Flatness is a State of Mind

Reminders are good for you.

For good boatspeed, I must remind you to get your weight placement and sail "set and trim" correct for the "existing conditions" and "sail the breeze of the moment" by "getting your head out of the boat" and "reading the breeze", so you can "anticipate changes" and "shift gears" accordingly. Then use "tactics" to "avoid the slowing influence of other boats" while carrying out your "strategy" of "connecting the dots" by sailing "good angles" around the race course in "darker water" and you will most likely be classified as "fast".
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> Brad,

> I had a question for you. When I sailed on Saturday with Kerry Sherwin, he always
&! gt; wanted a little bit of a leeward heel when we were going upwind so we could
> point towards the mark more. Yet, whenever I sail with Tomas he always
> wants the boat perfectly flat. I was just curious which method is better:
> to heel a little to leeward so you could point more or to keep the boat
> perfectly flat and go a little faster. thanks
>
> David Grycz


Dave,
The boat should remain flat as long as there is some decent wind
pressure on the sails. This keeps the centerboard all the way down to
reduce leeway and keeps the sail all the way up to catch the most wind.
When you sailed with Kerry on saturday it was quite often very light and
there was very little wind pressure on the sails. At that point, sailing with a leeward heel does three things:

1. It allows gravity to fill the shape of the sails. If the sails are
hanging straight down, ! the pocket (draft) doesn't know what side of the
boom it belongs (or jib hangs) and the sail foil is lost as there isn't
enough wind to put it were it belongs. When the boat is heeled, the
foil is there and the light wind doesn't have to push it into shape, it
just flows along with more efficiency (more lift, more power). This
becomes more important than having the mast upright in the attempt to
catch more wind.

2. When the boat is heeled it is more on it's side and there is less
boat in the water. This means there is less friction to slow the boat
down and the boat moves much better. Moving forward in the boat also
helps create less wetted surface. The fact that the centerboard is not
all the way down in the water is fine because there's so little wind, it
can't push the boat sidewards (besides, the rail in the water kinda acts
like a centerboard). When a boat is tipped over, it does expose m! uch of
the "freeboard" (the side of the boat) to the wind. This is very slow
in heavy breeze, or even medium breeze, but it is not a problem in light
air because, again, there isn't nearly the same force from the wind and
the good properties outweigh it.

3. When the boat is heeled over the boat has a little more windward helm
and it can point a little higher. Moving forward also helps pointing
ability. This is what Kerry was talking about, but actually it is the
least of the benefits of a heel in light air. In reality, it is the
other factors listed above that make the boat go faster. Once the boat
goes faster it creates "lift" off the centerboard and is able to point
higher. This is really why Kerry feels the boat points higher. Heeling
a boat over to make it point in anything but light air is a real
killer. The boat does more sliding sidways than it does pointing.

When we ! sail upwind and the wind hits our sails it can be measure in two
forces (call them vectors if you want). There is the "driving force"
moving us forward and the "heeling force" pushing us sideways. We are
always looking to increase our driving force and reduce our heeling
force and usually it is of great help to keep the boat flat in most
conditions. When the breeze is light, our heeling forces are greatly
reduced and "heel" does not have much to do with heeling force. If heel
makes you go faster, then it's really driving force you are creating.

I hope our whole team has taking heed when I talk about shifting gears
and how it effects heel. Often it is light out and then a puff comes
down and heels the boat over for a few seconds, or much more, and then we
correct and flatten out. This is Death. This is giving away distance.
It's so damn painful to watch but I have to suffer through watching it
e! very single practice. Even the best of our current sailors don't get
it consistently enough. They just give distance away as they expose
their hull, bring up their centerboard, and slide sideways. If they
could see how their boats were sliding sideways from my vantage point (a
stern view) maybe then they would get the picture. In the case of
weight placement, it doesn't have to be a windy day to hike, it just has
to have puffy moments. Bottom line: if there is reasonable pressure on the
sails, the boat should be flat.

Of course, it can be a sight for sore eyes the other way too; keeping
the boat flat in no breeze, maybe even sitting in the back seat and
dragging the stern around the race course. I saw enough of that on
Saturday and it cost us plenty. It takes experience and anticipation to
"sail the breeze of the moment". If you don't notice a change, you
can't react to it. If y! ou don't see the change coming, you can't anticipate.


The first two principles to good boat speed in collegiate sailing are:

WEIGHT PLACEMENT and SAIL TRIM
(the rigs are usually about the same, as are the sail settings)

The third principle is:

SHIFTING GEARS (noticing a change in existing conditions and adapting
smoothly and swiftly)

When you can keep your weight placement and sail trim correct for every
little change in the existing conditions, nobody can catch you-
if you're in clear air, that is.

Ah, but there is the other question,
...are you pointing that speed in the right direction?


-Coach


PS Oh, Yeah. When it comes to weight placement, it takes two to tango. If
you can't learn to dance with your crew, you can't go to the Ball.