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Dinghy sailing can be a great way to improve your body’s levels of health and fitness, through regular training, and offers a fun, active way to get fit. However, before you start on your dinghy sailing training plan, read this realbuzz.com guide from Olympic silver-medalist Joe Glanfield as to how you can improve your sailing.

As with most sports, the longer you can dedicate to your sailing the better you will get at it. A good start is by trying to find the time to do a weekly training session on top of any racing you do. This training time can be used to work on weaknesses highlighted in your racing. There is a tendency in the sport of sailing to be very quick to blame equipment for poor performance and spend a lot of time and money buying and testing new equipment. In reality, most people’s equipment is fine and they would be better to spend their money on coaching to learn how to use their equipment more effectively.

Sailing can very basically be divided into three sections although there are a lot of sub-headings within these. Each section can be trained in different ways.

Dinghy boat handling
This is usually best practised by sailing around a short course. The course can be made progressively shorter as you get better so you are continually pushed.

Dinghy boat speed
There is quite a lot of theory behind boat speed that is worth reading up on. If you find someone else to sail against you can line up close to one another (without effecting each others wind) and sail in a straight line working on technique and settings. For this to work well it is important for the boats to regularly speak to each other and say what they are trying.

Dinghy sailing tactics and strategy
All sailors will get better at their tactics through experience, so the best way to practise is simply to race. Organising a group of you to do lots of small practice races is a really good idea. The races being small means you can do a lot of them and so get a lot of starting practice. Also, the boats are likely to be closer so there will be more tactical interaction.

Wherever you find a boat or a sailor you are going to find someone who needs more adrenaline. I am visiting mozambique in april on holiday, I am going to look for these guys.

See ya

Owen

Wondering what that boating word is that all the other sailors use? Our glossary should solve most of your boating jargon problems. If anyone has a boating term or terms they would like to add please contact us.

Aft: Toward the back of the boat.

Bearing Away: Turning away from the wind.

Boom: A pole running at a right angle from the mast.

Clear Astern and Clear Ahead: One boat is clear astern of another when her hull and equipment in normal position are behind a line abeam from the aft most point of the other boat’s hull and equipment in normal position. The other boat is clear ahead.

Cunningham (also called a Downhaul): Adjusting the tension of a sail’s luff.

Head Up: Sailing closer to the wind.

Irons: Boat is pointing into the wind, sail is flapping and probably also going backwards.

Kicker (also called a Vang): A device used to keep the boom from rising.

Lay line: The course on which your boat, sailing close – hauled on starboard tack, can just make a windward mark which is to be rounded to port is the starboard – tack lay line for that mark, and the most windward line on which you would approach the mark on port tack is the port – tack lay line.

Leeward: The direction the wind is going downwind.

Luffing: Pointing the boat into the wind – sail flapping.

Mainsheet: Line that controls the position of the mainsail.

Mark (buoy): An object the sailing instructions require a boat to pass on a specified side.

Mast: A pole usually going straight up from the deck (height can be tuned for different body weights), used to attach sail and boom.

Obstruction: Is an object that a boat could not pass without changing course substantially to avoid it. e.g. a mark, a rescue boat, the shore, perceived underwater dangers or shallows.

Outhaul: An adjuster that tensions the sail’s foot.

Port: The left side of the boat when you are looking forward.

Port Tack: Wind across the port side.

Reaching: Sailing with the sail eased.

Reefing: Reducing the amount of sail area.

Rig: The arrangement of a boat’s mast, sails and spars.

Rudder: Underwater part of a boat used for steering.

Running: Sailing before the wind with the sail out.

Sail trim: The position of the sails relative to the wind and desired point of sail. Sails that are not trimmed properly may not operate efficiently. Visible signs of trim are luffing, excessive heeling, and the flow of air past telltales. Also see sail shape.

Sand bar: An area in shallow water where wave or current action has created a small, long hill of sand. Since they are created by water movement, they can move and may not be shown on a chart.

Sextant: A navigational instrument used to determine the vertical position of an object such as the sun, moon or stars. Used with celestial navigation.

Spinnaker: A very large lightweight sail used when running or on a broad reach.

Spinnaker pole: Sometimes called a spinnaker boom. A pole used to extend the foot of the spinnaker beyond the edge of the boat, and to secure the corner of the sail.

Spreader: Small spars extending toward the sides from one or more places along the mast. The shrouds cross the end of the spreaders, enabling the shrouds to better support the mast.

Spring tide: The tide with the most variation in water level, occurring during new moons and full moons. This is the time of the highest high tide and the lowest low tide. The opposite of a neap tide.

Starboard: The right side of the boat when you are looking forward.

Starboard Tack: Wind across the starboard (right) side.

Stern: The back end of a boat.

Tacking: Changing direction by turning into the wind.

Windward: The direction the wind is coming from, upwind.

Body Position

Your hiking position in the boat is important. Try to keep the boat level both fore and aft, as body weight too far forward causes the bow to nosedive and too far back creates turbulence off the stern, which slows you down. This applies up and down wind. In light winds it pays to sit as far forward in the boat as you can (i.e. on the deck), this reduces wetted area and thus less water surface friction is obtained.

Steering Over Waves

Push your tiller away from you as you go up and over the wave and pull your tiller towards you when going down the other side. This can gain you a lot of ground over a full race.

Steering Downwind

Downwind steering is just as important as upwind steering. As you surf down the wave face, steer towards the lowest part of the wave ahead.

Working the Boat

You should never stop working the boat from the time the starting gun goes until the end of the race. You should keep working the mainsheet, steering over waves and moving your body to keep the boat flat. Also looking for wind shifts, tide movements and other boats around you. If you can do all that together and be efficient at it, you will become a winner, and that is what yacht racing is all about.

Upwind: The key points are to increase weather helm and create efficient wind flow over sails. Body and helm movements must be super smooth so as not to disturb wind and water flow. It is critical to remain calm, both mentally and physically (this is not easy as you often have to remain in the same position for long periods).

Use mast pre-bend and outhaul to flatten mainsail.
Tighter rig tension will pre-bend the mast (for dinghies) or ease rig tension to power up head sail for racing keelboats.
Have both jib and main luffs eased to create a few horizontal wrinkles, allowing the draft to move aft for better light air sail shapes.
Sheet both main and jib with twist to leeward on leaches to help wind flow.
Be careful not to over sheet the boom. Use the boom well off the centre line in very light breezes and only when sure of your boat speed, attempt to sheet further inboard. Boom down for further drive.
Keep jib slot open and flowing, remember boom is further to leeward than usual.
Rake rudder aft and centreboard maximum forward to increase weather helm feel.
Position crew weight to leeward and forward to create more weather helm and reduce wetted hull surface. Crew should be careful not to disturb wind flow in the slot between the jib and mainsail.
Try to steer by watching wrinkles along the jib luff (on monotypes, the main) allowing them to be slightly back winding for best flow. Try to create correct weather helm feel by careful use of body movement. Don’t allow the helm to go dead by flattening out leeward helm. Try to balance the boat for light airs using rudder and centreboard positioning, rather than having to use too much leeward heel to achieve the desired weather helm feel.

Reaching: The same principles apply as for upwind, i.e. best wind flow by having luff wrinkles slightly backing, combined with good helm feel. For double handed boats the key is your use of the spinnaker and pole height combined with course steered.

You need to position the pole higher when tight reaching as this opens up the spinnaker luff allowing you to point up higher into the wind. If your course is low then your pole height must also be low in order to keep the spinnaker filling. The helmsman must then decide just how low he can afford to steer and still fill the spinnaker. Good communication with the trimmer. The helmsman must be able to subconsciously feel the weight of the spinnaker sheet. The weight decreases to the point of the spinnaker collapsing, then the helmsman must steer a slightly higher course and maintain the balance between good speed and best course to mark. Using the variations in wind speed is critical to fast reaching legs i.e. pointing down in the puffs and up in the lulls.

Running: In very light airs running utilizes the same principles as broad reaching or low course reaches, finding the right combination of boat speed versus best course to mark. As wind increases your gybing angles should become smaller, allowing you to steer more directly downwind.

When it comes to which part of the race course to sail to there are some golden rules. Follow the below rules of thumb to maximise your chances of racing success.

On a short beat keep to the right – hand side of the course.
Find out which way the current or tide is flowing.
Head for deep water and the outside of bends when the tide is with you (the opposite when the tide is against you).
If everything is equal, tack up a 60 – degree cone.
Stay well inside the lay lines.
Tack on headers.
Sail towards the centres of wind bends.
On a one – sided beat, sail the long leg first.
When sailing cross – tide, point into the tide and use a transit to sail a straight course “over the land”.
Gybe on wind shifts.
Choose the gybe that takes you most directly to the leeward mark.
Keep strong tides under your lee bow.
Go for the downwind end of the finish line.

owen

Avoid being blanketed.
Avoid the hopeless position.
Avoid being lee – bowed.
Start near the forward (upwind) end of the start line.
Ignore the position of the windward mark when deciding where to start (provided the first leg is a beat).
Keep in the front rank before the start.
Take a transit so you know when you are on the line.
Keep between your opponent and the next mark.
Off wind, keep your wind clear and try to sail straight for the next mark.

Owen