Upwind speed (Nigel Trevarthen)

Boat speed to windward is probably the hardest aspect of sailing to get right. Certainly at the recent FD worlds, we saw Ian McCrossan and Hans Peter Swartz powering upwind with two totally different techniques but both very fast. This brought me to the conclusion that the trick to good upwind speed must be to do what works for you.

I will attempt to describe our approach and accepting that in the stronger winds of +25 knots we were not as fast as the champions, in the average winds of 15 knots, we were always close to the front of the fleet and regularly got to the first mark inside the top 5.

The primary objective is to keep the boat flat whilst maintaining full power with the mainsail. This is easier said than done, here are a few tricks to allow your crew weight to handle most wind strengths.

Firstly ensure your mast is rigged correctly. For trapeze boats, you must be able to tension your rig so that when your crew is trapezing, the leeward stay is just pulled tight. A tight rig ensures the luff of the genoa / jib is as straight as possible as this allows the boat to point and therefore causes less heel.

Secondly, if you do not have 'pop ups' or other adjustment devices on your genoa / jib, I strongly recommend that you install them as this allows you to quickly change the slot shape. Several designs are available and they can be installed quite simply onto any boat.

Once you are on the water, and before the start of the race, ensure with your mast rake is suitable and you are comfortable that your crew weight will hold the wind strength. The raking of the mast gradually opens the slot between the genoa / jib and the mainsail as well as reducing the lift created by the sails through dropping the angle of attack of the wind. As the mast rakes, change the genoa / jib sheet positions to keep the slot under control You should have marks on your control lines that you have determined to be the right position for the various genoa / jib settings. On my boat, the genoa halyard or tensioner moves approximately 45cm between light wind / hole 1 and heavy wind / hole 4. There is no need for marks on the side stays as always tension them so that the leeward stay is just tight.

Once the mast rake is set correctly, it is now a case of tuning the sails.

The genoa / jib in all winds except extremely light conditions should never be too lose. Furthermore, the difference in boat speed on genoa / jib tension of a 1 cm change in many cases is huge so never keep the genoa cleated in one position only. Keep freeing and tensioning the sail to get the right feel. Use the adjusters to change the slot size.

The mast should be kept as straight as possible up to the hounds in most cases. When the mast is allowed to bend, the genoa / jib loses tension, the sail starts to belly out, and you lose pointing ability and the boat heels more. The crew is the best person to keep an eye on the mast and ensure it remains straight.

For boats without stays, the strength of the mast should be matched to the crew weight.

You should always sheet the mainsail near the centre line. Use the Cunningham as a final resort only to de-power the sail. I have found it is better to apply a lot of kicking strap to keep the boat under control before I even consider using the cunningham. The kicker helps the boat point as well as allowing the main to be played easily in the wind. In essence, when you feel a puff of wind, play the puff with the main sheet. If the kicker is on hard, the sail shape is retained as you free the sheets and the boat powers through the waves. If you have no kicker, as the puff hits and you release the main, the boom goes up and out, the sail twists and fills out and you end up heeling more than going forward.

The final two tricks all revolve around crew weight and the centreboard. Obviously lifting the centreboard is a simple way of reducing sideways heel and therefore improving forward motion. This is particularly true when the wind is very gusty as less centre board prevents a lot of heel as the puff suddenly hits you. I have that the boats tends to pick up its nose and accelerate quite quickly if, as the puff hits with the board slightly up, the skipper releases the main and at the same time and the crew shifts his weight aft. Once the puff is under control, the main is brought back to the centre and the crew weight moved forward again. The change in the crew weight does drop the stern of the boat but I think importantly, it temporarily rakes the mast thus reducing the power of the rig.

Once again, practice makes perfect.

Enjoy.