The 5 Essentials, is what we can do in the boat without any effort, to make the boat go faster on either still (Inland) or moving (Coastal) waters. The 5 Essentials are spoken about on the majority of RYA Training Courses be it racing or training, basic or advanced and they are known in the training and racing world as the basic factors, that if you get them right, then you will sail more efficiently than the person who doesn’t. So what are they?
Balance / Trim / Centreboard / Sail Setting / Course Made GoodThey are not in any particular order, but I kind of like to build them up in a systematic way – I start with the movement of helm and Crew, what they can trim and where they go. So let’s look at each one in turn:
Balance:The Balance of the boat is the side to side heeling effect of the hull, so the helm and crew have to hike out or sit in to ensure the boat is exactly flat (or in fact leaning slightly on top of them up wind)
– Top tip is “Flat is fast”. (I realise that we do heel the boat in some circumstances, but for general conditions, keep it flat!)
Not fast, both boats are heeled to leeward Flat and fast
Trim:The Trim of the boat is the fore and aft heeling of the hull, so the helm and crew sit forwards when beating (Going up wind) to dip the bow in to increase the waterline length and reduce the boats leeward slip, then moving backwards in the boat when going downwind, onto the planing surface. The best way to ensure that you have it right is to look at the transom at the water exiting the hull (Without leaning backwards!!!) and you should have a nice smooth flow off the transom, the lack of sound can also aid you (Quiet is good).
Centreboard:Normally, when we are sailing conventionally, we have the centreboard down when we are beating (Hard on the wind), then raise it when we are reaching, and raise it almost all the way when we are running (Sailing downwind), but what we do when we are sailing asymmetrically, we leave the centreboard down all the time. We don’t move it but I do know that Tim Hulley and John Cox are playing with raising the board downwind in light airs when going deep, (We tried it at the Nationals and it’s a scary place to be, very unstable!!!)
Sail setting:
A Flappy sail is not a happy sail” is something which we always say to people on a basic sailing course and it is always true. The way to set the sails is to start with the jib, pull the sail in until it just stops flapping, and you should always be trying to ease the sail. Then when the jib is set, set the main in the same way, and again always try to ease the sail. The telltales will assist. On the Jib – if you pull the sail in unit both the windward and leeward telltales fly, the sail is set. If the inside telltale stalls or spins, pull the sail in or bear aware, if the outside telltale drops or spins ease the sail or luff up. Top Tip “Inner telltale drops, pull in, outside telltale drops, let out”
On the main, sail on the fourth corner, watch the telltale on the batten, if it flies away from you round the back of the sail, ease the main. If the telltale comes towards you, i.e. wraps in front of the sail on the windward side, pull the main in.
(These are the basic sail settings and do not take into account other sail controls, kicker, clew outhaul and Cunningham, we will look at these separately)
Course Made Good:This is the course you sail, it is a fancy way for saying it is the route you sail taking into account wind direction, tide, other boats, wind shift, when you tack or gybe, how often you tack or gybe, other boats, the course itself etc etc. So this is where there are no right or wrong answers and it is probably the one we all struggle with. Inland sailors do well at sailing the wind shifts, they seem to tack on the headers and stand on the lifts. There may also be a benefit in not hitting the corners, but use a couple of tacks up wind and a couple of gybes downwind rather than hitting the corners where you may be in trouble.
Conclusion:The 5 Essentials, are the 5 things, which, if you concentrate on them will make you sail efficiently therefore faster. The sailor who gets the 5 essentials right for most of the time will certainly win the race. If you change one of the 5, you should be looking at the other 4 in a cyclic process.
And finally………The rudder is NOT one of the 5, hence if you feel weather helm or lee helm (Tiller being pulled out of your hand) then you are doing something wrong, usually the sails are over or under sheeted!!