Van Morrison captured some of the joy of sailing with his lyrics, “Smell the sea and feel the sky, let your soul and spirit fly.” Sailing is one of the ultimate freedoms and can be started at any age. Of course, as with anything else, the sooner you start, the more you learn and the more fun you can start having. If you are new to the sport and would like a head-start, here are some tips and tricks to get you gliding across the waters swiftly.
1. Find Your Jib’s Sweet Spot
If you are not doing well upwind, jib trim is the first area you may consider adjusting. Most jibs offer the best performance when the top leech telltale stalls every now and then. Trim to around 95% and your jib will be as tight as possible without stalling airflow.
2. Learn the Optimal Weight of Your Boat
Although it’s okay for a keelboat to be heavy, especially in windy conditions, most planning boats and dinghies should be kept on the light side. Avoid heavy items like gear, spares, excessive tools, and coolers. Stick to the basic tools, some water, and sandwiches or energy bars for everyone.
3. Make Sure Roles Are Defined on the Boat
Issues happen when a crew is not certain what they are meant to do. Don’t leave things to chance and hope every task will be taken care of by somebody. Rather, make sure everybody knows exactly what is expected of them.
4. Stick to the One-Hour Rule
Arriving an hour early at a regatta will help you to figure out how to tune your boat based on the wind and the racecourse. With a warm-up, you have a better chance of starting well and sailing fast.
5. Keep Easing the Kite
All good spinnaker trimmers know that it’s important to ease the kite until a slight curl in the luff is seen, which then has to be trimmed in slightly to be eliminated. This process is done over and over to make sure that the spinnaker is not over trimmed.
6. Use Other Boats
It is important to use every clue you can find to make your sailing faster and smoother – even watching what your opponents are doing. Take note of how much they’re heeling, what angles they are sailing at, and how many bodies they have on the rail. The more boats you have sailing around you, the more data you have ahead and behind you.
7. Read the Instructions
This may seem like a no-brainer, but many teams have lost critical points because they failed to read sailing instructions and made fatal mistakes like missing a downwind finish because it is across from the finish line, getting penalties because they are changed, or making mistakes in reading the color of the change marks.
Although these tips are just the ‘tip’ of the iceberg, they will prove to be highly useful in your sailing adventures.
If you are not doing well upwind, jib trim is the first area you may consider adjusting. Most jibs offer the best performance when the top leech telltale stalls every now and then. Trim to around 95% and your jib will be as tight as possible without stalling airflow.
2. Learn the Optimal Weight of Your Boat
Although it’s okay for a keelboat to be heavy, especially in windy conditions, most planning boats and dinghies should be kept on the light side. Avoid heavy items like gear, spares, excessive tools, and coolers. Stick to the basic tools, some water, and sandwiches or energy bars for everyone.
3. Make Sure Roles Are Defined on the Boat
Issues happen when a crew is not certain what they are meant to do. Don’t leave things to chance and hope every task will be taken care of by somebody. Rather, make sure everybody knows exactly what is expected of them.
4. Stick to the One-Hour Rule
Arriving an hour early at a regatta will help you to figure out how to tune your boat based on the wind and the racecourse. With a warm-up, you have a better chance of starting well and sailing fast.
5. Keep Easing the Kite
All good spinnaker trimmers know that it’s important to ease the kite until a slight curl in the luff is seen, which then has to be trimmed in slightly to be eliminated. This process is done over and over to make sure that the spinnaker is not over trimmed.
6. Use Other Boats
It is important to use every clue you can find to make your sailing faster and smoother – even watching what your opponents are doing. Take note of how much they’re heeling, what angles they are sailing at, and how many bodies they have on the rail. The more boats you have sailing around you, the more data you have ahead and behind you.
7. Read the Instructions
This may seem like a no-brainer, but many teams have lost critical points because they failed to read sailing instructions and made fatal mistakes like missing a downwind finish because it is across from the finish line, getting penalties because they are changed, or making mistakes in reading the color of the change marks.
Although these tips are just the ‘tip’ of the iceberg, they will prove to be highly useful in your sailing adventures.