Fine tuning your steering

Persistent Shift: Fine tuning your steering

How to get yourself (and your boat) in the right position to win, by Tony Bull.

Steering a yacht or dinghy is a relatively easy thing to do. You get in the boat, grab the tiller or wheel and point it in the direction you want to go. Steering well is another thing entirely, and particularly steering well across a wide range of conditions.

To get the best performance from the boat it's obvious your primary focal point should be the sails. They are the engine of the vessel. In particular you need to view the luff of the jib upwind and the edge of the spinnaker downwind. So it's important to set up your steering position where you can view as much of the sails as possible.

When sailing upwind you need to have your head as far outboard and forward as you can, to sight as much of the headsail as possible while still being able to steer comfortably. Steerers on boats with tillers should use the tiller extension to get outboard and as far forward as they can. In smaller boats this will usually be better for weight distribution as well. Wheel steerers should either sit on the side deck, steering with a vertical grip on the wheel, or if you're more comfortable standing, get as far outboard as possible on the windward side.

Light winds - it's all about the telltales

In light airs the telltales should be your primary focus. It's imperative to keep them flowing constantly. In these conditions the wind is often fickle and swirly and boats are hard to get moving and keep going - to stall the boat by pinching is a big no-no. In very light airs it can be an advantage to steer sitting on the leeward side where you can see the whole jib and importantly the three sets of telltales. Wind sheer (the wind twisting or changing direction vertically) is common in lighter airs and as a result the telltales can behave quite differently as they go up the sail. A period of helming to leeward even pre-start can help your awareness of this and enable you to adjust your steering groove to compensate.

It's important not to use your instruments too much in light airs. Remember they are delayed and will jump all over the place. The difference between 6 and 8 knots windspeed is a whopping 25% so don't get carried away with the numbers, just keep the telltales streaming and the boat moving.

Medium conditions - work on VMG

 As we begin to sail into a more regular wind strength and the boat is moving through the water more comfortably, we can begin to work a little more on our height or VMG (velocity made good) toward the mark. It's often beneficial to allow the windward telltales to begin to lift. You can even afford to shed a little power to work to weather so it's quite acceptable to have your jib luff slightly stalled with the telltales at roughly 45 degrees. As the breeze continues to build and the yacht starts to become a little overpowered you can begin to sail even higher to stop your angle of heel becoming excessive. At this stage the telltales will begin to completely stall and focussing on them will become a pointless exercise. Instead your focus should change to studying the luff of the jib as it begins to develop a slight backwind or bubble. We still want to keep the boat moving forward so a small backwind is OK. However we don't want it to become excessive and stall the boat too much. We will also begin to depower the main a bit at this stage to keep the balance of the boat comfortable.

This is probably the wind range where the instruments can be of most benefit and the targets should be pursued. As always, don't over-focus on the numbers - balance the boat correctly and the numbers will come. A big mistake is to chase the numbers, because there are times when we will slip a bit off our target speed through wave action, avoiding other boats or sudden knocks. If after one of these the numbers are building slowly then just let them creep back up, don't worry about trying to get them back too fast. This will often result in losing height and unbalancing your setup. Ideally use your mainsheet as a conduit and concentrate on the important things.

Heavy conditions - staying upright

Sailing in heavy winds we will have plenty of power so we need to concentrate on not letting the boat fall over on its side. You will need to have some form of depowering to avoid heeling excessively. As the gusts hit and the trimmers are adjusting the sails, it's important to feather into the gust and concentrate on keeping a relatively constant angle of heel. If we lose a little bit of speed doing this it's not drastic as our VMG will improve by sailing a bit higher. The priority is to keep the boat on its feet and the speed will come back up. Don't be overly worried about the aesthetics of sail shape and trim. Just stop the boat falling over. It's a good idea to concentrate on the angle of the forestay on the horizon, which will give you a good constant to sail to.

Downwind - watch your kite

Get in a spot where you can see the leading edge of the spinnaker, whether asymmetric or symmetric, and sail to the luff.

If it starts to curl, steer down a touch and help the trimmers out as they grind it in. Remember the less they have to grind in, the less they have to ease out again to keep you up to speed. Working this way helps your VMG because you will be angling down toward the leeward mark all the time.

When the spinnaker is well set and the luff begins to curl it's because the apparent wind angle is moving forward, either from a header or a wind increase. You need to sail lower to maintain your optimum angle and make sure when you bear off it's in a nice smooth arc - don't jerk the helm! Just as going to windward, we need to sail smoothly.

Make sure you can tell the difference between a spinnaker curling from sailing too high and collapsing from sailing too low. It's quite common for inexperienced skippers to pull away when they see a collapsing spinnaker when the sail has actually collapsed from lack of pressure. To learn the difference, when doing your spinnaker drills pre-start intentionally sail too high and then too low and familiarise yourself with the spinnaker's behaviour and appearance.

Even when you're reaching and VMC (velocity made to course) is the order of the moment, it's still faster to work with the trimmers on spinnaker trim.

Good helming means concentrating

So the key to good helming is concentration. Upwind, as the breeze increases we need to focus on telltales, jib luff shape and angle of heel in that order. In transition phases, you'll need to watch two things at once. Downwind, keeping the spinnaker luff flying is what dictates our course. There is very rarely a set angle as the optimum varies with every change in wind direction and strength and with wave action. In big keelboats with lots of instruments, just give them the occasional glance. Let someone else provide the feedback and relative performance to targets.

Helming a boat is a natural phenomenon, so try and develop a feel for the yacht and sails. Use the instrument feedback to reinforce and if necessary alter your mode slightly, but don't try to steer to them exclusively. It's a very worthwhile exercise to sail without the instruments, to develop a more natural feel for when the boat is doing well. You can even try helming blindfolded, but make sure you have a crewmate in the cockpit before you try this! Get the feel right and the speed will come quickly.