Getting Stable

What did you learn from practice yesterday? Take a look at this video from SailGroove about converting to stable combinations. Thoughts on what they try?

Watch more video of Technique Tuesdays on sailgroove.org

Are you being passed back?

Another great question from earlier today:

How do I recognize a passback while its happening on the water?

This is a bit tricky, try asking yourself these questions:

1. Am I in a 2 on 1 situation? Or is my team-mate being double-teamed? Remember the "piggy in the middle"?


2. Are you, or your team-mate, tacking a ton, with someone to weather of you? This could be a sucker drill where someone is trying to get you to go slow by tacking frequently to draw you down the course.


3. Are you, or your team-mate, sailing the headed tack? Do you realize that you are sailing away from the mark and that someone is forcing you?

Those are three big signs that you, or your team-mate, are in a passback. Remember, too, that if you are not winning, or don't have pairs, then the other team is going to be trying something.

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.

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.