Additional information will be necessary as the sailors skill level increases. Check in with yacht designer nigel irens below and find out what he recommends in order to get the most out of your catamaran while cruising upwind. In this case you have the possibility to tack to leeward of the right of way boat, or to duck behind it. What are the terms describing from downwind to upwind. Outlines how to run the exercise, tips on laying the course and additional comments on best. The basic rule when sailing upwind is god is boatspeed.
Since there is more apparent wind when you sail upwind, you will need more tension than when sailing off the wind. Nigel irens explains and has some tips on how to get more out of a cruising catamaran upwind. How to recognize prestart wind shifts sailing world. Excessive heel is your enemy when sailing upwind, and with no hiking crew this is something the doublehanded sailor needs to consider. The top laser sailors in the world are aiming for the same goal in their technique when sailing upwind. Theres a lot going on in the final minutes of the prestart, and a keen eye to whats happening up the course and with your own sails can. So do a deal with the wind gods for permanent gas, or read on to get some decent upwind tips, whatever level youre currently at. Trying to sail upwind is a little like driving up a mountain. Sailing tips by chris kitchen october 2012 series 5. To enjoy yourself on a sailboat, you need to know the basic sailing maneuvers, sail positions, and. But they have learned to execute this technique perfectly.
Improve your skills and work on your progression from beginner, though intermediate to advanced. Prior to going down to the boats, a ten to fifteen minute flip chart orientation will be given near the office. Sail fast upwind by yacht designer steve thompson of. This kitesurfing handbook provides information to assist people learn and practice kitesurfing with an emphasis on safety. Points of sail the points of sail, sometimes called sailing positions, relate to the angle between a sailboats heading, or course, and the direction of the wind. Be careful of overvanging in light winds and undervanging in big breeze. Finding your equilibrium when sailing upwind is difficult, but once you balance everything, forward progress will come rapidly. At the end of todays sail i decided id sail into my dock. David dellenbaugh is a champion helmsman, tactician, author, coach, rules expert and seminar leader who has spent his career helping sailors sail faster and smarter. Just as you would with the mainsheet upwind, use enough tension on the boom vang to keep the top batten parallel to the boom. Sail tips from the offshore sailing school by steve colgate. Improve your laser sailing techniques with tips from top british sailing team sailor nick thompson. Tack again and again and the zigzagging will move the boat upwind, even though the boat cant sail directly into the wind. Sailing can provide adventure, relaxation, recreation, and just good old fun.
Cal sailing club blogs on sailing skills and theory. Nigel irens explains and has some tips on how to get more out of a cruising catamaran upwind become a free subscriber to yachting worlds. Pickup handy kitesurfing tips and techniques to increase your enjoyment and safety. Adapted with permission from the cal sailing club dinghy sailing manual.
Size quantifies the two dimensional aspects of the sail. Because of this all maneuvers should be carefully calculated and communicated to the crew to ensure good teamwork, but more importantly to avoid disaster. Speed is very important on the first beat because your competitors are all so close together. In order to go fast in these conditions, you need very different techniques, and you have to be especially sensitive.
Both going upwind and downwind the absolute determinate of mainsail twist is the upper leach ribbon. I use standard sail, but radial sailors usually are faster than me upwind, specially in medium and strong winds. Call us and let us know if you have some gofast tips we havent tried. Settings and controls it is important for you to get your settings correct before the start of a race. In flat water the speed differences are relatively small and the boat requires little steering and body movement. Keep pushing the tiller toward the sail till it starts to luff or the inside telltale lifts, then bring the tiller back toward you a little. Upwind to the caribbean sailing blog technical hints and tips sailing television. The real challenge is sailing upwind in very light or heavy wind, when you are constantly trying to power up or get rid of power. The top sailors are able to maintain their vmg while constantly observing the conditions on the course to make strategic tactical decisions. In waves, technique plays a role because sailing fast. When boats meet on th ebeat there are many opportunities to act and react. Unless the beat is in exceptionally steady winds, few waves and there is a lack of opponents near by, i adjust the mainsheet dozens of times on a onemile beat.
When sailing upwind, the relative speed of the wind on the sails is greater than the actual speed of the wind and this relative wind creates a larger force on the sails that can push sailboats faster than the actual wind speed. Light winds the key to light air sailing is to keep the boat moving without losing any speed. Its a nice idea, but unfortunately it doesnt fit too well with the laws of nature. These blogs are an incredible resource for those learning to sail and also for experienced sailors. In an ideal world we want the boat to sail in a straight line by itself and the boat was. And if youre getting into wave sailing, you need to be sailing upwind all the time except when youre in mid air or wave riding. Broad reach on a broad reach youll be heading a bit further downwind. This sailboat racing tactic is used most often on singlehanded small boats, that either dont carry compasses or are bouncing around too much for them to be dependable. Upwind in light to moderate conditions, the vang is not used and is simply kept snug. Cruising sailor iain simpson gives downwind sailing tips on using twin headsails and mainsail for faster and easier passagemaking.
Sail, kayak and paddleboard based on recommendations from the state, local health officials, and the cdc, all city sponsored programs, classes, events, rentals. Here are the learning resources that he has created to help you improve your racing skills. In medium winds the conditions on the water can range from flat water to large swells. Notice the emphasis on smoothness and keeping steering to a minimum. For the thistle, the boat is nimble, responsive and very lively. You need to get the foils working which will then give you a lift, so use your bodyweight, mainsheet and tiller to. Sailing upwind w i n d kim and alex decided to go sailing. If you are sailing on port and meet a boat on starport tack on a collision course, according to rule 10, you must keep clear. Navigating all of these variables can be challenging for even the best and most experienced sailors. Hello, i am quite new in the class, and i m fast downwind, but im really slow upwind. When sailing downwind, the airlow across the sails is from leech to. Some of the other catboat lines also offer hinged masts, but we havent heard much on how easy they are to set up right.
See downwind tips for more on sailing fast downwind. Speed tips for the first beat by david dellenbaugh. Some sailboats can even move faster than the wind itself. After two seasons of bashing to windward up and down the island chain in the eastern caribbean, it has been quite a relief to be bearing away and easing the sheets at last. Therefore their adjustments are smaller, the balance is better, and the boat will go faster. Kim took the striped boat and alex took the solid color boat.
Revision 1 6112009 i find that a sitting up position is more comfortable in these conditions, as you will need to watch the sail more carefully. They are really proactive in counteracting all the little disturbing variables. Sailing upwind international laser class association. Team racing is not only an exciting discipline within sailing but it is also an. Paper tiger catamaran international association page 2 of 5 sailing a paper tiger basic upwind sailing. Set the jib stay tension so that the leeward shroud does not go slack. Video narrated by sarah ayton and saskia clark on upwind sailing, steering, tacking, trapeze technique. Hints and tips for cruising sailors exploring the world by sailboat. Most importantly, when sailing upwind in 10 mph winds with the boat level, there should be none to very little weather helm. Feathering the sail to stand more upright, pushing down on the.
Easing the outhaul will round up the lower leech and help pointing in smooth water. Backstay, or some combination of backstay and runners and checkstays if you have them, provides a one. The next yachting world howto video on deck discusses another important topic sailing upwind on a catamaran. Catamaran sailing techniques upwind sailing tips the moorings. There is a limit to how fast sailboats can move forward, of. Jsail is a fantastic tool that allows not only sailing higher than the other optimist sails in the upwind course but offers an unbelievable power in the downwind. Upwind sailing tips for catamarans catamaran sailing. All sails can be described using four basic criteria size, shape, style and specifications. A good check guide is that the tell tale off the top batten if there is one should be nearly. The outhaul is usually only eased all the way off approximately 100 mm from maximum tension when sailing off the wind.
You cant go straight up, so you have to follow a winding road, zigzagging back and forth. On the new tack, youll find youre sailing in a direction thats at about right angles to the old tack, with the wind still at about 45 degrees, but now on the other side. Our comments on sail trim are written as if we were sailing onboard your boat with you. We invite you to try one of our many wonderful classes and let us show you why we are so passionate about sailing, kayaking, and stand up paddle boarding.
Compounding the issue are the different languages of sailing used around the world. If youre sailing closehauled and the wind shifts toward the bow. We have found that the mutineer performs better with the rig set up very tight. Upwind, the mainsail should generally be flatter than when sailing off the wind, so its better to use more outhaul. A line that comes to mind there is the marshall catboats.
Though it may seem as though the wind is steady from one direction, once you have sailed awhile youll realize that the wind is constantly shifting direction. Can you make quick and accurate judgments about laylines, whos ahead, and the direction of the wind. This guide is intended to help us speak a common language when describing sails. Sailing optimistically the first of a regular column by australian optimist dinghy coach diego figueroa. So if you want to sail upwind you need to zigzag from side to side of the no go zone. Nothing works in a boat unless you have the optimum boatspeed for the upwind conditions you are sailing in. Upwind definition of upwind by the free dictionary.
A discussion of upwind sail trim isnt complete without mentioning the goto control for coarse and continuous adjustment. Soon they found themselves on the far side of the lake. Anatomy of a sailboat sailing hulls and hull shapes sailboats can have one, two, or three hulls. Going upwind with the kite flapping around and your crew off the rail struggling to control it isnt fun or fast. Sailing a j22 upwind in a good breeze, hiking hard and sailing flat is fast. From knot a lot of sailing website, with my edits and additions. Sailing tips by chris kitchen series 5 upwind sailing october 2012 although there are probably more speed gains round a track to be made downwind in a weta compared to upwind there are still many things you can do to put you in good shape at the top mark. Catamaran sailing techniques upwind sailing tips youtube. I always do a lot of main uncleating, adjusting and then recleating when going upwind. Almost everyone knows that boats cannot sail straight into the wind.
Like many sailing things, the more time spent in the boat, the better your feel will become. Blogs on sailing skills and theory over the past several years, club members have contributed blogs to the csc on different aspects of sailing theory or technique. Some key takeaways to keep in mind for your next onthewater adventure include. A third way to determine sailing wind shifts is by your relative position to other boats. A sailboat sailing upwind changes direction by performing a tack yes, there are two different definitions for the same word, a maneuver where the bow of the boat rotates through the wind direction, causing the boat to go from pointing diagonally upwind with the wind on. By going fast, you can get your nose in front of the boats around you, and this will give you clear air plus a chance to play the shifts. Upwind to the caribbean sailing blog technical hints.