Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

Inhaul the jib a touch and use some

speed to gauge of to windward

TOP TIPS: GO-FASTER ONE DESIGNS

North Sails’ Charlie Cumbley has these helpful hints for

getting around the course at the front of the fleet:

1) Not everyone can always get exactly the start

that they want. Learning how to best keep your

lane out of the start is vital. It gives you tactical

options and stops you sailing in dirty air.

2) Be dynamic in your sail set-up, make sure that

you are changing rig and sails for the conditions

you are in. If you hit a flatter section of water re-

trim and flatten your sails to gain height.

2) Whether upwind or downwind, the whole team needs

to work together to get maximum performance out of the

boat. Make sure you have an established communication

plan and you are working together as a team: mis-timed

pumps and crew movements do more harm than good.

4) On rounding the windward mark, make sure

you have a plan in place and everyone knows what

they are doing. Dump the cunningham and vang

before rounding to help de-power the main and

let the boat bear away with minimal rudder.

5) Downwind, use all of your crew weight to help promote

surfing and to ensure the bow stays out of the waves in

front. Fore/aft trim combined with a timely pump can

make all the diference, no matter what size the boat.

of stalling both foils and sails. If the
mainsail trimmer does not create twist
in the main by easing the kicker in
time, then the boat will stall, similarly
if the headsail trimmer eases a little
to early, more rudder will be needed
to get the boat tracking again which
will slow you down.” It is all about tiny
gains at this point, but Charlie says
inches of the startline oten translate
into handfuls of positions at the top
mark and, crucially, leave you free to
make your own tactical calls instead
of tacking constantly for clean air.

MAKING THE RIGHT CALL
Time and again when talking about
getting a one design racer around the
course in the quickest manner possible,
Charlie returns to the same theme;
sailors are usually not dynamic enough
with setup. “I think most people are
aware of what their rig setup should
be in various conditions. But oten
racers have so much on their plate they
don’t adapt regularly enough for the
conditions they are in, with the boat
setup only for the conditions of the day.

“I see people quite oten on a choppy

day sail into a latter bit of water, but

they don’t latten out the sails and maybe

inhaul the jib clew to gain the height.

Of course the opposite of that is if it is

lat water and you get to choppy water

you need to let a little bit of outhaul

of, ease the jib a fraction and maybe

even pull on some jib halyard tension

to pull low forward and give you a

more powerful headsail shape. his

will give you fuller sails, which allows

you to keep moving through chop.

Again, it is not that people don’t know

this, but oten they will just be set up

for lat or choppy water for the day.”

Much like lane holding of a startline

maintaining pace as waves start to build

is a bit of an art form. A really top sailor

can usually ind that ine line, but once

you get it wrong you will suddenly lose

a lot of speed and, in something like a

J/70 with its long narrow keel – which

requires low over it to stop you going

sideways – you can suddenly ind you

can lose quite a lot of positions quickly.

To that end it is worth thinking

about set-up and understanding your

July 2018 Yachts & Yachting 49