Braecrest said:Skipper J!
I won't bother to overload you in one post. Reading shifts/puffs is somewhat easy. (I say this after nearly 20 years on the water).
First, you have to know what a puff looks like, yes thats right you CAN see the wind, or rather what the wind does to things around you.
Basic; puffs gusts and more wind in general creates more ripples on the water, giving that area of water a darker apperance. when that dark area moves, theres going to be a shift. easy enough right? ok stick with me
Intermediate; well know, we see the wind moving, but how do we know if it's going to be a lift (good) or a header (bad) simple; the direction it's moving. lets say we are close hauled on a starboard tack. your hiking the boat flat and look to windward and see a dark patch of water (Gust, Puff, etc...) moving down the course and diagonally towards your boat. Well, this is going to be a lift (good thing) the diagonal movement towards your boat means the wind has veered (Northern Hemisphere) to the right temperarily and will allow you to change course a few degrees to the right, pointing your bow closer to the mark (good thing) Now, conversely, if that patch of dark water (puff, gust, etc) is moving diagonally away from you, this is a bad thing, called a header, or more commonly a knock. Its a good idea to tack if your in an upwind battle of have competition close ahead your trying to gain on. Oh by the way, HIKE HARDER, if you hike more before the extra wind gets to you, you'll get more power! (yet another good thing)
Semi-Advanced Ok, good, we can now react to the wind changes near us, but how about a little more advanced warning. Easy, look at the clouds, smoke, trees, flags, other boats, whatever you got. These items, when studied between races can give a good indication of what the wind will be doing in the near future. For example; lets say that there are several layers of clouds at differant altitudes, and the lower ones are drifting in nearly the same direction as the surface wind. Now the ones in the layer above that are moving in a differant direction, this indicates that the upper level winds are from a differant direction, and will influence the surface winds to do the same (nature doesn't like strife) Another good one it to look at the smoke or steam from a smokestake ashore, if it trails out over the water, and curves to one direction or the other, thats a great indication of what the surface wind will do as you draw near that part of the shoreline. Also be sure to look at divisions and other classes of boats sailing nearby, if they favor one side of the same course or the other, there has to be a reason right? or if they are futher out to sea, that can also be a good indication of upcoming trends.
Advanced; Ok, so now we can see the wind, and we know how to react to it. but what about planning for it? this takes skill and time. First, knowing your area helps. if you know that an east wind tends to shift left in the afternoon, this helps. Local knowledge helps. but lets say you drove a few hours away to compete at that big regatta, and have no local knowledge, your not SOL. Marine Weather Forecasts are now your good friend. www.weatherunderground.com publishes the NOAA Marine forecast for every square foot of American waters. NOAA weather radio (VHF) also broadcasts these same forecasts word for word, and if you really want to do your research, the NOAA website itself actually has all the weather charts, barographs and other data used to compile these forecasts. What does a forecast do for you? easy, weather has trends, and unlike Paris fashion, this stuff can actually make sense to a sailor. see if you look on the forecast and it says Morning winds 10-15 knots from the South, afternoon 10-15 from the South South West and Evening 15-20 from the South West, its safe to bet that the VAST MAJORITY of shifts that day will go to the right.
Ol' SaltOk this is gonna take an expensive equipment upgrade, but GET A COMPASS. any one you like so long as it has 360 degree markings, also purchase a wind vane, I prefer the mast mounted ones that clip on in from of the boom vang. and a grease pencil (what we used to use with radar screens before they invented computers). Now mount the compass on your centerline (middle) take the grease pencil and clip it on your life jacket where you can reach it but won't lose it, and mount the wind vane. Ok now what do you do with these things? RESEARCH, TRACK, and EVALUATE! sounds complex right? Not really. Here's what you do. At regular intervals, come head to wind, once the bow is dead on the breeze, note the heading, and write it down on that smooth part of the deck on either side of the daggerboard, make a vertical row of all the readings. This shows the tendancy of the wind to shift without a change in velocity (speed). How do we evaluate these readings? Simple we look for the trend! For example, lets say over the course of 15 mintues you took 10 headings, 181, 184, 182, 181, 185, 187, 179, 181, 184, and 189. without even adding you can see the wind seems to stay around 183 degrees, and when it does shift it shifts to the right. works kinda easy right? now to be exact the average was 183.3 as you can see I'm not a math major, which proves anybody can grasp this method. need more proof? well this becomes useful when the committee boat posts the magnetic compass bearing to the windward mark. lets say for this same example, the committee posted the windward mark as bearing 180. well your wind average showed that the breeze liked 183. the starboard tack is favored by an average of 3 degrees, and you know that port tack is more likely to be headed. This tracking method is also useful in pre-starts, sailing to the race course, and even on days when your not racing, but out there practicing, such an exercise on a practice day would help you understand the area your sailing in (see comments about LOCAL KNOWLEDGE)
Ok Skipper Johnson, I hope this advice on this one important topic helps you on your next race. I'll be posting more replies to the rest of your questions as I get the time to. Sadly I actually have to work from time to time.