Yachts & Yachting – April 2018

unloaded. In swell if you can carve the

boat around and still be on the downhill

slope then perfect. The same applies

on the bear away: use the wave. Keep

your weight aft for longer though as you

may soon be charging into the wave

in front of you. If you have a jib make

sure you ease it a bit as this helps the

bow lift and stops the bow from getting

caught in the wave in front. With good

timing bearing away and gybing can

be easier in waves than in flat water.

At the bottom of a downwind leg

in swell drop the kite early, but make

sure that you are surfing a wave. You

will not lose any speed once you

aresurfing,butbesuretomakeit

onto a wave before preparing for the

leeward marks or you will bog down

for what feels like an eternity. Overall,

beware because often waves are

bigger at the bottom of the course.

Adjusting your tactics

Sailing in waves will feed into your

tactics around the racecourse. Wavy

conditions will certainly affect your

starting strategy. Assuming the wind and

waves are aligned, it will take longer to

accelerate so be careful to trigger early

enough. Typically, your top speed will

be slower, so accelerate early – especially

if you are used to using a GPS to count

you into the start line. Finally, you will

drift forward less when holding station

sobeawareoflinesag,especiallyin

big fleets and because in ocean venues

sometimes transits are harder to find.

Buildinasafetymargintoyour

sailing. On upwind and starting laylines

beawarethatinwavesitisharderto

pinch, although the opposite is true

downwind. Additionally, marks can

move around a bit and precise boat

positioning is harder, therefore whether

you are lee bow tacking or rounding

a mark do not be too aggressive.

Changes in wave patterns around

the course offer tactical opportunities.

Often it is flatter on one side of the

course than the other due to close

windward or leeward shores, and

varying depths. Upwind, boats go

faster in flat water, downwind work

out if the waves are speeding you up

• or in foiling boats, avoid them!
  Finally, waves are rarely exactly
  fromthesamedirectionasthewind.

Downwind in particular this means

spinnaker boats have one faster gybe

and one slower one. It seems obvious

but most sailors miss this trick. Sail

a lower mode downwind on the

fast gybe, and a higher mode on the

slower gybe. This improves your

overall speed (VMG). This is still true

of a boat that hardly sails any angles

downwind, though admittedly less so.

How to improve

How do you improve wave technique and

ensure you race well when it comes to it?

IN TRAINING:

Head out and practice sailing

fast in waves. I grew up sailing on

alakebutnowhaveareputation

forbeinggoodinwaves–Ididn’t

get this from training inland!

When I was younger I used to head

out training against my twin brother

Tim.Havinganotherboatwithyou

isgreatasyoucanseetherelative

impact of the waves more clearly. Also,

if you’re sailing a dinghy, a training

partner provides good safety cover.

ON RACE DAY:

Launch early! Leave time to work

outhowthewavesareaffectingyou

on each tack, upwind and downwind,

in different areas of the course. Think

about set up and technique differences.

Prepare well. Start thinking about the

points mentioned here, and imagine your

way around the course. Because sailing

inwavesisoftenmoredifficultthan

sailing on flat water, this preparation is

vital as it helps to simplify things during

the race – particularly key for fast boats

when you don’t have much time to think.

RULES

ESSENTIALS

One constant dilemma related

to wave sailing is now that we

know how to make our boat go

faster, how do we do this legally?

Rule 42 covers ‘Propulsion’

stating that: ‘Except when

permitted... a boat shall compete

by using only the wind and

water...” This essentially bans

repeated pumping of sails and

rocking or ooching of the boat.

Chris Watts, World Sailing

International Judge and IJ Seminar

Instructor, gives his thoughts

on Rule 42 and wave sailing:

The main problem in

marginal surfing conditions

is that after one pump the

boat has to be seen to

“rapidly accelerate down

the front of the wave.”

Often a boat may surge forward

but fail to ‘rapidly’ accelerate. Also,

to go ‘down’ the face of a wave

the wavelength has to be long

enough for the stern to lift without

the bow being in the next wave.

It is, of course, permitted to have

a try at initiating surfing but more

than one unsuccessful attempt

in an area of the course without

a change in the wind speed or

direction will attract the attention

of the jury or nearby competitors.

As a sailor it seems to me that

the rule is pretty clear. Don’t

forget, you can only pump to

initiate surfing or planing, but not

maintain it. Work hard in order to

get max speed from your boat,

but be aware of the risks of rule-

breaking as it’s easy to pump the

mainsail or spinnaker illegally.

3

Downwind in particular spinnaker boats have

one faster gybe... Most sailors miss this trick

Ben’s top tips:

Think about how to steer to the

waves – upwind and downwind.

Set your sails up with

more depth and twist.

Use the downhill acceleration

to help gybes and mark

roundings. Upwind, try and

tack on the top of a wave.

Add more of a safety margin

when racing close to other boats.

Know how the rules affect

what you can do when racing.

TECHNIQUE WAVES

PEDRO MARTINEZ/SAILING ENERGY/WORLD SAILING

April 2018 Yachts & Yachting 59