Downwind

L

lyclaser

New Member
I was at a regatta this weekend and was doing pretty well....until the windward mark. Heading downwind, I easily lost two or three boats. The breeze was 10 to 15 and there was some nasty chop. My controlls were eased so that the mast was fairly straight, but that didn't seem to help. Besides trying to surf the waves, are there any things I can do (tactics) to see that this doesn't happen again?? thanks
 
I've been having trouble transitioning between broad-reaching with "normal" (mast->leech) flow and "reversed" (leech->mast aka BTL) flow. It seems to be worst in waves, but even in 10-15 and flat water I seem to stall out during the transition.

I do OK staying on one or the other flow-direction (although I seem to do better BTL, if I have a choice). In flat water it's not such a problem, as I don't need to switch that often. In waves, I usually want to work my way to one side of the course or the other, depending on how each set of waves looks like it's breaking. Often, when I try and transition I'll loose at least one wave, and sometime I'll wallow for two or three (ugh!).

I've read all the Rooster and drLaser articles, and I think I have the basics of regualr and BTL downwind sailing. I'm looking for any hints, tips, practice excercises, etc. to help me get to the point where I can switch directions fluidly with the minimum lost ground.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
145234
 
in waves, try to do the transition while surfing, helps keep the speed up through the square 'deadzone'

go out one day in some breeze and go for as long a run as you can (remember you gotta work back up :) ) and just practice practice practice, dont be afraid to capsize either, helps you explore the limits of the boat.
 
in light winds try zig zagging down wind so your sailing by the lee and then reaching and so forth it is faster in lighter air. also downwind in lighter wind, windward heel and weight placement is essential for speed.
also dont forget to sheet in when surfing a wave, and i have always found even if there is no waves to surf sheeting in and out slowly can help out a bit, but not in all cases, try it out see what works for you
 
geoff it sounds like you are not making the transition mid wave! you gotta make it so that the next wave doesnt slow you down or it is slow. like chris said bear away when you are surfing but remeber sailing by the lee is alot slowe than a good reach.
 
james17 said:
[...] but remeber sailing by the lee is alot slowe than a good reach.
Click to expand...

Why do you say that? My impression (from reading and personal experience) is that a broad-reach BTL is actually faster than a broad-reach in "normal" mode.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
145234
 
in response to teeftie. While not initiating surfing sheeting in and out breaks rule 42. Doing it slowly may only keep you from getting noticed.
 
cayenne24 said:
in response to teeftie. While not initiating surfing sheeting in and out breaks rule 42. Doing it slowly may only keep you from getting noticed.
Click to expand...
no it doesnt! the rules says one pump per wave! and as long as you keep it to that your fine! anyway we like to call it working the boat and see how long we can get away with it for!
 
in response to the one pump per wave, when the wind is light the waves are smaller and more frequent giving you more chances to pump as for a windy day the waves are big but few and far between.
also, when sheeting slowly you can argue that you were trimming your sail, because its not really a pump unless done rapidly enough to gain speed.
and hey, everyone has to trim sometime, your just doing it more often ;)
 
i say again! WORKING THE BOAT! and the one pump should initiate the plane anyway so thats all thats needed!
 
everyone does it, and i gaurentee no one doesnt break one rule through a race, why not break one that counts and is not noticeable.

also, i don't know what type of wind your used to but 10-15 isnt much and hardly enough to start forgeting stuff to try and plane
 
GeoffS said:
I've been having trouble transitioning between broad-reaching with "normal" (mast->leech) flow and "reversed" (leech->mast aka BTL) flow.
Click to expand...
I made an interesting observation yesterday when I was out practicing after a race. In medium waves I can transition from a "normal" broad-reach to BTL very smoothly, but the reverse was *much* harder. I think the reason is that the normal->BTL transition is just a continuation of the heel-the-boat-to-weather carving turn I do to accelerate down a wave. Normally, I stop the turn (and flatten the boat a bit) when I reach the bottom of the wave (and get ready to turn back up), but if you just let the boat keep turning "down" it very smoothly powers through over to the BTL broad-reach.

When I started treating the BTL->"normal" turn as a continuation of the same kind of turn back toward dead-downwind, my BTL->"normal" transition got better (still lots of room for improvement, though).

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
in response to glen, it would seem like it yes, but the jury is sailors like all the rest of us and know that once and a while people screw up and miss the wave, unless its a repeated thing your doing they wont call you on it.

Even though rules are really important in our sport, we all need (including me) need to stop worrying about rules so much, that just takes the fun away and if your not having fun doing it than sell your boat and do something else. just enjoy sailing your boat and hanging out with friends, dont worry so much about the politics of sailing
-my 2cents
 
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