{"id":141527,"date":"2022-11-24T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T06:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=141527"},"modified":"2022-11-24T06:01:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T06:01:22","slug":"top-helming-tips-to-keep-your-yacht-balanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/5-tips\/top-helming-tips-to-keep-your-yacht-balanced-141527","title":{"rendered":"Top helming tips to keep your yacht balanced"},"content":"For the leading boats clear air comes free, but for those locked in the middle of a competitive fleet this essential commodity is in short supply.\r\n\r\nWhether it was a poor start, taking the wrong side on the previous leg or a sloppy spinnaker drop, it\u2019s all too easy to find yourself in traffic and with extra work to do.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe need to find a lane out of here\u201d is the message coming from the rail, but will a rushed tack away help the situation or just put you straight back into more dirty air? Your boat speed is now quite low and you know a tack could put you at the mercy of approaching starboard boats so maybe keeping going even with those boats close to windward will be safer.\r\n\r\nThis scenario will be a familiar one to most club sailors \u2013 just part of an average day \u2013 but it is noticeable that when the hotshots drop back into the pack they are seldom there for long. That may leave you wondering how they have the knack of salvaging a result from what to you seemed a hopeless situation.\r\n\r\nSo what is the best strategy for recovery, and where was that mythical clear lane that could have helped you grasp a chance of recovery, or even fast tracked you up to the leading pack? Was it one lane you were looking for or a series of lanes?\r\n\r\nBattling it out in the middle of the fleet is always hard so trusting your judgement and going round the outside is worth considering, but avoid panic decisions and stick to your tried and tested system of crew roles and responsibilities. That way you can enjoy the team game of digging yourselves out of trouble in the knowledge that there will be others making far bigger mistakes than what got you where you are right now.\r\n\r\nBut if arriving at the top mark near the back of the fleet is getting too hard to bear, it\u2019s time to get some expert advice.\r\n

1. Finding a lane<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nLanes are areas of relatively undisturbed air that are not being decelerated or disturbed by sails. The skill to develop is finding a lane that won\u2019t be taken away from you by another boat, or at least not for a while.\r\n\r\n\"Screen\r\n\r\nLanes move across the course depending on where boats are going and become blocked when another boat to windward tacks and takes that lane. That boat will now be in clear air and you will now be in their dirty air and looking for a fresh lane on the other tack.\r\n

2. Don\u2019t just sit there<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nFinding yourself down the pan is tough, but the first thing is to be aware of whether you are in a lane of clear air or in dirty air. Half the calls about being in dirty air are incorrect in my experience so look carefully at the windex of the boat or boats to windward to see if you are being affected by them, before speaking up.\r\n\r\nIf the effect is only slight and those boats are going the right way on the course, staying with them may be a lot better than tacking away. But if you are in heavy cover get out of there fast \u2013 there will be opportunities elsewhere.\r\n

3. Visualise where you want to go<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nDecide who in your crew will be tasked with picking lanes \u2013 ideally it should be the person in the best position for good visibility. In the J\/24 I do that job from the helm, but it depends on the type of boat you\u2019re sailing.\r\n\r\nVisualise what the boats ahead will be doing and keep looking for the best wind and windshifts. On downwind legs keep a watchful eye astern to stay in a clear lane, and if you are behind you will have a better overall view to help you decide your tactic for the leg.\r\n

4.Think strategy<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThink as far ahead as possible and plan where you would like to be. Stay in phase with the leading pack by tacking below them in clear air. That way boats crossing on the other tack are less likely to tack on you as they will be dirty air themselves.\r\n\r\nIf that happens stay calm and assess whether sailing fast and free or tacking away will give you the best position to make the next gain.\r\n

5. Light and heavy airs options<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe lighter the breeze, the lighter it gets in the middle of the fleet, so getting out to the corners should give you stronger, less disturbed air to sail in.\r\n\r\nThere will be other boats ahead of you doing the same thing so sailing well beyond the layline for the weather mark can avoid others tacking on you and allow you to sail fast for the mark.\r\n\r\nIn a stronger breeze it might well be better to tack somewhat short of the layline to give you more options to find lanes as you approach the mark.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIan Southworth recorded numerous titles in the Enterprise, GP14 and Lark dinghy classes between 1976 and 1982 and won the Champion of Champions Endeavour trophy three times. He also raced in the 470 class, was 3rd at the Nation\u2019s Cup in 1991, European 18 foot Skiff Champion in 1997 and was 3rd at the Worlds a year later. In the J\/24 class he was three times British Champion, European Champion and in 2015 won the J\/24 World Championship <\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n ","excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Andy Beadsworth, when you\u2019re helming the boat you\u2019re not so much steering as \u2018applying load to the tiller\u2019. \u201cSometimes the boat heels over and the load comes on to the tiller or wheel, but you want to keep going in a straight line. So as the helmsman you have to resist the load coming on if you want to keep the boat tracking in a straight line, or sometimes you go with the load and let it help you turn the boat, either luffing or bearing away, depending on your aims at the time.\u201d The bigger the boat, the bigger the loads, and the more the steering comes down to the efforts of the entire team, where the helmsman is the conductor who has the final say over the music that the orchestra is playing. Here are five of Andy\u2019s best tips on the finer points of accurate, race-winning steering technique: Don’t fight the boat Accurate steering is mostly dependent on achieving the correct balance of the boat achieved through boat heel and sail trim. The thing I\u2019ve learned from steering J-Class boats like Velsheda is you\u2019ve got to allow the boat to go in the direction you want it to go in and stop it going in the direction you don\u2019t want it to go. Find your easy speed One of the most important things is to have \u2018easy speed\u2019. It\u2019s not necessarily your ultimate speed that\u2019s important. Wherever possible, it needs to be easy, easy speed when you\u2019re racing. When you\u2019re sailing with flat sails with a tight leech, the groove is very, very narrow. We all know that full and twisted setups have got a wide groove and if you\u2019ve got the space to be able to sail like that it\u2019s a much less stressful mode to operate in. When you\u2019re racing against 50 other boats on a busy race track, you need to be able to pull the sails in and for the boat to go fast straight away. With hard and tight leeches, everything is quite precise and demanding. I find when we do well it\u2019s when we\u2019ve got \u2018easy speed\u2019 when the boat just wants to go. Article continues below… Steering to change Quite often in the race it\u2019s not really about going fast, it\u2019s about sailing modes \u2013 being able to go fast in lifts towards the next header, or position your boat against another slightly differently just by changing the mode you\u2019re sailing rather than sailing as fast as you can all the time. When you\u2019re steering through changing conditions, whether it\u2019s going from gust to a lull or vice versa, or sailing through a header or a lift, this is when teamwork is tested the most. A number of things need to happen in unison to steer the boat accurately through a change of pressure or angle. One of the most difficult scenarios is the header because as the boat heads and the mast starts to come upright you …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":447,"featured_media":141528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[546,975],"tags":[846,934,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141529,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141527\/revisions\/141529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141527"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=141527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}