Up to Speed & Smarts with Dells

A number of years ago, I read a quote from four-time Olympic gold medalist Paul Elvstrøm. His words seemed so true they have stuck with me ever since. He said, “The good sailors all know how to race very well, but the champions have won the regatta before the racing even begins.” In other words, preparation (i.e. everything you do to get ready for the start of the first race) is super important. Unfortunately, I didn’t have…

Editor’s note: Part 1 of Dave’s article can be found here.   Luff tension Like the mainsail cunningham, the jib halyard is not intended primarily for removing wrinkles so the sail looks better. The main purpose of the halyard is to adjust luff tension and thereby control the position of draft in the sail. Pull the halyard tighter to move draft forward and make the sail flatter; ease it to move the draft aft and make the…

Even though most genoas and jibs are smaller than the main- sails they team up with, your head- sail should get at least as much careful trimming attention as your main. That’s because a jib feels no disturbance from the mast and sails in an eternal lift created by flow around the main. As a result, your headsail provides more than its share of your boat’s power. For these reasons, it’s important to work hard at finding…

When you’re trying to catch other boats on a windward leg, the good news is that the fleet usually spreads out a lot on beats. If the wind changes very much in direction or velocity, this separation creates good passing opportunities. But the bad news is that the boats you’re trying to catch are all between you and the wind. This means you must constantly dodge wind shadows, especially when you are sailing toward the ‘favored’ side….

Editor’s note: We’re doubling down on Dells for this edition, with more great photos from the 2024 Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta by Block Island Steve Cloutier. When you’re picking a crew for your next regatta, it’s not easy to find someone who is the perfect weight for your boat. It’s difficult enough to find teammates who are skillful, eager and available, so how much they weigh is often a secondary consideration. As a result, many sailors end up…

The easiest way to explain the concept of velocity shifts is to start with an example. Imagine you are sailing upwind, close-hauled on starboard tack. It’s a very puffy day, with lots of increases and decreases in wind velocity. However, the wind direction remains exactly the same during all the puffs and lulls. As you sail along, the wind you feel on your face is called your ap- parent wind. It’s a vector sum of the ‘sailing…

The middle of the racecourse is one of those “love it or hate it” places. Some sailors are always trying to make the middle work, while others seldom go there. In a big fleet, the central part of the beat has unique advantages and disadvantages. No matter how you feel about the middle in smaller fleets, you might want to reconsider your opinion in bigger fleets, for the following reasons. The case for the middle In a…

The wind and wave conditions are always changing, and this means sail shapes must constantly change as well. The jib shape that is ideal in five knots of wind would be very slow in fifteen knots. On almost every boat, the jib trimmer has a number of ways to control and change the shape of their headsail. There are four specific tools you can use to alter the three-dimensional shape of a jib or genoa: 1. Jib…

On most boats, the mainsail is the biggest sail and therefore affects your upwind speed more than any other speed variable. It also has a lot to do with pointing ability. So if you are the person holding the mainsheet (whether you are the helmsperson or a dedicated mainsail trimmer), it’s important to do as good a job as possible. Pre-race mainsail set-up Like almost every other crew job, being a good mainsail trimmer requires practice and…

It’s hard to make a rule of thumb about what to do on beats in big fleets because the relevant mix of variables is always unique and changing.   © Barry Hyman A J/24 World Championship several years ago featured a fleet of 100 boats and produced some classic big-fleet competition. Racing in a large fleet like this is quite a different game than sailing with only 20 or 30 boats. It brings a whole new set of…