I'm making a horrible performance in upwind legs, especially with medium wind (11-15 knots) and choppy water. By "horrible" I mean that even making a good start, I'm the last boat after the first 200 meters.
In my last regata, I was the last one among 7 lasers in all of 6 races with a huge difference with respect to the next boat. In a pair of cases, 2 or 3 boats of the radial fleet overtook me (their start was 5 minutes after standard!).
I could observe that my hull seems wavier than the others. I also got some water inside. In the beginning, I thought it could be due to a wrong trimming or sailing, but less experienced sailors also did better than me. One of them could even afford a pair of capsizes and I could not caught him anyway. So I'm mostly convinced that my boat has something wrong...
Can anybody suggest me what to focus on? What would you do?
Pedro
Is your boat very heavy, or did you forget to put the plug in?
Are you keeping the boat flat? Your avatar shows otherwise, but that's only a picture, I know.
the setup of the sail could be a small difference, how is ur cunningham and outhaul setup when going upwind, u could have everything to tight/ loose?
....it might even be your blades, are they in good condition?
but tuning your center-board & rudder is HUGE
Then go sailing and everytime you get over-powered, let the main out to bring you flat. Once you're flat, trim it in a bit more, watching that the end of the tiller never goes a few inches away from the traveller cleat. If it does, let a bit of sheet out - a very little bit. Get used to trimming by inches rather than feet. Feel how the sheet effects the tiller psotion and the trim of the boat. Do that for a couple of hours or so, forget about sail controls and just feel how the boat accelerates and balances.
Could body size be involved? How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
...First thing to do is relax. You're not the first to struggle and won't be the last.
Don't get discouraged. Nothing sucks more than losing
When I a puff comes I can (1) sheet out so the boat goes in the same direction and with the same inclination. But a second choice (2) is that I can head up, so the windward tell tales begin moving up and I don't sheet out (I can maintain the boom b-to-block). What's better?
Would definitely recommend you do some paired sailing with someone at your club. Tweaking your rig/looking at each persons technique till you can keep up with the faster sailor. Should really help.
to really sort out the "is it my boat" issue, can you arrange to swap boats just for a short training session ? Persuade someone to come along a bit early one day. Spend 10 mins (1 short upwind leg) in your own boat sailing against them, then swap boats.
Sail trim is huge especially up wind. You are fortunate the posts here have given you great advise (I wish I had when I got started). However, your boat needs a diet. You will find it dificult to be competitive with a boat heavyer than 135 pounds,
and unless you are sailing regularly in heavy wind, 15-20 knots, you might find keeping your weight under 175 lbs (max for full rig) will help quite a bit on all points of sail. Having said that, I do know a couple of guys in the 200 lb range who can trim a laser out and make them flat out scoot.
MB
Check something that I found.
I couldn't point when I first had my boat. The mast wasn't bending like others and the cunningham was right down to the boom.
Then I found that the topmast collar rivet had sheared and the collar slipped up the topmast by about 40mm. Refixing it in the correct place made a big difference.