The Byte CII Tuning Parabola

The Byte CII World Championship is coming to Newport, Rhode Island this summer, with a host of clinics and regattas leading up to the event.  While many of the traditional dinghy classes rely on the vang to induce and maintain mast bend and a flat sail, the Byte CII does not.  This makes the boat unique in terms of tuning and sail trim compared to the traditional dinghy classes.  To help you train for the Worlds this summer, here is a basic overview of trimming the Byte CII’s sail across different wind ranges.

The Byte CII was specifically designed by Ian Bruce to fit a weight range, as opposed to an age group or gender.  Furthermore, the design is conducive to a large weight range (110 lbs. – 160 lbs.).  The sail is made of Mylar, instead of Dacron, and is fully battened.  When coupled with a tapered, carbon fiber mast, the cunningham carries the load effortlessly to the top of the sail, allowing you to bend the mast and flatten the sail.  What this means to sailors coming from other traditional dinghy classes, is that you never use the vang upwind, because doing so will add unnecessary tension to the leech.  Other traditional dinghies require this tension, as the vang is the only control that allows you to bend the mast and flatten the sail effectively.  This is not the case with the Byte CII. 

The golden rule, for tuning a Byte CII upwind, is to achieve the desired sail shape while keeping the boom over the back corner of the boat.  When applying cunningham, the mast will bend, and the boom will move outboard.  When easing cunningham, the mast will stiffen, and the boom will move inboard.  To counter the boom’s movement from the back corner of the boat, you may use either the mainsheet or the traveler, depending on the wind conditions.

The traveler is the second large game changer from the traditional dinghies.  The traveler’s role in the Byte CII is to allow you to effectively position the boom over the back corner of the boat with the ideal sail shape for the conditions.  In other words, it allows you to effectively control your leech tension for different conditions, via the mainsheet, while keeping your boom in the ideal place for speed and pointing (the leeward rear corner of the boat). 

Thus, in the extreme conditions (light and heavy air), where you generally ease the sheet out, you will pull the traveler to windward, pulling the boom back over the corner to maintain your pointing.  Thus, the sheet is allowing you to control your leech tension, while the traveler controls the sail’s angle to the wind.  In medium air, when you need more power in the sail, and generally would pull tighter on the sail, the traveler drops as far as the centerline of the boat, allowing you to apply just enough tension on the sail to prevent you from spilling much wanted power out of the top.

Because the Byte CII is designed for such a broad weight range, it is important to look at the suggestions below as general guidelines for your level of control upwind.  What a 110 lb. sailor does in 15 knots will vary significantly from what a 160 lb. person will do in 15 knots.

Light Air

You will sail with no cunningham (or just enough to pull the horizontal creases out of the sail), will pull the cunningham far to windward, and will ease the sheet to the corner of the boat.  Your sail will look relatively full, and pulling the traveler to windward will give you more room to ease the sheet to the corner and open the leech.  The tell tale on your top batten should look like it is trying to go forward 50% of the time, and should fly straight back the other 50% of the time (50/50 rule).

Medium Air

As you are fully powered up and under control (butt over the rail or light hiking), you should set the traveler more towards the center of the boat.  You will pull the Cunningham just to the point where you have no creases in the sail.  This will move the boom outboard, and you will compensate by trimming the sail to the corner of the boat.  The 50/50 rule applies here as well. 

Medium Heavy Air

As the Byte CII is a small and physical boat, there is a wind range, where if you hike hard enough, you may want to continue to keep some power in the sail.  For the stronger and heavier sailors, I find this may go as high 15 knots or so.  In this wind range, you will have the cunningham maxed out, the traveler center lined, and the main trimmed to the corner.  If the boat is flat, and you have no helm, this setup will give you tremendous height and power.  This will ONLY work if you are hiking hard, and have no helm.  The instant you are no longer able to maintain a neutral helm, you should start moving to the heavy air setup.  This will happen much earlier if you are sailing in waves and later in flat water.

Heavy Air

As you get to the point where hiking is no longer enough, the Byte CII gives you another setup to keep the lightweights in the game.  Once the cunningham is maxed out, and you start dumping the sail to keep the boat flat, start to move the traveler back up to windward.  This allows you to dump the sail to the point where you are under control, while keeping the sail in the corner of the boat to maintain your pointing.  Without having to use the vang, you are able to do this without applying any tension to your leech, making depowering easy and effective.

The Parabola

Light – Traveler up; sail out; cunningham off or variable

Medium – Traveler down; sail in; cunningham variable

Medium Heavy – Traveler down; sail in; cunningham strapped

Heavy – Traveler up; sail out; cunningham strapped

Byte CII Worlds NOR

Meet the Byte CII, the Next Great Singlehanded Class

Brad Adam on Club 420 Racing

Photo by Grace Adam Photography

Name: Brad Adam

Sailing Accomplishments:

2011

1^st 420 Falmouth Regatta

1^st 420 New Bedford Regatta

6^th 420 US Sailing Youth Champs

2012

1^st 420 Brooke Gonzalez Clinic Regatta

4^th 420 New Bedford Regatta

1^st 420 North Americans

5^th 420 Chubb Double Handed Championships

4^th 420 Orange Bowl

What is the biggest adjustment you have to make moving from an Opti to a Club 420?

The biggest adjustment is definitely working with another person.  You have to get into the habit of not doing everything yourself.  If you are going to be successful in the Club 420, responsibility, for everything that happens, has to go to both sailors equally.  As much as you think you are capable of doing everything on the boat, you can’t do it as well as two separate people doing their individual jobs on the same boat.

I struggled with this a lot early on. I sailed with the same person for three years, but we had issues from time to time in our first year.  When we were in our second year together, we started working as a team.  Knowing what the other person needed to do was really helpful, and we improved a lot.  In our final year, we knew how to help each other out when the other was down, and did very well in some big regattas.

What are the biggest mistakes you see a lot of young sailors make when sailing the Club 420?

Honestly, when they first get into the Club 420, many of the younger sailors coming out of Optis are too serious.  They spend a lot of their time yelling and screaming around the course, when they should just calm down and sail.  Later on down the road, the good ones realize that this doesn’t get you anywhere.  They end up calming down and sailing, which helps them see the big picture.

What do you like about the boats? The class?

Initially, my size was a big factor for getting into the boats.  I was too small for many of the other boats available to me at the time.  Also, getting to use a spinnaker is really cool, and it prepares you for downwind sailing in a lot of other boats.  Most important of all, the Club 420 is the most competitive class in the country, especially at the top regattas like Youth Champs.

What is your training program like?

Just going out and getting in a lot of sailing is really important.  We did not have a coach this past year, so we would try to sail for at least half an hour after school.  We used a Go Pro® to get footage, and analyze it after sailing.

For the most part, there is not much structure to the training sessions.  We do a lot of long upwinds and long downwinds to improve on speed and boat handling.

What are your top 3 drills to improve upwind and downwind speed?

The best drills for this are tacking and jibing on the whistle, rabbit starts with grinds, and just going in a straight line for 15 minutes at a time.  These are all really simple, but they get the job done.

Do you have a fitness program? What do you recommend for a young 420 sailor?

I try to go to the gym for 30 minutes or so every week night, regardless of what I have done that day.  When I go to the gym, I like to do everything in one session.  For example, I will do cardio, legs, arms, and abs while I’m there.  I try to switch between exercises with as little rest as possible.  This way, when I switch between machines, I get a cardio workout as well.  I aim to do sets of ten, and pick a weight where I have to work hard to get that tenth rep.

If you could redo your youth sailing career, what would you do differently?

I would have gotten more involved in my actual high school, and encouraged more kids to join the sailing team.  I wish I had learned more about things like team racing, and it’s just not possible without more sailors getting involved in my school’s program.

You have done a bit of crewing as well.  What is enjoyable about crewing for you?

It’s nice to get the perspective, and see firsthand what the crew can and cannot do.  This way, you don’t expect more than is possible from the person you sail with.  It’s important to experience the learning process firsthand, and you will learn how to teach it more effectively.

To develop fast in the 420 class, what are the best regattas to do each year?

First of all, the most important things to evaluate for any regatta are size and location.  You want to sail at regattas with a lot of boats, and the location will often dictate that.  Make sure the event is a place that is easily accessible to a lot of groups of people.  East coast regattas will typically draw a larger number than west coast regattas.  West coast sailors are much more likely to come to a regatta out east than vice versa.  In the northeast, it’s not uncommon to get 100+ boat fleets in the summer time. 

Year in and year out, the best regattas are Youth Champs, Midwinters, Orange Bowl, North Americans, Buzzards Bay, Hyannis, Nationals, and Bemis.  Youth’s, Midwinters, and Orange Bowl are the most competitive.  How competitive regattas like Nationals are, will depend more on location.  Bemis is a great event to do, but because of the ladder structure, many of the qualifying events are more competitive than the final regatta.  Finishers outside the top five at Bemis would have struggled to finish in the top fifteen or twenty in our district’s first round qualifier.

There are a lot of clinics that are really helpful as well.  Brooke Gonzalez is where I learned how to sail the 420 correctly, the Neal Clinic is great, and the CISA Clinic is where I learned how to sail in breeze.  Brooke Gonzalez is also really great for college recruitment, as a lot of coaches come to the event to teach, and look at up and coming sailors.

Brad Adam

Mitch Hall on Coaching Team Racing

Name: Mitch Hall

School/Title: College of Charleston/Assistant Coach

College of Charleston Sailing Team: http://bit.ly/CofCSailing

College of Charleston Sailing Team on Facebook: http://bit.ly/CofCSailingFB

Can you speak to what spring semester is like for college sailors? How does it differ from the fall?

Spring semester is more team racing oriented, where you work towards team racing nationals in May. The fall is all about fleet racing.  At College of Charleston, we like to focus on the fundamentals of team racing.  We won’t run any starts, or sail any races, until we feel comfortable in every play and every position on the course.

What does team racing do for you as a sailor moving forward from college sailing?

The most exciting aspects of team racing are how it implements the rules, boat speed, and boat handling at the same time.  To be successful, you have to be good at all three.  Team racing also emphasizes team work.  You can be the fastest boat on the entire race course, but your team won’t win unless you work together, and execute plays.

In today’s sailing world, there are actually a lot of ways to stay involved in team racing after college.  There are a lot of large regattas like the Hinman, Charles River Team Race, Morgan Cup, and a few more in the New England area that a lot of college sailors and ex-college sailors take advantage of, and compete in every year.

What qualities and skills make a good team racer?

Aside from the actual sailing skills, having the ability to identify and analyze certain situations quickly is critical.  Situations unfold in the blink of an eye, and you have to adapt without hesitation.  Confidence in your abilities is another important attribute.  If you are confident, you will know what to do in any situation without hesitation.  The person, who has this confidence and does not hesitate, can usually take advantage of a situation.  Lastly, it’s good to have the mindset and understanding that situations are always changing, and a race is never over until you cross the finish line.

What separates a good team racing team from a phenomenal team racing team?

Last year’s Team Racing National Championship was very competitive.  To give you an idea, I think we won the regatta with three or four losses.  Georgetown, who we struggled against all year, didn’t make the final four.  It’s always anyone’s championship.  Basically, any team that steps up, starts well, manages races, and can stay in control from start to finish is going to take it.

What do you feel are the most effective team racing drills?

Having a complete understanding of the rules is essential before you get into on the water drills.  One of the most effective drills we use, after we understand the rules, is the box drill.  Essentially, you set up four marks like a box, and continuously practice pass backs on each leg.  We always do this with simple three boat pass backs to get people in the mindset of team racing, before you get into any combinations or plays.

What are the biggest mistakes made by less experienced team racing teams?

I see a lot of people get overly aggressive at the start, and lose track of time in the process.  This obviously leads to a lot of poor starts, which really hurts teams during short races.  We really focus on making sure we have all 3 boats on the line at go.  It substantially increases your odds of winning races.

How do you balance all of the different personalities you see on a team race team?

We have a great group of sailors here, who are all working towards a common goal.  Having that goal helps a lot.  At the end of the day, though we all have different methods, we are working towards the same outcome.  We all end up falling on common ground.

Do you mix and match teams at practice, or do you always keep your top group together? Why?

Our teams all stay together as much as possible.  We do this because communication is so important.  You have to communicate all the time, and sometimes without saying anything.  The more you sail with each other, the easier that is to accomplish.

When you have multiple boats competing for the third spot on the team, what stands out to you about a sailor that helps make that decision for you?

Fortunately, we have not seen many of those situations since I started working here.  Seniority is a big factor in that decision.  Having someone with more experience is crucial to making all the right decisions, and we would want that person in the open spot.  At the same time, you want to continue to grow and develop your younger sailors, as they are the future of your program.  You don’t want to spend too much time and effort in developing someone who won’t be at the school next semester.

What things are not coached enough in team racing?

College sailing goes by really quickly.  So much time and effort are put into results.  You need to enjoy the experience, and keep a positive attitude.  If you don’t like what you are doing, you will not do well at it.  We like to stress a positive attitude for team racing at College of Charleston.  This is definitely not coached enough.

Mitch Hall

A Drill to Change Perspective

While coaching this weekend, I noticed during the races that each sailor ended up in about the same spot in the fleet every race.  There were some minor back and forth changes in position, but one sailor typically jumped out into the lead, two sailors lightly pushed behind him for the next spots, and everyone else fell into neat little packs made just for them. There is a tendency for sailors to get accustomed to sailing in a certain area of the fleet, which stifles sailors of all skill levels. 

This is problematic for sailors who do not see the front of the fleet often.  All sailors usually take a few years to initially develop some semblance of top-level boat speed.  This learning curve keeps them far away from that top group for a long time.  When they are finally able to hang with the top sailors in terms of speed, they then have to take the next steps to learn how to use that speed, and maintain their position in the top groups.  This weekend, I saw two young sailors, who had every bit as much speed as the top three kids in the group.  Early on, they were often hanging with the top sailors.  However, it didn’t take long for the three strongest sailors to pick them apart tactically, and squeeze them out of the picture.

This is problematic for the stronger sailors as well.  In nearly every regatta, there is AT LEAST one race (probably more), where a few of the best sailors get into trouble early in a race, and have to work there way out of the middle or back of the fleet.  At every single regatta, having a race or two like this usually costs at least one person from winning.  Sailors, who so easily skip to the front of the fleet, rarely have to sail in tight lanes, fight for room with 50 boats at a leeward mark, duck a pack of boats to get out to the favored side, etc.  These are important skills that grow dull over hours and hours of time spent at the front of a pack.

In the afternoon, I decided to add as twist to the races.  As the sailors went upwind, I would blow a whistle, and, from there, all had to race to the leeward mark, up to the windward mark, and then finish downwind.  Everyone has experienced this drill.  It is not groundbreaking in any way.  However, when this drill is typically run, it is done on a very short course, and the focus is on creating a tight leeward mark rounding.  This was different.  The course we sailed on was 20+ minutes long, and the whistle was never blown until the top sailor was within five boat lengths of the windward mark.  This gave everyone time to sail in his or her new positions.  As I suspected, the top kids ended up in the middle of the group by the leeward mark, and many struggled with mark roundings. They pushed themselves much harder throughout the whole race, and usually ended up back in the front.  The rest of the sailors got new perspective as well, and usually lost hold of their leads, even if they were as fast as the trailing boats.  However, it gave them an initial look at what to expect at the front of a fleet, and a first hand experience of what the top sailors do in that position. 

Ultimately, this drill will not get anyone results in a day.  Over time, it is meant to make the top kids work much harder than they are used to, and teach the middle and bottom kids how to control a fleet from ahead.  This way, your top sailors get better at dealing with tough situations, and the bottom sailors learn front of the fleet tactics long before they reach that point in their sailing careers.  Make sure to stretch the course, and let your sailors reach the top before reversing the race.  With steady use in practice, you should see results on the racecourse much faster than with traditional races.

See you on the water,

Zim Coach

The SB2 Hiking Workout

As discussed in previous posts, Improving Your Hiking Technique and Developing a Personal Sailing Fitness Program, the two most important muscle groups in sailing are your quadriceps and abdominals.  When hiking, quads are used in mostly static movements, while abdominals are used for both static and non-static movements.  The non-static movements, that involve your core, help you adjust for all of the tiny movements you make with your upper body as you sail through waves (e.g. torquing).  Developing your core in this way is extremely important, particularly in small and light dinghies, like the Optimist or Byte CII, which stall quickly if you are not able to work them through every wave upwind.

Here is a great workout for developing this type of functionality in your hiking:

Find a comfortable spot, and lay on your back.  Next, perform exercises 1-4 with no rest (1-4 are all one set with no rest). Rest for one minute.  Incorporate additional sets as needed.

1. Russian Twists – 15 each side (30 total)

2. Leg lifts – 15

3. Full Sit-ups (NOT CRUNCHES) – 15 

4. Reverse Sit-ups – 15

5. Rest 1 min.

6. Repeat as needed

How many reps and sets you do is easy to adjust.  I always recommend starting at 15 reps and three sets if this is your first time.  Using this will get you 75 reps in one set, and 225 for the workout.  As you get stronger, you should start by adding reps, and then start adding sets.  To give you an example, I reached my strong-point as a hiker when I was doing ten sets of 35 reps each.  This is 1,750 reps in a workout.
This workout is effective in hitting all areas of your core, just like you do when you are hiking.  You can integrate it as a piece of your workout routine, or simply use it as a standalone workout.  If you struggle getting through it initially, don’t get discouraged.  Lower the reps, then the sets, and you will see improvements in your core strength immediately.  Then, move them up from there.  Get ready to go fast in breeze!

See you on the water,

Zim Coach      

Perfecting the Pin in Team Racing

There are many ways to slow another boat in team racing, but none is as disruptive to an opposing team as pinning.  Pinning is the act of putting your boat in a position that prevents another boat from tacking upwind.  With both boats constantly changing speeds during a pin, it is very difficult to maintain a pin on someone for a significant length of time.  To do so, you must have superior boat speed, boat handling, acceleration, and deceleration abilities over the boat you are attempting to pin.

When is Pinning Most Effective?

Pinning is most effective in any situation where you want to prevent another boat from tacking.  The first level of pinning is performed around lay lines or near the finish line.  In these situations, you can “kill” another boat.  “Killing” another boat refers to preventing a boat from tacking at all costs.  In most situations, the boat you are pinning has run out of room, and only needs to cross through your boat to get to the starting line or windward mark.  This type of pinning is exclusively about keeping the other boat from tacking.  Since they have run out of room to go forward, ragging on them to slow them down adds nothing to what you are trying to do.

The second level of pinning happens in the first 95% of a windward leg of team racing.  During this time period, you want the ability to prevent another boat from tacking, while simultaneously slowing them down.  Thus, you need to put your boat in a position where you can rag your jib on them in addition to preventing them from tacking.  This will allow you to keep another boat in one place and slow them down for the duration of the windward leg.  Furthermore, it will prevent that boat from tacking to get to their help, and a teammate will have to come back to spring them.  This causes considerable disruption to an opposing team during a race.  The ideal position to maintain, when executing this type of pin, is lining up your boat’s stern with the other boat’s windward side stay.  If you are forward of this, you risk letting them slip behind you with a tack in open water or during a back door pass back.  If you are aft of this point, you will have trouble ragging on them, and are more vulnerable to a front door pass back from the other team.  

The third level of pinning is the most advanced in terms of strategy.  It is similar in execution to the second level, but is done for a different reason.  The goal of this type of pinning is to force someone to sail towards an unfavorable wind shift or current line.  With all of the things you have to think about in team racing, this is very difficult to process in the middle of a race.  However, the reward is substantial if the wind shift or current differential is large.  Typically, this is much more likely to happen by pure happenstance, rather than performed with purposeful execution.  In this type of pin, it is additionally ideal to slow the other boat via ragging.  However, if you get in a crunch, it is more important that they sail towards the non-favored side of the course than they just go slow.

Quick Tips

Adjusting your Position in a Pin:

Most of the time, you want your boat in the position where you can both rag on and pin another boat.  The margin for error in maintaining this position is very narrow.  Thus, it is somewhat vulnerable to the other boat slipping away with a tack on its own, or via a back door pass back.  As you get closer to a lay line, it is prudent to move your position back on the other boat, where you have a much wider margin for error.  This way, it will take much more work for the other boat to get free of you and tack.  There is no perfect place to line up for this, but, as you get closer to the lay line, you want to encourage the boat to try to sail in front of you and tack rather than try to go behind you.  It is sometimes ok to let their bow move even with yours once you get to the lay line.  This way you force them to sail forward for a longer period of time, and you can tack away if they start to pinch you off.  Also, if they get really desperate and attempt to jibe away, you will have a better shot at preventing this, if you are further back on their boat.

The Dive:

When you turn your boat down in order to pin another boat, it is important not to dive too quickly.  Many sailors will turn hard and either miscalculate the angle of approach, or lose enough speed when they head up again, that they will prolong the amount of time it takes to get into a ragging position, or they will get pinched off by the other boat.  If possible, take a more subtle approach when diving down to pin another boat.

Slowing Down in a Hurry:

If you start to move too far forward of the boat you are pinning, you risk letting them tack out of the pin and sail free from you.  As you are already ragging, pull harder on the main and move the tiller back and forth to slow the boat down.  If you point too far to windward to slow your boat, you will actually open up the gap for the pinned boat to tack out.

Prolonging a Front Door Pass Back:

Most times when you are pinning a boat, one of that boat’s teammates will come to help.  This is when positioning is most critical.  No matter who you race against, if the other person starts to rag on you while you are pinning one of his or her teammates, you will ALWAYS lose the other boat.  Maintaining control on that boat is no longer the goal for you.  The new goal is to make that pass back take as long as possible.  Thus, ideal position remains where your stern lines up with the other boat’s side stay.  While this remains the ideal position, you want to avoid the back door pass back at all costs, and force the other boat to sail ahead of you and cross.  This will take longer and cause much more disruption to the other team.

Speeding up the Process:

If you are either the pinned boat, or the boat coming to spring the pinned boat, you need to act quickly.  If the back door pass back is immediately there, go for it (DO NOT WASTE TIME IF IT IS NOT THERE IMMEDIATELY!!!).  If it’s not, you both have to work together to get the pass back done quickly.  The rescue boat should go well forward and on top of the pinning boat while ragging hard and cranking on the main.  The boat that is pinned should sail as fast as they can, as if there were no one on top of them.  DO NOTHING TO SLOW YOUR BOAT DOWN!  Do not pinch, feather the other boat, etc.  If you go fast, your teammate will spring you in no time at all.  The opposing boat will tack away once you are sprung, your teammate will cover, and the race continues.

Perfect vs. Perfect:

In good team racing, everyone knows what is going to happen in a given situation.  Succeeding in team racing is about performing your job, in that situation, better than the other boats perform their jobs.

See you on the water,

Zim Coach

Derek Packard on Washington College

Name: Derek Packard

College: Washington College

Washington College Sailing Team: WACSailingTeam

Washington College Sailing Team on Facebook: WACSailingFB

About Derek:

Derek Packard started as a crew at Washington College.  After four years of hard work and persistence, he moved up the team ladder to a starting skipper position.  Through his efforts, he was able to take Washington College to its only ICSA Coed Nationals in the school’s history (2009).  Derek continues to race a variety of boats in Minnesota.

Why did you choose Washington College?  What other schools were you looking at?

I went to a small private high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where most people ended up going to small liberal arts colleges and Ivy League schools.  During that time, I played hockey, sailing, and golf. When I was 16, I decided that sailing was something that I wanted to pursue in college.  From there, I did some research, and looked at Hobart, St. Mary’s, Washington College, Roger Williams, and Boston University.  I applied to all of them, and, when I got the acceptance letters, I took a closer look at the programs.  The final decision came down to Hobart, St. Mary’s, and Washington College.  It seemed that all of the schools were on par with each other academically.  Thus, my final decision was based around the sailing programs.  

Hobart had just won a National Championship my senior year of high school, and St. Mary’s was right up there with them.  After thinking about it, I knew I would probably make their teams, but I wouldn’t really be a factor on them at all.  Washington College was ranked, but wasn’t so massive that I would not have a chance to play a role on the team.  

If you were looking again today, what would you look for in a collegiate program? Why?

The most important thing for me is location.  Maryland was a place you could feasibly sail year round, and the weather was pleasant for the most part.  

Another factor is team size.  I have had a lot of friends set their sights on a top program, with a 50 person team, and they would end up becoming irrelevant in college sailing.

  

Team organization is another huge deal.  You definitely want to sail for a team that has varsity status.  If you sail for a varsity program, you won’t have travel costs, no financial responsibility for the equipment, and no logistical issues to deal with or pay for.  It really takes a big headache out of it for you.  I have known a lot of sailors who go to schools with club teams, and end up not sailing because of all the challenges their teams face on a daily basis.  

Lastly, your coach is an important factor to consider. You want to sail for someone you feel that you connect with, can impart knowledge, and will take the time to help you improve.  It helps if they are knowledgeable and respectable within the game, as well as outside of college sailing.

What has the college sailing experience done for your sailing career?

Everything.  It’s an incredible opportunity to polish your skills and get to an advanced level.  I probably sailed upwards of 80 regattas in four years at Washington College.  You can’t get that many starts and finishes anywhere else, or during any other time in your life.  The repetition you get in everything that you do, while someone is there critiquing your sailing, is extremely helpful.  You won’t get that amount of reps or detailed instruction ever again, unless you do an Olympic Campaign, or you shell out a lot of money for it.  

You also get to sail against, and occasionally beat, people who will go off to represent the US someday in the Olympics.  That does a lot for your confidence as you move forward into other fleets, after college sailing is over.

What did you enjoy most about college sailing? What did you enjoy least?

I loved the amount of travel that you do.  Growing up in Minnesota, I had not done much traveling by the time I left high school.  You get the opportunity to sail in a lot of beautiful places, and see a lot of great schools on the eastern seaboard.  The structure of your day is also good.  You have time to do your school work, but you have to learn how to balance it early on.  

Sometimes, when you are spending all of your time with a small group of people, this can lead to some friction.  This usually gets worked out, but it’s something you deal with.

If you were back in college sailing, what kinds of things would you do differently? The same?

Consistency was the biggest thing that I did well.  You have to make yourself available to sail and race all the time.  Things happen on every team.  People get burned out, drop out of school, and leave the team for a lot of different reasons.  You will get a shot to move up on a team, and, when you do, you need to be ready to grab the bull by the horns and take over.  

I wish I had come at college sailing with more precision and dedication for the whole four years.  When you are sailing as much as you do in college, there is a tendency to get burned out, and not give your best effort at practices, workouts, etc.  There are a lot of opportunities to make gains by doing the small stuff.  Give an honest effort all of the time, even when it gets tough, and make the most of every minute.  You will miss it once you are behind a desk.

Did crewing at first help you or hurt you? How were you able to make the transition from crew to skipper?

Getting the chance to crew will only help you.  I was a skipper in high school.  I only sailed a few regattas, and I didn’t get a lot of experience.  When I came to Washington College, I crewed a lot for the A Division skipper.  I realized pretty quickly, ‘Wow, I’m not at his level’.  Sailing with the A skipper gave me the chance to compete at the highest levels of college sailing right away.  We went to all of the big intersectional regattas, and I learned a lot about boat handling that I would not have learned just by skippering.  We mostly practiced FJ’s, where the crew is always facing backwards.  This gives you a chance to watch the person driving, and gave me a feel for skippering that I didn't have coming into college.

I mostly drove at Open Regattas (Regional Regattas) my first year, which were nothing compared to the talent level you see at the intersecionals.  Getting to steer a bit, and then applying what I had learned from watching a better skipper, helped me catch up much more quickly.  When my junior year rolled around, we had enough people that were good at crewing, and I was able to step in and skipper at the big regattas.  At this point, you are already a step ahead because you have experienced an intersectional before, and the look is familiar to you.  Now that you are more confident and knowledgeable, you are on your way up from there.

What do you like about sailing in MAISA? Dislike?

I didn’t like the long van trips from the eastern shore of Maryland to Hobart or Cornell.  Other than that, I think it’s the best conference to sail in.  Every venue is so different.  You sail at a lot of tiny and tricky venues like Washington College, St. Mary’s, and Georgetown.  You also get to sail in a few more open water venues with gnarly waves, like Old Dominion and King’s Point.  

The regatta organization is always top notch, even at the smaller regional events, and you can always expect good racing and dedicated people.  In some conferences, you will see students running everything.  In these regions, not everything is necessarily done with much care, and the depth at regattas is not as strong.

How often do you get to race these days?

I moved back to Minnesota, so lakes are frozen from sometime in November until early April.  Some people do ice boating during that time, but it’s pretty fickle.  The sailing season goes pretty hard between early May and the end of September.  I probably do about eight big regattas during that time, and sail three or four times a week.  People in the Midwest really take advantage of the summer months, and we get a high volume of racing in a short period of time.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

College sailing is the best decision I have ever made.  I now have a hobby that I can continue to do at a high level of intensity for the rest of my life.  There are not a lot of sports you can say that about after a certain point, and I credit my ability to continue to take part in the upper levels of the sport to my college sailing experience.  If you are teetering on whether or not you should take part in it, it is definitely worth it.

Derek Packard  

Effective Ragging Technique

One of the important technical skills in team racing is the ability to slow down and control an opponent’s speed via your own sails.  The most effective technique used to do this is known as “Ragging”.  For those who do not know what ragging is, it is not the same as pinning another boat, though ragging can play a role in effective pinning techniques.  More precisely, ragging is the act of blocking an opponent’s wind as you sail upwind, by letting the jib luff fully and keeping the main trimmed in.  While most team racers know what ragging is, there are a few techniques to ragging that separate the most effective team racers from everyone else.

Why is Ragging Effective?

The main and the jib play two separate roles when you are ragging.  The main, as it is the larger sail, does the most in terms of blocking or disrupting an opponent’s sail flow.  This is important to keep in mind, as the main’s importance is often overlooked while ragging.  The jib’s role is twofold.  By luffing the jib, you are able to create much more distortion to the wind going to your opponent’s sails.  This distortion will prevent the wind that reaches the boat you are ragging on from coming in at a steady flow or angle.  Luffing your jib in this manner is also important for slowing your boat down.  This is important because, if you are ragging effectively, the person you are ragging on will slow down as much as you do.  Thus, the slower you are able to go, the slower the other boat will go, and the more effective you are at balancing and controlling any upwind situation in a race.

Now that you have an idea of why ragging is effective as a team racing technique, here are a few things to keep in mind for effective execution:

Position:

Position is a very simple adjustment that you can make to go from moderately slowing another boat, to stopping them dead in the water.  Unless you need to pin someone, the biggest mistake you can make while ragging is not getting forward enough on your target.  As a general rule, the further forward you are on an opposing boat, the more effective you are when ragging.  For example, many sailors will start ragging as soon as their bow or jib is fully ahead of the boat they are attempting to rag on.  This will mostly just slow your boat down, and won’t slow the other boat enough to keep them from sailing out from beneath you.  That may help in pinning a boat, but not ragging on them to slow them down.  To correct this, it is important get to the point where both of your sails are in a position to affect your opponent’s sails.  As a general rule of thumb, you should get the boat AT LEAST to where your stern lines up with the other boat’s windward side stay before releasing the jib.  This an effective position if you want to slow them down, and do not want them to tack.  If the goal is just to slow them down or force them to tack, getting to the point where your stern is just forward of their bow is even more effective.

The Main:

As mentioned earlier, the main serves as the largest barrier between the wind and the boat you are ragging on.  Remember, the wind does not get to the other boat until it flows over your leech, where it will start to bend back toward its natural direction.  Thus, your leech shape and tension will have a dramatic impact on the wind that your opponent’s boat sees.  So, if you ease the main out, the wind will flow more quickly and with less disruption over your sail before reaching your opponent’s sails.  As you would like to cause more disruption and slower wind flow to that boat’s sails, pulling in the main harder will close off the leech, shutting off that wind flow and causing significant disruption to your opponent’s sails.  Therefore, while ragging, it is important to pull on the main hard in order to increase your effectiveness in slowing another boat.



The Void Technique:

Sometimes you will see a sailor forgo pulling hard on the mainsheet, and simply pull the boom far to windward.  This is an extremely effective way to get another boat to stop dead in the water.  Pulling the boom to windward in this manner can create a large void where there is little to no wind getting to another boat’s sails.

This technique is not without its shortcomings.  First of all, in heavy air, you will struggle to do this without heeling to leeward.  When you heel to leeward, not only will you slide sideways, but you will spill most of that wind you are attempting to disrupt, and it won’t affect your opponent as much as you could by hiking hard and trimming in on the mainsheet.

Furthermore, when executing this technique, you do risk completely stopping your own boat, and will at least lose the ability to tack or accelerate quickly.  Thus, if you anticipate your opponent tacking away, do not hold the boom to windward for too long at one time.  You may have to do a series of shorter holds instead.

If you are in a pinning position, you have less to worry about in terms of keeping up with a boat that tacks away, but, unless it is very light air, you do have to remain cautious of sliding down into that boat.  Thus, only use this technique in a pinning position when it is light air, and when your opponent cannot legally take you head to wind.

The ideal time to use the void technique is on lay lines, where it does not make sense for the other boat to tack away (If they do you can simply tack and pin them), and where you do not have to sail overlapped and risk fouling.

Heel and Angle:

By heeling the boat to windward, you will create an even larger hole or void for your opponent while ragging.  Heeling to leeward will spill more breeze to your opponent, decreasing the size of the hole they have to sail through.  Thus, in heavy air, it is important to hike very hard while ragging, or you will struggle to effectively slow your opponent down.  Furthermore, it is important to remain at a close hauled angle while ragging.  Pointing your boat further into the wind allows more wind to pass around your sails and reach the boat in your shadow.

See you on the water,

Zim Coach

Two Golden Rules of Team Racing

As many high school and collegiate programs hit the water to start the Spring Sailing Season, the focus turns to team racing.  Practices this time of year are often precluded and concluded by long chalk talks on executing plays, such as a 1-4-5 versus a 2-3-6, and sailors will spend plenty of time outside practice getting to know all of the proper calls, lingo, and the role of each boat in a given play.  All of this is essential to better understanding team racing, and why each boat does what they do during a specific play.  However, studying all of these plays off the water usually does not immediately translate to proper execution.  This will take hours of repetition in every possible scenario to engrain a situation into a sailor’s team racing knowledge.  At this time of year, sailors’ heads are filled to the brim with having to know each boat’s role in every play, brushing up on the team racing rules, and learning their specific role on their team racing team.  This is often a lot to chew on in a very brief period of time.  When situations and positions change frequently on the water, most of the time, AT LEAST one boat loses track of their position and role in a play.  When this happens, the race can go from tightly contested to completely over in a matter of seconds.  When looking back in retrospect the race is won or lost because one or two of the two most important team racing rules are violated.

Rule #1: The Play is Always Behind You*

This is probably the biggest mistake in team racing.  Unlike fleet racing, which is about how fast you can go, team racing is about how good you are at controlling that speed.  Team racing is not won by going past other boats, but about slowing down to get control of the boat behind you before the boat in front of you takes control of you.  For example, in a 1-3 versus a 2-4, the 2 boat needs to get control of the 3 boat before the 1 boat gains control of the 2 boat.  Whoever does that first will have control of the race.

Often times you see sailors get away with sailing right past boats instead of taking control of the boats behind them.  This is only possible with a massive disparity in talent, or because someone wasn’t paying attention.  This will never work at the top levels of high school or college team racing.  Even if you don’t know the play, abiding by this rule will keep you from making a serious mistake almost 100% of the time.  When in doubt, the play is behind you!

*Exceptions to the Rule

The only times that you actively chase a boat in team racing are when you are losing to a 1-2, a 1-2-3, you are in the 6, or you and a teammate are both 5-6.  Essentially, whenever you are in last, or need to break up a 1-2 or 1-2-3, you are supposed to chase boats.  The last quasi-exception is in a 1-4-5, where the 5 boat is gapping the 6.  In this situation, the 4 is not looking to make a play behind them, and should push the opposing team forward.  However, the goal here is not necessarily to pass boats, but to help push the race forward to the finish line with the help of the 1 boat.  Furthermore, if the 5 loses control of the 6, the 4 needs the ability to get to the new 5 as quickly as possible.

The common retort to this rule is that you should actively pass a boat when your teammate is boosting you in a play.  While this is correct, the important thing to take away is that you should not actively try to pass that boat until your teammate has control of them, and is executing a pass back.  If you are trying to sail by this boat before your teammate has control, this boat will gain control of you first, and prevent your teammate from boosting you forward, making it easier for the other team to gain control of the race.

Rule #2: The Sailor Ahead does the Work*

This rule is often confusing to new team racers, but is important for execution and maintaining control of a race.  The basic rule is that the boat that is further ahead in a situation is supposed to take control of the closest trailing opposing boat.  For example, in a 1-2-6 versus a 3-4-5, the 1 boat is in charge of controlling the 3 boat, and the 2 boat is in charge of controlling the 4 boat.  The reason for this is that a boat further ahead will have an easier time maintaining control and of a trailing boat, it makes it easier for a team to stay balanced, and this will prevent the trailing boats from slowing down or gaining control of the race.  This is easiest to understand if you consider four boats going downwind in a 1-2 vs. a 3-4.  In this situation, the 3 boat will attempt to slow down the 2 boat and make 2 sail far out of the way to keep its air clear, and the 2 will have expend as much effort protecting itself as it will gaining control of that boat.  During this time, the 1 boat is doing nothing, and the 4 will have little to no trouble moving into the 2 spot.  Now, the team that was in a 1-2 is susceptible to moving into a 1-4, and losing control of the race.

Now consider the same situation, where the 1 boat takes the 3 boat and the 2 boat takes the 4 boat.  In this situation, each boat will have control of a boat, and it is simply a matter of balancing to maintain the 1-2 before the upwind leg.  Thus, there is never a time where the two opposing boats are going up against just one of the leading boats.  It is important to remember that you do not have to overlap a boat to have control of them.  You must simply put yourself in a position where you are able to dictate that boat’s speed or direction.  Thus, the trick for the 1 boat is to slow down just enough so that the 2 boat can sail away from the 3 boat without the 3 chasing after the 2.  If the 3 decides to continue to cover, the 1 is able to jibe to starboard, and 3 forfeits control and is taken completely out of the downwind leg.  Ultimately, boat 1 forces boat 3 to chase after a boat that is further away, or is taken completely out of the race.

*Exceptions to the Rule

In a 1-4-5, the 5 boat’s job is to gap the 6.  Initially, depending on how “in control” the 5 boat is of the 6 boat, the 4 boat may have to step in early, take control of the 5 spot, and then gap from this point forward.
The other exception is in a 1-2-3, where the 3 boat is in charge of taking the rest of next trailing boat(s), either slowing them down at marks, or sailing one of them (preferably boat 4) into last place.

While these two rules are not substitutes for knowing the plays, adhering to both will keep you from making the two biggest mistakes made by teams on the water.  At the very least, using these rules will buy you some time in a tough situation, until you can determine exactly what your boat’s role is in a given play.

See you on the water,

Zim Coach

Rachel Perry on Roger Williams and Taking Part in a Growing Women's Sailing Team

Name: Rachel Perry

School: Roger Williams University

Class: Sophomore

Roger Williams Sailing Team: http://bit.ly/RWUSailing

Why did you choose Roger Williams?  What other programs did you look at?

One of the schools I was looking at seriously was the Naval Academy.  The girl I sailed with in high school ended up going there.  So, the Navy coach thought it would be great if we both went together, and continued sailing in the same boat.  I also looked at USF, but being from Tampa, I decided it was too close to home.  Prior to making the decision I looked up all of the results from the season.  Roger Williams looked like it was really developing as a program, and NEISA in general was just more competitive across the board.  I also liked that you didn’t really have to fly to regattas, and there are a lot of shorter drives to Boston for events.  It was also nice to see that Roger Williams’ women’s team was just starting to grow, and I wanted to be a part of building that part of the program.

What are you studying?

I am getting my major in Journalism, and am getting minors in Marketing and Design.  The minors are subject to change at this point.

How do you balance school work?

You just have to stay organized by keeping a schedule.  We usually have workouts before class, practice right after classes, and then you will have some time after that.  This means you may have to cut out a good deal of your social life once sailing season starts.

What do you like about College Sailing? Dislike?

The team is really focused on team racing, especially in the spring.  I enjoy this a lot because it really brings our team together.  The whole group works in unison as we move toward the end of the season championships, and you don’t see a lot of huge rivalries between the sailors.

I don’t like the really long drives that we have to do from time to time.  It’s a little tiring and boring after a while, but you’re surrounded by all of your friends to help you get through it. 

What are practices like?

We usually warm up for 30 minutes with some boat handling drills.  In the spring, these are all geared toward team racing.  Then we continue with a lot of drills based on wherever we are in the season.  During fleet racing, that will include a lot more speed testing drills.  During team racing season, we do a lot more pig in the middle type drills.

A side note about our practices is that it is very windy most of the time.  So you have to get prepared to do a lot of heavy air sailing.

What is the biggest sailing challenge? Non-sailing challenge?

It is really tough is sailing in the cold.  When you’re originally from Florida, you really don’t own, or have to wear, much gear.  That was a bit of an adjustment, and still is not something I am not totally used to. 

Mentally, the sailing is also a lot more intense than it was in high school.  There is sort of a GO, GO, GO attitude at regattas where you don’t get a lot of rest or pause between races.  You really have to prepare yourself to race all the time, in all the elements, from 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and then prepare to do it again the next day.

The toughest non-sailing challenge is not necessarily balancing the work, but learning when you will or won’t have time to balance the work.  For example, a lot of people try to do work in the van rides, but I’ve never had the ability to get much work done there.  That just never worked for me, so I found out that I had to get my work done prior to hopping in the van on Friday afternoons.

What are your personal and team goals for this year?  By the time you graduate?

This year the goal is to qualify the women’s team for nationals.  If we get it this year, it will be the first time they have ever qualified!  As a team goal, we want to qualify all three teams for nationals (Coed, Team Racing, Women’s).

More personally, I would like to make an All-NEISA Team this year, and make the All-American Team before I graduate.

Rachel Perry