Check that your boat's bottom is smooth. Every detail affects efficiency.Raced this past weekend, guy I want to beat (he's good, I'm learning this boat) ran away from me...again. Especially downwind. I was thinking about my height and weight and his. We're probably close in weight 195, but I'm about 4 or 5 inches taller. Shouldn't I be able to translate that into an advantage? I wondered if I'm hurting myself by not raising the boom a couple of inches and getting the sail plan a little higher to take advantage of the height difference, I could hike a little more. We have been sailing in 10 to 12 max and prolly will stay there for wind speeds. This is an old guys group and I doubt we'll ever see 15+ knots steady AND get a start. Opinions? Thanks, Winever.
One of the key downwind tactics is to get the sail centered over the hull. This reduces the wind's leverage for turning the boat to "windward" and causing undo weather helm, a condition that requires countering by the rudder and subsequently slows the boat.Raced this past weekend, guy I want to beat (he's good, I'm learning this boat) ran away from me...again. Especially downwind.
Many sailing principles have been around a long long ... long time.... and reminded me of another boat-type's application of it:
For an up-and-comer to racing, how would suggest to order learning each of these tactics by significance so they build one with another into a symphony of second nature responses?Here are a few things you should be sure to do down wind.