One rule of thumb is to ease your sheets when you're feeling slow, but the goal should be to never get slow. Here's how.
One rule of thumb is to ease your sheets when you're feeling slow, but the goal should be to never get slow. Here's how.
We receive a lot of comments about our videos and Rule 42, specifically on the run. Sailors look at a piece of downwind footage and wonder aloud “Is that even LEGAL??”.
Mastering control of your boat while going backwards opens up many new opportunities on the start line, allowing you to reset or reposition yourself farther up the line.
How and where to sit is key to being able to control your weight placement downwind. Here we look at various positions across all wind ranges.
The shoot up will cut your drift time down the line in half and allow you to remain in control when someone to leeward of you holds their spot. Practicing this manoeuvre will give you tons of control on the start line.
Very few sailors excel in light wind and choppy water. It is the most challenging condition because your sail and telltales aren’t always working. You must constantly anticipate changes in boat speeds and this never allows you to get comfortable.
It’s been said that going fast upwind in moderate and heavy air is all about fitness and energetic hiking. Laser […]
In many conditions, we often see sailors with poor gust and/or lull response. In regards to hiking, particularly in gusts, there can be a tendency to “fight” the boat with hiking and often use too much steering to control power. We see heeling of the boat, pinching, corrective steers and other issues in gusts. These issues often lead to unnecessary strain on sailors and reduced speed and VMG.
Once hiking conditions present themselves, a balanced boat with appropriate rig setup becomes particularly important to maximize your hiking efforts into productive speed. In order to obtain our upwind objectives, we need to get the powerful rig working for us by setting up appropriately for the conditions.
Fitness can really limit your upwind boatspeed when the breeze is up - consistent hiking on windy days can feel truly unsustainable. It’s a constant battle, with thousands of hours required in the gym and on the water to improve fitness. And while hiking may be paramount to upwind speed, there’s a lot of other technique involved that can help you go faster and even make hiking less painful. After all, there are some fast laser sailors who aren’t that fit. So what are they doing anyway that makes them so quick? This four part series will get you started.
The most important thing to understand about downwind sailing in Lasers is that every time you are off the breeze, […]
After having done my pre-game research and having a good idea of where I want to start, I set up on the line, then use the remaining time (usually between 1 minute to 1:30 left) to create a bigger hole to leeward, and defend from poachers. The skills to increase your hole are known as "downspeed maneuvers" and they can be classified as:
Bow Down - The most advanced techniques in Laser Sailing. The first time I heard the phrase I was at […]
