Heavy Winds (Twiname, Chruchill)

Heavy Winds

Terriers,
A number of our sailors today undoubtedly experience times of heavy winds. Perhaps they were not survival conditions but still, while today is fresh in your mind, you may want to review the "Survival Racing" chapter in Twiname's book. It first talks a bit about Feel and Balance and "that means going out sometimes in really heavy weather just for the fun of it". That's what I hope you did today. Sure, you want to finish well now, but you have to understand how important it is to work on these skills when you can. You don't get big breeze everyday so your practice time is already limited. If you're so bummed about your poor finishes that you don't eagerly work on your skills, you'll never get any better in these conditions.

Twiname goes on to talk about "Heavy Weather Fear", read about it.

Then he talks about "High Speed Survival Upwind". He talks about hiking, simple but essential, and why. Did we really hike as hard as we could today? Well, the first thing JP asked a woman today was "How are your legs? Are they tired?" No, none of our sailors at MIT looked beat up today from hiking, but others did. You can never hike hard enough in breeze so you have to give it your all, regardless of your weight. No excuses because you're light and "it won't make a difference anyway", and no laziness because you're heavier than others and think that automatically make you flatter. You can't coach "weight" but you can coach what to do with weight. Flat is a state of mind and we're not there yet. Know what flat really is and use these heavy air days as training grounds to get the feel and the balance to get it done.

Twiname gets into what's up when we heel. Let's read about it.

"Many people have the idea that spilling wind is bad because it's sacrificing power. In fact much more power is lost in a dinghy by allowing the boat to heel. Spilling wind from the mainsail and, when conditions get really heavy, from the jib gets rid of excessive and unmanageable heeling or leeward forces in the rig, yet retains the essential driving forces. The result: good forward speed without excessive heeling or leeway."

The penalties for heeling in a blow are:

Weather Helm Develops: This happens mainly because the forward driving force of the rig is no longer over the centerline but acting from over the water several feet to leeward. To counteract the tendency that this creates for the boat to screw up into the wind, the helmsman hauls his tiller up to windward and the angled rudder acts as a brake, producing several times as much drag as a straight tiller.

The Rig Loses Power: It is often forgotten that the rig becomes appreciably less efficient as it heels, turning more of the forces available for forward motion into the downward acting force already mentioned. Even with a 15 degree of heel there is a fraction less power available to convert into forward motion than when the rig is upright. As the boat heels to over 25 degrees, more power falls off dramatically.

Leeway Increases: Even at 10 degrees of heel, leeway increases slightly. At 20 degrees or 25, leeway increases considerably in dinghies, and leeway becomes excessive when this heeling combined with loss of speed, causes the centerboard to stall. This happens particularly easily on boats with fairly small, narrow boards.

Crew Weight Becomes less Effective: When the boat heels, the centers of gravity of the hiking helmsman and crew move closer to the center of buoyancy of the hull, and thus transmit less righting moment to the rig than when upright. Also, as the crew and helmsman are lifted higher above the water, their bodies come into a faster wind stream so drag is marginally increased.

Exposing Freeboard: When the boat heels in heavy air, the side of the hull is exposed to more windage and considerable drag. The wind catches beneath the hull, inducing greater heel and more leeway.

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Drills to work on: Well, that's covered in the book.
Our practices should include, constant windward heel beats; sitting the crew in; pre-hiking puffs; single-handing. You can also work on sit-ups and leg lifts and jumping on a hiking bench. Don't get beat because you're out of shape physically or mentally.

Clearly, there are many reasons to keep the boat flat in high winds.
Knowledge is important but there's no substitute for hands on experience. Take to heart these golden opportunities.



-Coach



Sail, Race, Win
By Eric Twiname
Revised by Cathy Foster