Sailing Optimistically downwind technique

Australian Sailing - March 2011

Sailing Optimistically

National Optimist Coach Diego Figueroa gives some tips which can also be applied to other beginner classes.

Reaching

Light Winds

Avoid any windward heeling and focus on keeping your boat flat or even heel a little to leeward. Sit as far forward as possible and be very sensitive with your sail. Switching off the ratchet block could work well as you will have a better feeling of the sail.

If you go forward to adjust any setting in the sail, make sure your movements are very smooth. You don’t want the boat to realize that you are moving.

Medium Winds

If your bow starts sinking a bit, slide your upper body backwards (it could almost be parallel to the gunwale), but try to keep your bottom seating as forward as possible. It is a good idea to hike from the forward part of the hiking straps and diagonally backwards, to lift the bow of the boat.

Avoid any windward heeling unless it’s a broad reach. Normally you want to keep the boat flat or a little sensitive to leeward heeling.

All your movements should still be very smooth so you don't disturb the sails and create more drag in the water.

Strong Winds

Go crazy for planing! If the boat is not planing you are losing in relation to your competitors. A good reaching technique will keep you planing the whole leg.

Remember you could plane because of the wind intensity (increase your apparent wind) or by catching a wave and surfing. Try both but don’t stop planing.

When slowing down, head up slightly and look for pressure. Once the boat has more wind pressure, try to go slightly lower.

Running

Light Winds

It is very important to heel the boat to windward as much as possible, but always make sure that you are able to keep the balance.

One critical thing – when you are kiting the boat, avoid crossing the rudder (pushing it unconsciously) since this will stop any little extra speed you could gain. By crossing too much rudder you create a lot of drag. With some practice a sailor can use his or her body balance to steer the boat while keeping maximum windward heel. Maximum windward heel reduces the amount of wet surface area that slows the boat down.

Open the sail to 90° or even a little bit further, so you make sure that the sail stays full and powered all the time. Surfing is usually not possible since the speed of the boat is not enough and the waves probably won’t be very big in light breeze. Make sure you sit in the boat as far forward as you can, with your weight really close to the bulkhead.

Always remember to pull the centerboard almost completely out of the water, and adjust your sprit and kicker to have the leech with some movement and very little tension. The lighter the wind the less tension we need on our sail.

After rounding the top mark you have to have a look at your wind indicator, at where you are going (bottom mark) and at your opposition to see whether you need to gybe or stay. It is crucially important to always sail with clear air, and to sail the longest gybe first if possible.

Medium Winds

The work on the boat needs to increase as the wind-speed goes up. Always change your course to find the biggest waves and, once you start surfing, keep working with your rudder and body to stay on the wave as long as possible. When you slow down, always try to gain your speed again, usually heading upwind a little bit and then going for the next wave.

The mainsheet needs to be adjusted for every change in sailing direction. And you must also learn the right timing to use the
“one pump per wave” that is permitted. Your body needs to move back and forward to keep the bow out of the water, but without sinking the stern. And at the same time keep the windward heeling. Using your upper body and sliding along the rail are essential things to keep the boat sailing fast. But always remember that the biggest key is the feeling of the boat.

Strong Winds

Make that boat fly over the water! Absolute control and very precise balance are needed in heavy breeze and big seas in order to sail downwind extremely fast. If you have trouble keeping the boat steady, trim in your sail a little bit. That will slow you down a bit but will definitely make the boat steadier and easier to control. Kiting is still important, but give more priority to surfing waves, sailing deep and heading down as you accelerate.

Following the same idea of having better control. Putting the centerboard a little further down than usual, will help to keep the boat steady. Body movements need to be fast and more aggressive, since a little mistake can make you nose-dive immediately. When planing, the bow needs to go a little higher from the water than usual.

It is very important to have good boom vang tension to keep the sail and leech with good shape, and make it easier to control.

Determination and confidence are important, as well as excellent balance, especially when surfing. Never be scared of the speed – you should always try to go a little bit faster. Remember that sailing by the lee, with the wind flowing in the sail from the leech to the luff, is always faster in these conditions. As the wind strengthens and our boat speed increases we may start to go faster than the waves. That is why we need to change angles aggressively to prevent crashing against the wave in front of us and losing our momentum of boatspeed.

It is downwind where you can make a lot of difference in boat speed against the rest of the fleet. Go all in! Keep the intensity all along the leg and you will realize how important it is to be fast in this part of the race.