Boat Handling Questions

Here's a list of things that a lot of crews should be asking about, but only one of you did.

I'm having trouble with executing my tacks and gybes well. I was wondering if you had any tips for improving upon a few things that I need to work the most on:

1. The "bunny hop" over the traveler bar


2. The correct form/how to hike when gybing


3. When exactly to trim in and let out the jib (on both tacks and gybes)

The Bunny Hop
You have to keep your feet together and under you. Also, you're trying to roll too much on your back and not enough on
your side - this helps with balance. Once your timing improves, the motion of the boat actually helps you pop right up. Kinda' like a see-saw.

Form/Hiking on Gybes
On the gybes, it depends on if you're going reach-to-reach or wing-to-wing. They are very different. Just remember, it's not a true roll. More of a carve. You can't roll too early in a gybe. Remember, as your weight comes to windward, the boat bears off. That's the goal.

Jib Trim on Tacks
The jib needs to go from full to full - no luffing. Personally, I release the jib as I roll, and then punch my arm through the boat to get it in on the other side. This gets all but the last inch or so. Then, as my skipper trims in the last bit out of the tack, I bring the jib in the rest of the way.

Jib Trim on Gybes
Jib Trim on the Gybes: Basically, think about flying the jib through the entire turn. You never want to force it at any point. This means that on a reach-to-reach gybe, you want to wing the jib just before the gybe and then be ready to have it flying on your new course as the skipper flattens. On wing-to-wing gybes, the trick is to NOT try to wing on the new side too early. This is why you have to have the sheet in two places before the gybe. If the skipper over rotates the boat, then you can fly the reach until the boat bears off and then wing it. With down-wind jib trim, it's all about the pressure that you feel in your hand. If the jib gets soft, then you need to either go to a wing or have the skipper head up.

Tactical Tip #4

Yesterday, the breeze was up-and-down, and swung about 30-degrees to the right during practice. Roy shifted the entire course around. That said, here are 3 observations:

DO NOT LET BOATS GET TO THE RIGHT OF YOU ON THE LAST LEG!

In the 2-3-6 drill, the team had converted to a 2-3-4. However, the 2 boat sailed out to the left of the course while the entire fleet went right. At the top, 2 had gone to 6. The 2-3-4 needed to have been balanced to the right of the fleet in order to stay in control.

DO NOT SAIL DOWN THE COURSE

Off the line, a number of you sailed a parallel course, away from the mark, to the left. While this seemed to be the lifted tack, you were actually on the wrong side of the shift. As soon as the boats on the right tacked (yes, they were headed a bit off the line), they all had you. Crews, this is why you have to watch the boats on your weather hip. As soon as the pack to the right tacked, you had to try to get over as many as you could.

Also, crews let skippers sail well past lay-lines yesterday. You need to literally point at the mark with your up-wind hand and make sure that you are still sailing at it.

LIGHT AIR SAILING ISSUES

Top reasons why some of you were dog-slow:

1. Skippers were trying to sail too high. Foot off a bit for speed and then come back up when you have power in the sails.


2. Crews, do NOT strap the jibs. You should have never had the jibs cleated yesterday. When your skipper says that they need power, you should have been able to ease about 1/4". When they feel up to speed, bring it back in a hair.


3. Stop the rudder from moving. Skippers, press the tillers to the deck. If you need to head up, have the crew ease to you and then gradually bring the boat up. If you need to bear off, just slide your shoulders to weather a bit and ease the main about 1/2".


4. Timing! You are all rushing your boat-handling and trying to throw the boat around. It's counter-productive. If your timing is off (and it is for almost all of you), all the roll in the world won't do anything. Don't roll your tacks until the jib backs. Crews, you should NOT flatten the jibes out (except for maybe when sailing with Norfleet). Skippers, you're not going to be able to jam the rudder over and have the boat do anything but stop. Just relax!


5. The second that you get on the water in light air, you are racing. One bad tack could leave you dead in the water and cause you to miss a start. One bad jibe and you're out the back. Every motion counts. On a light air day, every move needs to be perfect - even if the start has not yet counted down to zero.

Loose Footed Mains

Matt Knowles - Jeff's brother - and I have been talking about how to trim the loose footed mains. Here are bits of the conversation:

On the Class-Legal, 420 mains we go pretty tight with the outhaul pretty much all the time - not boned, but definitly tight enough so there is never any horizontal space between the foot and the boom. if it is nuking we'll max them, but since you're in vang sheeting mode by then it doesn't make much a of a difference. if i'm sailing in waves or chop i go a tiny bit looser to try to cary a bit more power, but really never that loose - it seems slow as soon as you've got a big horizontal gap at the foot spilling breeze.

we don't bother to let the outhaul off downwind, have done some speed testing and it doesn't seem to make any difference, better off just getting the vang set perfectly. one thing that does seem to help a lot is always running the cunningham over the slug rather than through the grommit (sp?) until it is so windy that you can't get it down far enough for that - this lets you get some luff tension without messing up the whole foot of the sail / making a deep pocket.

the other sail we use is the Vanguard/north "intercollegiate" cut main that is used on both FJs and 420s. we have it on our FJs, and BC has them on their 420s, so i've played with it on both. with this cut (which sucks, btw, they made a lot of compromises so it'll work on both boats) we go *max* outhaul all the time on the FJs except very light air when the wrinkles look nasty, in which case we ease a little bit. in 420s, i think the same holds, except probably want to trend a little looser since the AOA is different than an FJ. with this cut, the luff tends to be pretty short on 420s, so you actually need to have a bit of cunningham on even in light air so the foot doesn't get pulled up from the boom near the tack.

one other thing about the new Intercollegiate cut mains is that with the big stiff headboard it is pretty easy to put the main up too high in light air, in which vase you get the head twisted to windward in a funky way. in breeze it doesn't seem to matter.

Tactical Tip #3

Saturday, it was really shifty. A few things to note.

1. DO YOUR PRE-START ROUTINE - Ellie and I kept count of every time someone took a line-sight, a lay-line, or a time around the boat. It was not all of you.


2. Do not let 2 boats get off to one side unprotected. There were at least 2 races where 2 Opponent boats got out to the right and were not covered. Yes, the shift did come from the left, but what if it hadn't.


3. Make your Opponent sail through you to get to the finish. In the super light race against MV, we were hipped up on the fleet, but not in front of them. What if a massive header had come through? What if the breeze had gone all the way around and from the right?

Last note, do NOT forget your boat-handling as soon as you start team racing. A lot of you were painful to watch. It is especially critical in light air. We lost boat-lengths on poor reach-to-wing transitions (remember, this is all crew). Our tacks were mediocre, and we almost stopped at times trying to gybe for position. As soon as you get on the water, the entire time that you are on the water, you should be working on this.