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??”.
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??”.
Closehauled. What is it and where is it anyway? Some sailors seem to be able to find it and stay in it, all the time. Others pass through it, but can’t seem to hang around for very long.
It’s impressive how much one drill can reveal about a sailor's downwind technique, even at Olympic levels. This drill highlights rudder errors, sheeting mistakes and body position errors rapidly. It also provides a different, and great, sense of feel and connection with the boat. We recommend it for coaches as well.
Rarely, and for only short periods of time, can you experience a balanced helm during a 20+ knot downwind. Helm exists indefinitely; it’s just a matter of how much. As the wind increases, so does the factor of helm influenced by the center of effort vs the center of lateral resistance, heel angle and boat speeds.
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.
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.
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.
Pinching is bad, but what happens next is worse...
After just moments of noticing they are sailing too close to the wind, the helms person bears away back to the correct angle. What they don’t know is that they are slipping sideways due to something even worse: stalling of the sail. The reason? a shift in apparent wind.
Learn about Efficiency and Power in the laser mainsail and learn how to increase speed through trimming and easing the mainsail based on boat speed and sail forces.
The most important thing to understand about downwind sailing in Lasers is that every time you are off the breeze, […]
First, the fundamentals: The most important thing is a good balance. You need to be at the point where you […]
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 […]
What is the best advice you've been given when trying to sail fast in light winds? For me, I remember […]
