnaker sheets from wrapping around the back of the boom because the sheets simply cannot ease to the point of wrapping around the
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24 Spinnaker Douse:
Overall Skill Breakdown for Spinnaker Douse
1) Helm puts centreboard down Crew trims, cunningham, outhaul as needed Helm trims vang as needed 2) Crew hands kite sheet to helm (with gybing balls, helm only needs the sheet, not the guy) 3) Helm flies kite as crew stows spin pole a. Crew unclip pole from kite first, then mast, then topping lift b. Crew stow pole along starboard gunwhale under thwart 4) Crew grab tack of kite and middle of kite to begin douse a. Helm uncleat spin halyard b. Crew stuffs kite into bag (big armfuls, should only need two or three big pulls to get kite down and stuffed well inside bag 5) Crew stow kite halyard 6) Crew and helm trim main and jib together as helm heads up a. Crew can help helm to roll boat to lw at this point in light air 7) Once close hauled, helm flattens boat and sits to windward. Crew balanced boat accordingly
Footwork/Steering for Symmetrical Spinnaker Douse
Helm Crew Centreboard down, keep boat balanced for crew Try to remain sitting as you unclip and stow pole as this reduces unnecessary movement in the boat Heel to lw as you begin heading up (can stand) Heel to lw with helm (light air rounding) Cross to ww side to flatten boat Flatten boat as needed for conditions Straighten out steering at close hauled course
Pole Work for Symmetrical Spinnaker Douse
Helm Crew
Unclip spin pole from guy, then mast, then topping lift
Crew stow pole under starboard thwart Tidy spin sheets so not dragging in water
Propulsion for Symmetrical Spinnaker Douse
Helm Crew
Trim vang, bring tiller extension to windward side of Trim cunningham and outhaul
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mainsheet bundle Receive spin sheet from crew, fly kite Pass spin sheet to helm Uncleat spin halyard Grab tack of kite and middle to begin dousing Douse kite using big armfuls at middle of kite, stuff head way down into spin bag Stow spin halyard into reaching hook
Sheet in main using hand over hand sheeting Sheet in jib at same rate as mainsail CoachingResources
25 Troubleshooting Symmetrical Spinnaker Douses
Coach, how do you expect me to get my kite down on the windward side?
Common Error: Many sailors have been taught that they must take kite down before the pole, and then they can’t take the kite down on the windward side because the pole is in the way. Taking the pole down first enables sailors to keep the kite flying longer on the way into the leeward mark, and also allows for taking the kite down at any time and on any tack.
I can’t get my kite down quickly!
Common Error: Many crews initially employ the “hamster technique” for dousing the kite. They gather the entire foot of the kite and then Coach Tip douse it using tiny hamster-like handfuls. This makes for a very slow
douse and increased likelihood of an hourglass on the next hoist Take the pole down first to keep because the head of the kite twists on the way down. Instead, have the the kite flying as long as possible crew grab the tack of the kite and pull at 45 degrees into the middle of and the boat moving as quickly the cloth, ensuring that the head of the kite is stuffed firmly into the as possible. Big gains can be bag. Use big armfuls! made here when racing and it’s much safer as leaving the pole up Coach, I just sailed over my kite! can tear the kite or hit a boat to leeward. Common Error: This is simply a communication error between the crew and the helm. The helm gets excited and trips the spinnaker halyard before the crew is ready or the crew is taking too long to pack the kite (possibly because the crew is employing the “hamster technique”). The crew must begin the hoist by grabbing the tack of the kite and pulling the luff taught above the spinnaker bag. Then the helm uncleats the halyard. Crews should always douse the kite to the windward side of the boat for two reasons:
1) Crew is already sitting to windward so no weight transfer is needed
2) With the mainsail out of the way bigger armfuls can be used which
makes dousing much faster!
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Figure 4: Erik uses big armfuls to douse the kite into the bag as quickly as possible.
CoachingResources
26 Trimming and Helming with the Spinnaker
The goal when trimming the kite is to keep as much power, or pressure, in the sail as possible. The best way to do this is through constant communication between the helm and the crew. The crew should focus solely on trimming the kite for speed downwind. Have the crew cleat the guy in the guy hook and then reach in front of the guy hook with his front hand to ensure the best feel for pressure on the guy itself. With the back hand, play the sheet and focus on trying to keep it as eased as possible. Try to keep the luff of the kite just curling, as this will ensure maximum power in the kite. Then the crew must tell the helm whether the pressure in the kite is increasing or decreasing. If the pressure in the kite is decreasing, then the helm can
head up for more pressure. Conversely, if there is good pressure in the kite or pressure is increasing, then the helm can bear off a bit and sail a better angle to the leeward mark. Even though the helm is steering the boat, information from the crew becomes vital to keeping speed and VMG up on the downwind leg. Here are some other things to look for when teaching sailors how to trim their kites:
Shoulders: Try to imagine that the kite has shoulders. This means that it should be relatively full near the head of the kite. If you can draw a straight line from the head of the kite to the tack or clew, then the pole height is too low and it needs to be raised. Alternatively, if the top of the kite is too full, air can spill out of the shoulders. At this point the pole should be lowered.
Tack and Clew: Another basic guideline for spinnaker pole height is to keep the tack and the clew of the kite at basically the same height.
Foot: Again, the goal of spinnaker trim is to keep it as full and as powered up as possible. To do this, the crew must allow the kite to breathe. Look for the foot of the kite to be loose and flying away from the boat. A good trick is to draw an imaginary line from the tack to the clew of the kite; this line should be out in front of
the bow of the boat.
Tips for Coaching Downwind: Communication Downwind speed comes from good communication between the helm
and the crew. The crew should feed the helm information about how DoubleHandedSailing
much pressure he or she feels in the spinnaker sheets. Then the helm can |
Figure 5: The helm sits to leeward and drive to maximize both pressure and velocity made good. Head up when trims the main using the mainsheet at pressure is light, and bear off when pressure is good! boom level
CoachingResources
27 Reaching with the Kite Reaching with the kite is one of the most exhilarating experiences for both novice and experienced sailors. In good breeze boat is planing, the crew is trapezing, and there are great opportunities for surfing and manoeuvring in and around other boats at high speed while racing. Because of the fast paced nature of reaching, it’s of course all about feel and balance. The team must work together to keep the boat flat and keep sails trimmed to balance power and speed. Below are some tips for creating that ideal balance while reaching, and for enjoying the reach leg on any race course.
Crew
The crew’s role is to balance windward and leeward heel, forward and aft balance in the boat, and trim the kite. It is also important for the crew to watch for incoming puffs by looking over his forward shoulder.
On a tight reach the pole should be 2 inches off the forestay, and it can be pulled back progressively as the reach becomes deeper. The kite should be trimmed with 3-6 inches of curl on the luff.
When the crew is not on the trapeze, he or she should be sitting forward in the boat. When just trapezing, the crew should have his or her front foot up against the chain plate to keep weight as far forward as possible. As the breeze increases and the boat starts to plane, the crew needs to move further and further aft to get the bow out of the water. In heavy air, the crew can be trapezing just aft of the traveler bar. In gusty conditions, the crew should be moving forward and back on the gunwhale to keep the boat in balance.
Helm
The Helm’s role is facilitate the balance for the crew, watch the boats in front and behind, communicate to the crew what he or she intends to do in terms of steering, balance the boat with the mainsail, fine trim the jib, and control the height of the centreboard. Depending on the wind, the helm will sit on the leeward side of the boat, to the bottom of the boat on the windward side, to full hike on the weather side. The helm controls the heel of the boat with the mainsail to keep the boat either flat or up to 5o of leeward heel.
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28 How a Sail Works: Trimming for Speed
The object of this manual is to teach your athletes how to sail their boats effectively. In this section, we will discuss the mainsail, jib, and spinnaker, how they work, and how to trim them effectively. The goal here is to understand what to do in order to achieve maximum boat speed. First, however, we need to understand the concept of how a sail works. In the following pages, we’ll look at the foil which is your sail. Then we’ll discover how your sail and the other foils on your boat, the centreboard and the rudder, work together to create forward motion. Once we understand how the mainsail works, we can begin to explore how the jib contributes to the overall effectiveness of the sail plan.
Basic Sail Theory There are many manuals dedicated to sail theory, and it is an intricate and very complex subject. We will only touch on The most basic concepts of sail theory here, but it’s important to understand the basics of how wind flowing over sails creates forward motion.
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32 Mainsail Trim and Controls
Mainsheet and Bridle Tension Mainsheet tension is your primary tool for controlling the leech profile of your mainsail and keeping that all important telltale flying nicely. Provided that your boom vang is eased, easing mainsheet will open up your leech and allow it to twist off. Conversely, trimming your main will close your leech. . Why does the mainsheet do this? The mainsheet pulls the main in and out but it also pulls the boom down once you are sheeting in all the way, and pulling the boom down closes the leech of the main. Imagine the bridle was as tight as possible and the main was all the way out. As you trim the mainsheet, the mainsail will move towards the center of the boat parallel to the water. However, at a certain point, you will see the boom start to move down toward the bridle block, and close the leech of the mainsail as it continues to move towards the center of the boat. The reverse of this would be the bridle all the way up. As you pull the mainsheet, the mainsail will move parallel to the water but will never get pulled down since the block on the bridle is too high to pull the boom down, leaving the leech of the mainsail open. So think of the mainsheet as pulling the main in and out while the bridle height will affect the mainsheet tension on the mainsail leech.
This is important to remember as you move through the gears from light wind to heavy wind, and accommodate for flat or choppy conditions. To ensure that the main is trimmed correctly, attach the telltale to the leech of the main, just below the top batten. When sailing, keep the telltale flying straight back 1/2 to 2/3 of the time, and stalling behind the sail 1/2 to 1/3 of the time. In light air, this will likely mean that the main must be slightly eased. In order to maintain pointing ability upwind, however, the boom must be centrelined over the transom of the boat. This can be accomplished by either trimming the traveller to windward (on a boat with a mainsheet traveller car), or by raising the bridle height (as in a Club 420 or 29er).
General rule of thumb for mainsheet tension upwind:
•Mainsheet slightly eased •Mainsheet is trimmed in •Athletes will be looking to keep telltales flowing all the way, and boom is to shed power at this ½ of the time on centreline. point. Mainsheet should •Boom on centreline •Adjust the traveller so be constantly played to (traveller to windward or that the boom is on keep the boat flat and
moving fast.
bridle height raised). centreline when the main is trimmed all the •Trim the traveller so that way in. If using a bridle, the boom is centrelined lower the bridle height during lulls. If using a until the leech telltale is bridle, set the height so stalling 1/3 of the time that when the main is when the main is block trimmed in all the way to block. the leech telltale is
•Trim any slack out of the stalling 1/3 of the time. DoubleHandedSailing | | vang. •Trim the vang so that when the mainsheet is
eased during the puffs Heavy Air (overpowered) Air Heavy
Light (Underpowered) Air Light the boom moves
sideways instead of up. Medium Air (fully (fully powered) Air Medium
CoachingResources
33 Boom Vang The vang is another important tool for controlling the leech profile of the mainsail. If the vang is not tight enough, then the boom will lift up during the puffs and open the leech of the main. This actually causes the boat to become overpowered as the main is initially eased. As a coach, you can identify this by watching the boom from behind in the coach boat. Your sailors will also appear to be unbalanced in the boat, and it will actually heel more as the main is initially eased during the puffs because it becomes fuller as it’s initially eased. Once eased, a sail with under trimmed vang will then immediately cause windward heel, because there is no power in the leech of the sail. To trim vang effectively, trim it to the point where the boom goes sideways when the main is eased, rather than up. This method of sheeting is called vang sheeting. Effective vang sheeting means that the main depowers when the sail is eased because the leech profile maintains stability, rather than powering up as the main is eased because the leech becomes unstable as the boom lifts up. Rule of Thumb when Trimming Outhaul Vang Sheeting Vang sheeting is the term used to describe the relationship of the vang and the mainsheet so that leech profile is maintained during Drifter Conditions: puffs and lulls. When vang sheeting, the leech profile is set up Sail should be flat so trim using the mainsheet and bridle height. Then, any slack in the vang outhaul. is removed so that the boom travels outboard rather than up
during puffs, which causes leech twist. Underpowered:
Here power is important Vang sheeting keeps the boom easing outwards and outhaul can be eased. instead of upwards during puffs. Balance between power and pointing is important here.
Cunningham Full Power in Waves: Cunningham can help to depower your sail by helping to move the draft Maintain power in the forward and by controlling the leech of the sail. Trimming the cunningham bottom of the sail by tight bends the top of the mast and this moves the draft of your sail forward, keeping outhaul slightly eased. Spill excess power and this in turn helps to counteract weather helm. Once the draft of your sail off of the leech if needed. has been moved as far forward as possible, trimming the cunningham tighter will then open up the top of your leech and spill air from the top of your sail. Overpowered in Flat
Trimming the cunningham is an effective way to depower the boat in heavy air Water: and should be used once the sailor is already vang sheeting. Trim outhaul to reduce power in flat water. Outhaul Outhaul trim sets up the overall depth of the sail down low. By trimming the Overpowered in Waves: outhaul, sailors flatten out the sail, and by easing the outhaul, sailors allow Keep outhaul slightly more depth or draft down low. Trimming the outhaul and reducing draft in eased to power through waves, spill excess power the main increases pointing ability because it changes the angle of attack at
from the leech by easing DoubleHandedSailing | | the entry point of the mainsail. The angle of the main is essentially flatter at the vang or trimming the entry point because the sail is pulled taught, thus the wind does not need Cunningham. to bend around the sail and it enables pointing on a close hauled course. However, as the outhaul is trimmed in, the sail loses power. The flatter a sail becomes, the less power it has and so balancing power and pointing become
important in different conditions. CoachingResources
34 For example, in situations where pointing is not critical, as in sailing downwind, the outhaul can be eased to increase power in the main. Wavy conditions also require increased power, even when sailing upwind, and so the outhaul can be eased a little in order to maintain power through chop or waves. See the sidebar for some general guidelines for trimming the outhaul, although sailors should try to develop their own feel for outhaul trim while sailing.
Mainsail Trimming Guide
Drifter Conditons Underpowered Conditions
Crew: Sitting to leeward Crew: Sitting to weather until fully trapezing and helm fully hiking Mainsheet: Eased to keep telltales flowing 1/2 of time Mainsheet: Trimmed block to block, eased in lulls/chop/ Tensioned in small puffs, eased in lulls downspeed moments Bridle: High enough to allow tell tales to flow 1/2 of Bridle: Lowered to keep telltales stalled 1/3 of time time when main is block to block when main block to block Traveller: Boom on centreline Traveller: Boom on centreline (slightly lower) Vang: Eased Vang: Tightened to maintain leech profile when Cunningham: Eased mainsheet eased in puffs Outhaul: Trimmed for a flat sail Cunningham: Eased Outhaul: Trimmed for wave conditions
Rule of Thumb for Mainsail Trim (but don't take our word for it...go find out for yourself!)
Full Power Conditons Overpowered Conditions:
Crew: Fully trapezing and helm fully hiking Crew: Fully trapezing and helm fully hiking Mainsheet: Block to block in lulls and eased to corner Mainsheet: Consistently eased beyond corner of transome
of transome in puffs
Bridle: Lowered to keep telltales stalled 1/3 of time Bridle: Lowered to keep telltales stalled 1/3 of time when block to block when block to block Traveller: Boom on centreline when block to block Traveller: Boom on centreline when block to block Vang: Eased as needed to spill power from leech Vang: Trimmed to maintain leech profile when mainsheet eased in puffs Cunningham: Trimmed as needed to spill power from leech Cunningham: Eased Outhaul: Trimmed to depower main, in waves keep slighly eased to maintain power in lower part
Outhaul: Eased in waves but trimmed to reduce of sail
DoubleHandedSailing | | power as in flat water
CoachingResources
35 The Jib We’ve looked at the mainsail in terms of sail theory and how to apply this theory on the water. Now let’s add in the jib. The important thing to emphasize with athletes is that the jib does much more than just increase sail area. The jib actually creates a system which works far more efficiently than if we simply increased the size of the mainsail. Let’s take
a look at how the presence of the jib affects the sail plan as a whole.
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37 Although the jib is much smaller than the main, it plays a vital role in affecting the trim of the main and the overall sail plan. In fact, the jib actually makes the mainsail itself much more efficient. How does it do this? We know that Reading the Jib forces in the mainsail are created due to high pressure forces on the We know that it’s important to windward side pushing toward low pressure forces on the leeward side of the have the leech of the jib main. The same is true for the jib. However, if we look at the jib and the main matching the leech of the main, together, we see that the high pressure forces on the windward side of the jib but how can we tell if the jib also flow towards the low pressure forces on the leeward side of the main. leech itself is trimmed correctly? Air flowing from the windward side of the jib through to the leeward side of the main travels through an area that we call the slot, and actually accelerates The goal when trimming the jib is to have both the top and bottom the air moving across the leeward side of the main. But, wait! Wasn’t the air set of telltales flying evenly. moving around the leeward side of the main already moving quickly? Isn’t When pinching, both the top and that what creates a low pressure system on the leeward side of the main? Yes, bottom windward telltales that’s true…and the jib just speeds up that leeward air, making an even lower should lift or break pressure system, and making the mainsail work even better! simultaneously. If the top telltale breaks before the bottom Trimming the Jib telltale, then this means the top Jibs are much like mainsails in terms of the need to balance jib sheet trim with of the jib is more open than the jib leech trim. If the jib leech is too open, then the leech will twist, spilling air bottom. Conversely, if the off of the jib. The result will be that the slot becomes ineffective, as that bottom windward telltale breaks important air from the windward side of the jib can’t accelerate and reach the before the top, then this means leeward side of the mainsail. The sails won’t work together, and the boat that the bottom of the sail is more open than the top, or that won’t point as high when beating to windward. the leech is too closed. In either If the jib leech is too closed, it will hook, and turbulent air will flow off of the case, the jib must be re-trimmed jib, straight into the leeward side of the mainsail luff. If this happens, air that to enable top and bottom ticklers to break evenly. would otherwise flow around the leeward side of the main will be disrupted, and won’t be able to accelerate around the leeward side of the main to create Rule of thumb: power in the sail. At this point, there will be a bubble in the luff of the mainsail as it backwinds from the turbulent air coming off of the jib and the Top Telltale Breaks First: Jib entire sail plan will stall. The jib telltale will also stall behind the jib leech. leech is too open and twisted. Fix this by moving jib cars forward to
close the leech.
Bottom Telltale Breaks First: Jib leech is too closed, fix this by moving jib cars aft to open the
leech.
DoubleHandedSailing | | Figure 6: The jib and mainsail leeches
should match CoachingResources
38
Windward Sheeting and Barber Hauling
In boats such as the Club 420, it’s not possible to Coaching Tip adjust jib trim using jib cars. The boats simply do not have any method of jib car adjustment as there is no It can be difficult for sailors to visualize the effect that rigging for it. In this case, the jib leech can be closed jib car position has on jib trim. To help sailors visualize up by setting the overall jib trim using the bottom set this, draw an imaginary line from the jib sheet up through the corner where it attaches to the jib. This of telltales, but then also trimming the windward jib way, sailors can see the angle at which the jib sheets sheet a little. By windward sheeting, or barber are actually pulling on the jib and how it affects overall hauling, the bottom portion of the jib leech is pulled trim. to windward. This closes the leech of the jib, which in turn closes the slot between the jib and the main.
The top of the jib leech, however, will remain open, as barber hauling has little effect on the upper portion of the jib leech. The overall shape of the jib will be a slightly open upper leech, but tighter on the lower portion of the leech and tighter on the whole.
Whose Telltales are Whose?
Helm: When sailing upwind, the helm uses the bottom jib luff telltales to drive. The crew trims the jib, and then the helm can focus on these telltales to balance pointing and power on the beat.
Crew: The crew trims jib by looking at the telltales placed on the luff of the jib in the top 1/3 of the sail. The crew strives to have the top jib telltales breaking in unison with the
bottom jib telltales. If they don’t break at the same time,
then the jib leech must be re-trimmed.
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Jib Cunningham
The jib Cunningham is another tool which we can use to control the leech profile of the jib, and thus the sail plan as a whole. It works the same way as the mainsail Cunningham, and has the same application. Trimming the jib Cunningham will pull tension downward along the luff and move the draft of the jib forward. As the draft of the jib moves forward, the angle of entry on the jib luff becomes deeper, and the wind must bend more to flow around the jib. Then, because all of that sail cloth has been pulled forward, the leech of the jib opens and we can essentially spill air off of the jib and out of the slot. At this point, we’re depowering the jib, which in turn depowers the sail plan. This is a relatively fine adjustment to the jib leech, however, and if the boat is really overpowered it may be time to use more coarse adjustments, such as moving the jib cars aft to open the leech or even easing the jib in puffs.
Jib Halyard Tension
Jib halyard actually has the opposite effect on the jib leech from the jib Cunningham. As the halyard pulls up on the head of the jib, it actually pulls the top of the sail vertically upwards from the foot. In doing so, the leech of the jib is pulled tighter and therefore closes. The result is that the luff of the sail will be tightened, and have a greater angle of attack, but this time with a tighter leech. Jib halyard tension is important in breeze in order to maintain the profile of the jib leech. Then, we can use the jib Cunningham, jib cars, and jib trim to shed excess power when necessary.
Club 420: Because the tack of the Club 420 jib is lashed in place, jib halyard tension works the same way as the jib Cunningham.
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. Balancing the Boat: Centre of Effort and Centre of Lateral Resistance
It has often been said that a well balanced boat sails itself. But what does this actually mean? This means that forces created by the sails (effort), and forces created by the foils (lateral resistance) are balanced and in line with each other. When this happens, sailors will experience neutral helm, and can virtually let go of the tiller while maintaining a straight course with the boat. Boats are at their most efficient and their fastest when these forces are aligned. When they are not aligned, the helm can feel it almost immediately because the tiller will feel heavy, and the boat will either want to head up or bear off. Right, so we know how the boat should feel, now let’s discuss what causes the boat to be balanced or unbalanced.
Neutral Helm Weather Helm The tendency for a Lee Helm The tendencey for a sailboat to sail straight The tendency for a sailboat to want to bear sailboat to want to and balanced head up off Cause: Centre of Cause: Centre of effort Cause: Centre of effort is is aft of centre of lateral effort is directly over forward of centre of resistance centre of lateral lateral resistance resistance
Centre of Effort Centre of effort, or CE, can be described as the focus point of all the forces that sails exert on the boat. Anywhere where the wind flows across sails there is force created on the sails, but the Centre of Effort is the overall position of the sideways forces on the sail, the forces which cause leeway.
Where is the centre of effort?
DoubleHandedSailing | | Most boats are designed so that the centre of effort is slightly aft of mainsail luff on a properly trimmed sail plan. It’s usually just above and slightly aft of the centreboard bolt or dagger board. It can be shifted around, though, by shifting the draft of the sails or by easing one sail to relocate the focus point of the sail forces in the sail plan.
CoachingResources
41 Tools for shifting centre of effort:
Sail Trim: Sail trim is the most obvious way to affect centre of effort. By reducing the effectiveness of one sail, the overall centre of effort moves towards the area where sail forces are actually being generated. For example, if the mainsail were eased, then the sail forces are being created predominantly by the jib and thus the centre of effort moves forward. On the other hand, easing the jib means that sail forces are predominantly created by the main and so the centre of effort moves aft.
Rake: By changing the mast rake, the entire sail plan can be moved forward or aft, and this can have a dramatic effect on the position the centre of effort. Raking the mast aft will naturally move the sail plan aft, and this in turn moves the centre of effort aft. Raking the mast forward, or upright, will move the sail plan forward and therefore move the centre of effort forward.
Vang : When the vang is eased and power is allowed to spill off of the leech of the main, this reduces the overall power in the top and aft portion of the sail. The resultant power is near the bottom and the luff of the main. So, if we ease the vang to induce twist in the main, the centre of effort moves down and forward in the mainsail. Conversely, if the vang is trimmed to close the leech of the main, then the mainsail retains power both aft and aloft, and thus the centre of effort remains aft and high.
Cunningham: As the Cunningham is trimmed, two things happen which affect the location of the centre of effort in the sail plan. First, as sail cloth is pulled down toward the tack of the sail, the draft in the sail moves down and forward. This moves the centre of effort forward in the sail. Second, as fabric is pull down and forward, it opens the leech of the main. This has a similar effect as easing the vang, as it allows power to spill off of the top and aft portion of the main. The overall effect of trimming the Cunningham then, is that the centre of effort moves down and forward in the sail plan.
Centre of Lateral Resistance Centre of Lateral Resistance, or CLR, is the focus point of forces which counteract leeway in a sailboat. These forces are created by foils, like the centreboard or rudder. They are also affected by crew weight placement. In the same way that Centre of Effort is comprised of sail forces all over the rig, CLR is comprised of lateral resistance forces all over the bottom of the boat. It’s simply the focus point of these forces.
Where is the centre of lateral resistance?
Most boats are designed so that the CLR is slightly aft of the centreboard bolt on a properly trimmed boat. It sits directly below the centre of effort, which is aft of the mainsail luff. It can, however, be shifted by pivoting the centreboard aft or shifting crew weight.
Tools for shifting centre of lateral resistance: DoubleHandedSailing
Centreboard Trim: Centreboard trim is the easiest way to use foils to shift lateral resistance forces in the boat. |
By raising the centreboard, the board actually pivots aft. Pivoting the centreboard aft then shifts lateral resistance forces aft, and therefore shifts the entire CLR aft.
Crew Weight Placement: Where the helm and crew sit also has a major effect on the position of the CLR. This is because weight placement affects the location of most drag in the water. For example, if the crew and the helm
were to move aft, then there would be more drag further aft in the boat. This would mean that the centre of CoachingResources
42 lateral resistance has moved aft. Conversely, by moving forward, the crew and helm move the centre of lateral resistance forward because they are relocating the area of most drag.
Heel and Helm
Boats achieve their best balance when sailed flat. Even in heavy wind, a boat that is sailed flat, particularly on the beat, will experience much less weather helm than a boat which is allowed to heel. This is particularly true of boats such as the Club 420, which is a challenging boat to balance even when sailed flat. But why is this? If we consider all of the tools above which we can use to align the centre of effort and the centre of lateral resistance, and we employ them while on the water, we still experience weather helm on the beat!
Tip for coaching rudderless sailing and boat balance: In order to understand how boat balance relates to heel, we must remember that the centre of effort moves shifts not only fore and aft, The reason why sailors need to learn but to windward and leeward as well. For example, on a perfectly flat about rudderless sailing is to emphasize how important it is to boat which is sailing properly, the forces created by the mainsail, and maintain a balanced boat. From consequently the centre of effort, sit directly above and slightly behind working on weight placement, to the centreboard bolt. However, once the boat is heeled to leeward, coordinating main and jib trim, to the sail plan actually sits to leeward of the centreboard, which is canted developing effective communication, to windward. This creates a situation where the centre of effort is this drill helps sailors to develop the actually pushing the bow to windward. To help picture this feel for a balanced an unbalanced phenomenon, think of a canoe. The paddler sitting in the stern of the boat. As a result, they will be more sensitive to boat balance once the canoe is the centreboard, and the paddle is the sail plan in a dinghy. If rudder is back on. we want the canoe to steer to port, we paddle on the starboard side. The power of the paddle is the engine which propels the canoe, and positioning the source of power to one side of the canoe forces the canoe to be unbalanced and move towards the opposite direction. Substitute that paddle for a sail plan, and you get the same result. The source of power, in this case, the sails, are to leeward of the centreboard. Now the boat is
unbalanced, and so the power in the sails will want to push the bow to windward, and this will load up the rudder and tiller as the helm tries to keep the boat sailing straight. The boat is now experiencing weather helm. How do sailors fix this? Instead of dragging the tiller over to windward to counteract weather helm, both the helm and the crew should focus on flattening out the boat so that the sails are directly over the foils and the boat is re-balanced. Easing sails, depowering, hiking, and trapezing are the most effective way to accomplish this.
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43 Tuning a Double Handed Dinghy Throughout this manual, we will assume that you are tuning a Club 420, although the skills are transferable to other boat including the 29er. We’ll start by explaining the different aspects of tuning, why they are important, and how you go about measuring and adjusting them. Tuning may seem boring, complicated, and trivial, but a well tuned dinghy sails higher and faster than one which is out of range in its tuning. Just try lining up a boat that you’ve tuned next to another boat which hasn’t been tuned and you’ll see that your efforts spent tuning will pay off every time.
Aspects of Tuning
Mast Heel Position
Figure 7: This Club 420 mast is sitting in the correct spot in its mast step
Mast Heel Position refers to where your mast butt is sitting in the bottom of your boat. If you look at the mast step of a Club 420 or a 470, you’ll see that there are slightly different spots in which you can set your mast. They’re usually only a centimetre or two in variance, but they can make a real difference in the setup of your rig. If you think of your mast as having a pivot point at the partners, one cm of change at the base of your mast translates into a significant change in rake at the top of your mast. In racing you can use this to your advantage by making sure that your mast butt is set up in the right spot for given conditions; if fact, this is exactly how Opti sailors set up their rake! For example, if you push your mast butt aft, the top of your mast will swing forward, meaning that your mast is slightly further upright. This is valuable in light air, especially in flat conditions. In heavier conditions, mast butt forward helps to rake your mast aft. You can
change your mast rake using shrouds as well, but this also affects the bend in your mast. We’ll discuss this more later.
For now, let’s just focus on setting your mast up in one spot, the correct spot for most conditions.
Measuring Mast Heel Position:
Method 1: Run a tape measure from the back edge of your mast along the bottom of your cockpit to the transom
of your boat. Keep the end of the tape (the “0”) at your mast and try to keep the tape as straight as
DoubleHandedSailing | | possible. The reading that you get where your tape measure touches the wall of your transom is your mast butt position.
Method 2: Run a tape measure from the back edge of your mast to the aft edge of your centreboard bolt. Again, keep the “0” end of your tape measure at the mast and keep the tape as straight as possible. The
reading at the centreboard bolt will be your mast butt reading. CoachingResources
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Mast Heel Positions:
**Club 420: 9’ 4 ½” from the transom to the mast butt. This will likely place your mast in the first pin hole from the front on the mast step (North Sails Tuning Guide)
Mast Rake Mast rake refers to the distance from the top of your mast to the transom of your boat. It’s an important measurement because it affects your rig in a number of ways. First, it affects your boat’s power and pointing ability. For example, in lighter air we tend to rake our masts upright. This keeps our sails full because the mast is straight, and this gives your sails power. As we begin to be overpowered, we can rake our masts aft and flatten out our sails, open our leeches, and shed power in the rig. Why does raking your mast aft flatten your sail? We usually use our shrouds to rake the mast aft, and we pull shrouds down into their chain plates to “pin down.” As we pull on the shrouds, we’re actually pulling on the top of the mast, which bends the mast as it pulls the mast aft. A mast with more bend in it will have flatter sails, and flatter sails depower your rig.
Your next questions then, is probably why raking your mast aft opens your jib leech. Well, if you think of your mast as having a pivot at the partners, and your mast is fully upright, then the top of your mast is as high and as far away from the transom as it can possibly be. The same is true for the top of your jib – it’s as high and as far away from your jib fairlead as it can possibly be. If you rake your mast aft, then you’re actually decreasing the distance from the head of your jib to the jib fairlead. By decreasing the distance from the head of your jib to the jib fairlead, you actually open up the leech of your jib. Opening the leech of your jib can help you to depower your rig in heavy air by allowing the jib leech to twist off. However, if your mast is raked too far aft for the given conditions, your jib leech will be too open. You’ll lose too much wind through the slot between your jib and main and this will affect your boat’s ability to point.
Mast rake also affects the balance of your boat. If your mast is fully upright, then the rig is further forward in your boat. This means that your sails, and therefore your centre of effort are further forward in the boat. As you rake your mast aft, you pivot the centre of effort aft as well. It’s important to tune your mast according to its tuning guide so that your boat is as balanced as possible and you don’t experience weather helm or lee helm. A mast that’s raked too far aft will contribute to weather helm unless you compensate for it.
Measuring Mast Rake The easiest way to measure mast rake is to tie a tape measure to your main halyard and then hoist it to the top of the mast. Pull the tape measure just taught and run it to the centre of the top of your transom. The distance between the top of your mast and the centre of the top of your transom will be your mast rake measurement.
Mast Rake Measurement
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Club 420:
0-4 Knots 5-8 Knots 9-11 Knots 12-14 Knots 15-18 Knots 19+ Knots 20’3” 20’ 4” 20’4” 20’2” 19’11” 19’10”
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45 Rig Tension
Rig tension refers to how tight your shrouds and forestay are. Rig tension is achieved via the jib halyard on a 420, the tighter you pull your jib halyard, the more rig tension you will achieve. Tension is important for more reasons than simply keeping your rig from flopping around in waves. It helps to create pre-bend in your mast, which in turn controls the depth in your sail as well as the angle of entry. As you pull on rig tension, you pull the mast forward. However, the shrouds are pulling your mast aft. The result is a mast which is bent, rather than straight, and this bend is your pre- bend. The more bend in your mast, the flatter your sail and the more open your leeches become. Your sail is flat because the bend in the mast mimics the bend that your sail maker built into the sail. Leeches open because you decrease the distance from your mast tip to your boom, just like when you raked your mast aft and twisted your jib leech. Your sail maker will have determined an ideal pre-bend measurement for your rig and sails, and it will relate to the tension in your rig.
Rig tension can also control the entry angle to your jib by pulling the luff of your jib tighter. A rig with more tension will have a wider entry angle and therefore a deeper luff. A rig with too much tension can suffer from reduced pointing because the entry angle is too wide and the luff is too deep.
Measuring Rig Tension
Rig tension is measured using a tension gauge on the shrouds and/or forestay. There are different types of tension gauges, but the two most common gauges are the Model A Loose Gauge and the PT-1 or PT-1m. In both cases, these gauges measure the tension of your rig in terms of pounds, and give corresponding numbers for given shroud and forestay diameters. When you tune your rig and have achieved your desired mast heel position, rake, tension, and pre- bend, make a mark on your mast (ie. Mark the height of the jib halyard purchase block where it sits against your mast) so that you can easily repeat your tension setting each day or return to your tension setting should you need to change anything on the water.
Rig Tension Measurement
Club 420: Measurement taken from Shrouds
0-4 Knots 5-8 Knots 9-11 Knots 12-14 Knots 15-18 Knots 19+ Knots 100 lbs 140 lbs 200 lbs 230 lbs 300 lbs 330 lbs
Pre-Bend
We’ve discussed that pre-bend affects your sail by controlling its draft. A straighter mast will have less pre-bend and have a fuller sail. This is due to the way in which sails are cut. If you lay a mainsail on the ground, you’ll see that the luff
of the sail is curved but the sail lies flat on the ground (likewise, if your mast is bent, your sail will sit flatter as it does DoubleHandedSailing
when lying on the ground). If you straighten your mast, then the luff of your sail is pulled straight and this creates shape | and depth in your sail. Therefore, if you want a deeper and more powerful sail, you want to reduce your pre-bend. As the breeze picks up and you become overpowered, you can increase your pre-bend to flatten out your sail.
Pre-bend also affects leech profiles in your sail. A straight mast will have a tighter leech because as the luff of your sail is pulled straight, it essentially pulls the leech tight by pulling the head of the sail away from the clew. A straight mast will
also create more leech return because of added depth to the luff (which we discussed above). With an overly straight CoachingResources
46 mast, you’ll end up with a sail that’s too deep and with a hooked leech. However, as you bend your mast, you allow for more leech twist because you decrease the distance between the head of your sail and the clew. This can be useful for allowing breeze to fall off out of the head of your sail. If you want to counteract leech twist without changing your pre- bend, you can use your vang and mainsheet tension to tighten up your leech.
What does this mean for a 29er or 420? Your pre-bend is achieved through setting up your rake using chainplates, and then tensioning your rig accordingly. Once you’ve got these two settings sorted then your pre-bend is set. However, on more technical boats such as a i420, 470 or 505, you can further adjust your pre-bend by adjusting your spreader deflection, or the fore and aft angle of your spreaders. We won’t get into this now, although it’s important to understand the concept of pre-bend and its effect on your rig.
Measuring Pre-Bend
Once you’ve achieved your target rake and rig tension, and while your rig is under tension, pull your main halyard straight down so that it’s touching the back edge of your mast (the mast track) at gooseneck height. Then your sailing partner climbs up onto the deck of the boat and measures the distance from your mast track to the main halyard. This measurement should be taken at spreader height. The distance from your mast track to the main halyard at spreader height is your pre-bend.
On Water Rig Changes Often when we go sailing, the conditions that we encounter out on the water change and differ from the conditions when we set up our boat for the day. In order to accommodate for changes in wind strength or sea state, we can pin up or pin down on the water. This means that we’re changing our rake and rig tension on the water so that we’re always set up for optimal sailing. There are two important factors to consider before teaching your athletes how to pin up and down on the water. First, it’s important not to get too caught up in your pin settings. Valuable training time is often wasted by sailors who have just learned how to change their rig settings on the water, as they spend time making finicky adjustments rather than focusing on just going sailing and having a productive training day. Second, it’s important to know all of your pin settings before you go out, so that you know exactly which changes you’d like to make on the water. You can make a chart and laminate it to keep in the boat, and this can make life easier for you when it comes time to making a rig change on the water.
How to Make an on Water Rig Change
1. Be sure to have sailed into clear water away from other boats 2. Crew release jib halyard tension, keep jib out of water 3. Helm keeps boat moving forward slowly and controls heel of boat with main sheet (if mast is bouncing around due to wind and waves, Helm holds windward trapeze handle and pull back on it. Helm can also try pulling on the vang hard to help Crew get shroud into pin hole) 4. Crew to leeward, pulls out pin and places in new pin hole
5. Tack over and repeat on new leeward side DoubleHandedSailing
6. Pull jib halyard back up. To achieve proper tension, Crew places feet on mast and pushes forward while pulling |
on the jib halyard.
CoachingResources
47 Go Fast Tips for Race Coaches Below you’ll find some useful tips for coaching Club 420’s at the race team level. These are useful tips and tricks to help you and your athletes get the most out of their boats around the race course. Try these tips out and see how your athletes do, and remember that each coach and team develops is own style of sailing.
Club 420 Body Placement: The club 420 is a modification of the I420 in the sense that it was developed to be a more learn to sail friendly boat. The modifications were made so that the boat can take a beating in club programs and not require too much upkeep. The mast is a lot more solid and sturdy with fixed spreaders; the hull can resist impacts (for the most part); and the layout is simpler. The Club 420 also includes hiking straps for the crew because it’s used in Collegiate style racing, where the trapeze is not allowed. In the Club 420 circuit, the use of trapeze is permitted, is much more effective, and all the top teams will use the trapeze as soon as possible. When racing or sailing with trapeze, it is a good idea to unscrew the hiking straps on the crew side and tape them underneath the helm’s hiking straps. You need them in the boat under class rules, but it does not state where they need to be. Removing them for the crew gives more space for the crew’s feet when wire to wire tacking - otherwise there is a high chance of tripping in the boat. Trapezing is not a cause for poor pointing ability but rather poor trapezing technique (letting the boat fall to windward by not anticipating the lull, and letting the boat heel to leeward by not anticipating the gust) will result in the boat loosing pointing ability. Thus is it is paramount that the athlete learns to read the wind in order to anticipate the changes needed in their weight placement.
Club 420 Bridle Setup There are many different set ups for the club 420 bridle. Some of the boats come with a block attached at the center of the traveler bar. Unfortunately, these won’t allow the boat to point to its full potential. You can either purchase the adjustable bridles or make your own. Some boats come supplied with an adjustable bridle, however, some of these won’t be able to get long enough in light air. The most important thing about the bridle is that it is easily adjustable on the water and that you can reach the full range needed for very light air to heavy air sailing. Knowing the height at which to set the bridle can seem a little tricky, however remembering a few simple rules can really help. The very basics
Light wind: all the way up
Medium wind: A few inches down from the Light wind setting
Heavy wind: A few inches further down from your medium setting.
By following those basic rules, you will be within the ballpark of where it needs to be. To get a little more complicated, you are trying to balance bridal height, mainsheet tension, boom vang, and top batten tension.
Top Batten Tension: This is simple. In light air keep very minimal tension the batten, as the wind increases add more tension to give more shape to the top of the main. Also adding more tension allows the main to hold its shape since the
wind will be forcing the leech open. DoubleHandedSailing | |
Understanding how all these adjustments work together is key to perfecting the setup of the Bridle Height. When the boat is not planning, It is very important that the boom, when sheeted in all the way while on a beat, is at the center line of the boat. The skipper or crew can easily see this by looking down the boom towards the stern. Once the boat is planning, the boom will need to be sheeted in and out to keep the boat balanced with the puffs and lulls. The boom
should stay within the inner and out edge of the tanks. CoachingResources
48 Trouble shooting while racing:
Bridle too high for the increase in wind and can’t close mainsail leech with mainsheet tighten up the vang
Bridle too low for the decrease in wind release some vang
Club 420 Tuning Guide Submitted by Oliver Bone, Nova Scotia
side condition rake tension* Pin #
Super Light 20'7"-20’8” 25-27
Light 20'7" 26-27
Medium 20'6" 27-29
Heavy 20'5" 30
Super Heavy 20'3" 30
The ‘Pin #’ column has been left blank on this form for the reason that the shroud length from boat to boat could be different. Therefore it is left blank and to be filled in for each boat.
The shroud plates that should be used are from Ronstan with quick pin adjustments and not a pin and split ring. It is
paramount that the sailors are able to change their pin settings on the water.
DoubleHandedSailing
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CoachingResources
49 Conclusion
Throughout this document we’ve covered aspects such as teamwork and communication, boat handling, double handed sail trim, and double handed tuning. With skills in each of these areas, you as a coach can now go out and put this information into practise. In order to really reach your athletes, go out and explain these things in a practical setting. Play with manoeuvres on the water and play with tuning and sail trim in an on water racing context; it’s much more fun than covering this material on land in front of a whiteboard!
Have fun coaching the material in this resource book. But remember that the key success factor for a double handed team is teamwork and communication. Years of training cannot compensate for a team which values respect and cooperation and you as a coach can make a real difference in how your athletes perceive the value of teamwork and communication.
As a coach, you can continue to deliver for your athletes by going out and pushing your own knowledge. This resource is just a tiny sampling of the body of knowledge that exists about sailing today. Ask other coaches for their opinions, bounce ideas off of each other, go to an event that’s out of your area or your class to see how other sailors are sailing. The more that you know and the more that you push yourself, the more knowledge you’ll be able to pass on to your athletes, and this makes you a really valuable coach. Challenge the ideas that we’ve set out here and learn as much as you can!
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