WINTER.. Time to prepare for Summer.

Article by Gordy Bowers
North Sails One Design Zenda

t’s a winter weekend. The temperature is minus five degrees and a light snow is falling, a perfect time to think about improving and getting more enjoyment out of your sailing. A good way to start is to review your racing last summer – wins, losses, strengths and weaknesses. Were you starting in the second row way to often? Could you hold your lane for the first two minutes of the race? How good were you at getting to the new wind or first shift? Did you have consistently good boat speed on the run? Do you tack, gybe and get around the marks as well as your competitors? Try to get a general and an objective impression of your racing strengths and weaknesses.

The next step is to prioritize. Identify your weakest skill areas in the comfort of your living room and do a research project on them. My father was a doctor and my mother was a nurse so it is natural for me to think in terms of diagnosis and treatment when thinking about sailing weakness/illness. Like a good doctor you have to analyze and ask questions. Most sailors have problems in the areas of boat speed and strategic decision-making on the racecourse.

For boat speed problems, start by asking questions in three basic areas: weight placement, sail trim and steering. To sail fast two out of three is not enough. Also remember, each basic is interrelated to the others. Errors sail trim can cause overcompensation and a downward spiral in crew positioning and steering. For example, if sailing upwind in light and wavy conditions your main is trimmed to flat the boat will lack power and drive in the waves. Most skippers will try to compensate by bearing off and moving into the boat, resulting in a slow and low syndrome. If this sounds familiar then you need to start by asking more specific questions about your sail trim. Then follow up with more questions about your weight placement or movement and steering technique.

Correct strategy is the ability to consistently be going in the right direction on the racecourse. To be successful you need to be constantly asking questions about wind strength, wind direction, fleet position and course position. How hard is it blowing? Is there more wind on the left? Am I on the lifted tack? What position am I relative to the group of boats around me? Where am I in relation to the course, how far up, how far to the lay line? You need to constantly update your awareness.

Once you ask the right questions about boat speed and strategy you can start looking for answers. It’s winter so start by reading the relevant parts of sailing books, magazines, newsletters and tuning guides. Sailing videos and CDs are a good source of visual information. The Scow DVD from Melges is a great short course on boat handling. The advantage of preparing during the winter is that you can observe, compare and take notes right in your living room with no time pressure. Last fall we shot video of the College Single-Handed Nationals held on Lake Minnetonka so that I could show good and bad sailing technique to our sailing team this winter. With some of my coaching students I have used photos to get a stop action on tacking, gybing and starting. I make duplicates, draw lines and make notes in order to get the information across. The pictures become a permanent part of your sailing library. You also might like to read books on sports psychology and biographies of champions in other sports – it all adds up. Learn how to compete from many different written sources and keep an open mind.

Another good source of information is your personal sailing notebook. If you do not have a notebook, promise yourself you will start one next summer. The notebook can be used to review problems of boat speed, boat handling, tactics, wind strategy, crew communication, etc. Your notebook should also be used after races as an aid to improving your race memory. Record questions, observations, diagrams, pictures or whatever it takes to make your races memorable and fun. This information can be used proactively the next day to brief yourself or crew on what needs to be practiced when you go out on the water for practice or racing. Furthermore, just writing it down will help you remember when it’s important to come up with the answers on the racecourse. Summer or winter the notebook can help improve your sailing.

Ask the right questions, research the answers, then you can move forward with drills specifically designed to correct the problem. If the wind is light work on sail trim and weight placement so that you feel a slight weather helm when trying to point or a neutral helm when searching for speed. When the wind is heavy and you are overpowered work at observing the gust and easing the main sheet at the rate that keeps your angle of heel constant.

Using sailing books and your notebook will make it easier to create a pre-start routine that will sequence your hunt for information that can help you make the correct racing decisions for the first beat. You can also have fun by using small model boats on you kitchen table to help you anticipate tactics and strategy on the water. For every leg of the course your goal should be to stay three moves ahead of the competition.

Try some of the above ideas to add interest and variety to your sailing. When you use your winter to prepare for summer you will get on the water with new insights and some practice drills. Your success and satisfaction will increase because of the time spent thinking about racing.