some racing tips

I must have written somewhere else on this blog that I love to race because it makes me a better sailor. When I race, I pay attention to details I would normally never pay attention to. The tiniest change in wind direction, a puff over the water, current lines, half a knot change of wind speed, heel angle, etc...when racing, you constantly look at all of this...

We talked about a few racing tips (full crew) with Suzanne and Mark. During a race, everyone's very focused on a set of jobs, THEIR jobs - and the more they can focus on that job, the better. If the driver also has to figure out where all the other boats are on the course, the strength of the current, whether the spinnaker sheets were run properly, etc...he or she will do everything but drive. (yes Nathan, I hear you...)

On Elise, we typically have the following roles

• Driver - the driver drives - stays focused on boat speed, controls the main (we found that if another person controls the main, it takes too long to react as the driver often first senses a change in boat reaction - except perhaps at mark rounding) and the backstay. If there's a mark, not lose sight of the 'target'
• Tactician - looks everywhere OUTSIDE the boat. Where is the wind on the course, are the boats on the right headed? does the current seems to be better on the left? are we pointing as well as the other boats? competitive on speed? are we on the layline for a tack? Which end of the start line should we be on when the gun goes off? This person calls all the shots. And a boat is not a democracy, once the tactician says 'we tack', we tack.
• Trim 1 - this person will trim and tack the jib upwind and will trim the spinnaker (on the sheet) downwind. He/she also jibes the spinnaker on the sheets
• Trim 2 - this person helps tack the jib upwind if necessary and will help trim the spinnaker (pole work and twings)
• Foredeck - is responsible for everything forward of the mast.

Certain roles are more or less active upwind or downwind. Upwind though, particularly in heavy wind, there won't be constant trimming and in-between tacks, the crew will be on the rail. It does not mean that the crew is idle though.

The tactician will keep looking around and develop the next steps

trim 2 (or pit) and foredeck have other jobs, resp.

Trim 2 will scan the water and call

• puffs
• lulls
• waves

Foredeck will

• at the start call the distance to the line
• upwind look at the jib trim (particularly top telltales) and call out pinching moments, or assist the trimmers. this person has the best view of the headsail
• Help the tactician and look at traffic for rights of way

During tacks, the foredeck person will help walk across the genoa (jibs are usually small enough not to require any help) and may help skirt the sail as trim 1 trims it back in hard.

It is helpful to have a pit person to handle halyard work. At times, we had the tactician do halyard/topping lift, downhaul work. At times, we tried w/ trim 2. We haven't figured out the best way to do that yet.

We keep trying new things to see what would be the most effective way to split the work - and we always love to hear about what has worked for people. And note that what works well on one boat may not be the best fit on another boat.

If you are quite new to sailing, and you want to slowly pick it up, it is helpful to pick a position and learn to do the job really well. In future posts, we can look in more details of what each of these jobs might mean and what to look for to do it well.