# Tacking for racing



## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

Okay, lets assume I want to tack efficiently so I can win a race, upwind leg.

How far do I fall off, before sheeting in? Should I sheet hard immediately, or should I fall off by an additional 10 or 20 degrees to pick up speed, then round up. 

The boat in question happens to be a Prindle 16. With 500-1000 foot legs, I'm hitting 10-13 knot boat speeds. It works out to less than 5 knots made good as the crow flies.

I am looking for tips to improve my speed along an upwind rhumb line.


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## overbored (Oct 8, 2010)

Wind speeds and amount chop can change how you want to tack. On a river or lake where there is no swell you want turn the boat to tack so the mainsail fills on the opposite tack. sail off the tack with the main and quickly sheet in the jib. if you are footing just a bit to accelerate then no more the 2 degrees. practice making tacks so the boat slows very little during the tack 




watch the background and you can see how they don't change their heading after the turn any more then a couple of degrees. straight in and straight out of the tack


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

1. If you want to tack _efficiently_ with a planing hull boat, learn to do a roll-tack. 
Go to: 



 --> and then follow other roll-tacking examples in the side-bar. ... and you 'can' roll-tack a 'big' boat too (the jib is 'thrown across' by the _roll_ action of the boat).

2. If you want to be going in the right direction at the highest possible speed:
Learn how to compute 'velocity made good' -VMG which will indicate WHEN to tack and HOW LONG to be on each tack. Some gps handhelds will have a VMG function (to a 'mark').
2a. Dont sail a straight-line tack!!!! sail slightly "S" shaped courses per leg, alternating between slight luffing-up to bearing off --- this will CONTINUALLY 'test' your _full_ set of tell tales and '*steering*' (Gentry tufts) tell tales. This technique will result in '*turbo-sailing*' and will usually result in a gain/advantage of several/many boat lengths 'to weather' by the end of the leg.
2b. Ignore VMG at near the end of a leg; but rather, attempt to 'power pinch' up to weather while maintaining 'some' speed by over tensioning the mainsheet which cause the leech to 'hook up to weather' (same as putting the flaps down in an airplane) which will allow you to 'climb' to weather ---- and you will/may save _several_ boat lengths on the 'next' leg. You'll learn how much mainsheet over-tension is needed and how far from a lay-line or tacking point during the profiling process (as you watch the increased curvature develop in the leech and the sail 'gain' additional camber as a result of over tensioning the mainsheet).

3. Profile your boat (large accumulation of recorded data of actual sailing) for sailing angle vs. sail shaping vs. wind speed / wave height when beating. 
3a. Sail shaping (outhaul) to set maximum output for the day's wind/wave conditions: (before the race) Go onto a hard beat and adjust outhaul in/out until you get the 'best' max. speed and best VMG out of the boat, all other adjustments are based on the optimum settings derived during the 'profiling' process.
3b. Profile your boat vs. 3a. (above) vs. rig tension (especially backstay-forestay tension).
3c. When on a beat, ALL sail, etc. adjustments are based on boat speed !!!!!!!!
3d. For *how read* 'tell tales' go to Index of /Publications/Arvel Gentry Articles and read articles 8, 9, 10, 11

Note: all above maneuvers, etc. are to gain 'inches'. For equally matched boats, the boat that gains the most 'inches' wins the race.

4. practice, practice, practice ... and then practice some more. During a race is not the time to be practicing and experimenting !!!

For tacking legs theres a LOT more than the above; but, the above should help get you 'started' and on the A. 'right' sailing angle, and B. AT the maximum speed possible.

hope this helps. ;-)

*"Turbo" sailing:* 








*Tell-Tale action when 'turbo-sailing':*


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## pdqaltair (Nov 14, 2008)

In fact, the video tack could be improve slightly by roll tacking as RichH suggests. And yes, it is applicable to beach cats, just a little different. The reason is that the boat will turn faster if the weight is on one hull and the weight is relatively far back, getting the bow out of the water. The technique is a little different and it takes practice, but the back winding of the jib can be reduced if you get the boat to turn quicker.

https://www.thebeachcats.com/news/73/roll-tacking-your-beach-catamaran-sailboat/

(I sailed beach cats for decade.)


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

Man, she(the lady) is fast!

My first observation is our sequence is off. I (the driver) has been moving sides first.

Also, I see their jib is way more effective, with better sheeting angles (we're using an old Oday 17 jib).

I did notice they bore off to nearly a close reach then hardened back up. Is this correct?

Edit:. I only saw OBs post then responded. Still need to read the next two.


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

Okay RiccH, that's a lot to take in. 

I think we're doing the roll.

We just need to be faster, more rythmic. It probably doesn't help I've gotten a bit heavier since leaving SAR.


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

Arcb said:


> I did notice they bore off to nearly a close reach then hardened back up. Is this correct?


Slight bear off (of the boom) to a close reach then a quick 'pull in' to get back to pointing is the 'usual' ... OR a slight release of the main sheet to insure a flat leech and a 'push down' on the tell tales (Item 4) in the last 'pic' is another way if your boat accelerates well. Your 'practice' will show you which is 'faster' and with less loss of windward gain. 
Don't get caught pumping that mainsheet, one quick pull-in is OK, two or more and you get a DSQ.

SAR medic, where? Same; but. as an avocation ... in a popular climbing area with friable 'junk' rock. Lots of (US)NSP patrol work, too. Are you CSP?


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

RichH said:


> SAR medic, where? Same; but. as an avocation ... in a popular climbing area with friable 'junk' rock. Lots of (US)NSP patrol work, too. Are you CSP?


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

Canadian Ski Patrol


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

No, I used to be an avid skier but I never ski patrolled. Those guys always impress me. They seem to have pretty good training. 

I did a couple of different things. It was my full time gig. I did some white water stuff as well as emergency towing and that sort of thing.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Arc-
It is possible to tack TOO quickly, throwing a knot (a vortex) in your wake, which creates drag and kills your speed. What is too quickly...you have to just go out one day and practice with your crew and work it out, getting the sails to fill neatly while giving you time to trim and still trying to be as smooth and fast as you can. It can pay to go out as a spectator one day, just to watch how the lead boats or any similar to yours are doing it.
If it was easy, there'd be a hell of a crowd at the finish line.(G)


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

RichH said:


> *"Turbo" sailing:*


It took me years to really wrap my head around this... when I finally starting to really embrace it (I was always part of the don't dig holes with your rudder crowd, and to me this was too much tiller movement), it made a HUGE difference in my performance on the course. This more than even roll tacking. Its taken a couple years but my crew and I are finally on the same page on roll tacking too. He also knows about sailing the S curve, and knows that I do it, a lot. He now gets what I am doing and anticipates my process of Sheet, point, foot, ease, accelerate repeat. He's watched me take a boat that does not point as well, and crawl past a boat that had me on several natural degrees of point.

You can't point if you aren't moving.

For the record you have a hard road with a cat in the same scenario upwind, but it'll make up for it in speed 

As always Rich, stellar post.


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

Thanks for the 'cite', Schnool. 

To be fair, I learned this technique from some of the 'very top' US sailors of the 70s & 80s, many crew members of the AC campaigns and the GREAT Buddy Melges and his (M20, etc. SCOW) protege Bill Freytag. Not being bashful, I simply direct contacted them (and bought a few boats from them) and asked a few questions, etc.; plus, I worked for a firm that contained several crew members of several AC boat campaigns; thus, the easy and expanded 'networking'. 
But that was back in the day when top competitive sailors were very keen on 'expanding the art' and increasing the participation and knowledge to anyone/public who would listen, etc. 
;-)


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

hellosailor said:


> Arc-
> It is possible to tack TOO quickly, throwing a knot (a vortex) in your wake, which creates drag and kills your speed. What is too quickly...you have to just go out one day and practice with your crew and work it out, getting the sails to fill neatly while giving you time to trim and still trying to be as smooth and fast as you can. It can pay to go out as a spectator one day, just to watch how the lead boats or any similar to yours are doing it.
> If it was easy, there'd be a hell of a crowd at the finish line.(G)


Absolutely *Spot-on*, Hello!!!!
Tacking success takes lots and lots and lots and lots of practice ... with a stopwatch in hand and only 'finger tips' on the wheel/tiller. 
If the finger tips are _straining_, you're pushing the helm over too damn hard which results in a SLOW-DOWN. Constant finger tip pressure during a turn yields the least amount of 'drag'; the stopwatch tells you 'how much' helm pressure by the finger tips. 
On precisely 'set-up' planing hulled boats, the best way is to minimize rudder action, -hook up the MS leech to weather by over-tightening the mainsheet - and SAIL her through the (roll) tack (with a wee bit of backwind on the jib at the 'proper moment'), the fingertips then only used for minor corrections of the 'arc' being sailed --- a deadly tactic in highly competitive fleets!!!!!


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

This is all helpful stuff. 

I've made a bunch of notes. I think we will focus on each technique in isolation and compare the results to more conventional sailing techniques. Once we have put some numbers together, we will try to combine techniques.


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## FreeAgent (Apr 19, 2017)

Arcb said:


> This is all helpful stuff.
> 
> I've made a bunch of notes. I think we will focus on each technique in isolation and compare the results to more conventional sailing techniques. Once we have put some numbers together, we will try to combine techniques.


Sounds like good idea! You can over-analyze this stuff. For a start, multihulls are a different beast and what we learned sailing relatively heavy boats like J-24s and small dinghies like Lasers may not be directly applicable. Roll tacking was in vogue in our fleets back then and probably still is. (as was roll jibing for spinnaker equipped boats) But it only worked well for those with crews/skippers who had done a lot of sailing and practicing together. We would try it, but not as successfully as the top boats. Better to tack smoothly (steer boat through tack), ease main a bit and sheet back in as boat starts to accelerate out of tack. More important where you tack! Keep out of bad air and wake from other boats. Especially in the large fleets we used to sail in.

This link is Tornado related, but you may pick up some multihull tips here:
Tornado sailing technics help - Multihull Anarchy - Sailing Anarchy Forums

Regardless, have fun out there sailing! We haven't been out this season yet.


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

FreeAgent said:


> We haven't been out this season yet.


Good tips FreeAgent, You should have some good weather this week end. We've been out a bit this year. Maybe 80-100 miles on the catamaran and another 30-40 on the cruising boat. Doing a nice laid back solo circumnavigation of Big Rideau Lake this week end. Just me and the dog. I'm looking forward to it. I considered Opeongo, but I've only had the boat a couple of months and didn't want to push my luck just yet.


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

Okay, good tips every one. We made huge improvements in speed this week end. We didn't do much different, except the wind was less gusty and generally lighter (12-15 ish). I would say the biggest difference is we were able to sail without a reef. This resulted in lower average top speeds, but higher moving average. Big gains were made on our windward performance. 

Yesterday for example, we covered 29 miles along the rhumb line. 14.5 up wind, and 14.5 down. Our peak speed was around 13.7 knots, maintained a moving average of 9.6 for quite a while and maintained a VMG of well over 6.

Basically, the boat was just more manageable in lighter more consistent winds. No dumping of the main, no reefs, less issues with bottoming out on waves.

We have a new custom jib on order which should help.


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