#sailingcoach

Get Better Racing Skills - I have copied below excerpts from an excellent article that was featured in Yachts and Yachting https://www.yachtsandyachting.co.uk - Improve your Racing Skills - written by Toby HeppellStarting outIt’s possible to start racing at club level after a relatively small amount of tuition and this is the best route to start building on your initial skills.Don’t worry if initially you’re at the back of the fleet at your club. With a methodical approach to learning, a rapid improvement in your performance is possible.Many clubs and classes also run coaching sessions for adults and young sailors. These are usually a very effective way to notch your skills up a level and identify areas on which to focus afterwards.One of the most fascinating aspects of racing sailboats is that there is always something more to learn.Many sailors stagnate at a particular level, beyond which they don’t improve, or only make a frustratingly slow climb up their fleet. Often sailors in this position start to look at improving their boat and gear, perhaps buying new sails, to step their performance up a level.While it’s true that this will make your boat faster, it won’t make you a fundamentally better sailor, which is the overriding goal you should be looking for in the first instance. BOOK FOR YOUR SAILING BUDDY (and one for yourself)The Learning CurveOne way to avoid a flattening of your learning curve is to develop a mindset that makes analysing, and learning from, your performance in each race an automatic routine.The old adage that a good sailor looks at the race they’ve just sailed and asks: “How could I have done that better?”. This is just as appropriate for someone in their first season as for aspiring Olympians.Having a post-race debrief is a good way of doing this with a key aim to identify and eliminating mistakes.Sailing different boats in different places and with people whose experience doesn’t exactly reflect your own, you’ll learn at a far greater pace. Avoid only sailing your own boat at the same club and with the same crew.Spending up to half your time afloat practising will make a huge difference to your results. But if you can’t manage this, even 10 minutes at the end of every day’s sailing will make a big difference over time.Core ElementsConcentrating on the core elements of boatspeed, and basic manoeuvring will usually show the biggest initial rewards.Start by fully understanding how all the sail controls, outhaul, vang, cunningham etc change sail shape, particularly in terms of the full/flatness in different parts of the sail and twist.Another fundamental is to understand the steering effects of the sails and the way this contributes to the balance of the rig.At its simplest, power in the jib tends to turn the bow away from the wind, and powering up the mainsail tends to turn the bow towards the wind.If you want to luff up towards the wind, hauling in the mainsheet will help speed the turn. Equally, the mainsheet must be eased before bearing away from the wind.In strong winds, many boats won’t bear away unless the sheet is eased. Even in lighter conditions, you’ll need to apply more helm, which creates drag and slows the boat.Using sail trim to help steer means you use maybe only half the amount of helm, which is much faster.Improve your Racing SkillsChanging gearsBoatspeed requires a combination of sail trim, accurate helming, and good balance and trim. Settings for a particular wind speed in flat water won’t work in big waves, or in light air.Acceleration gear is used when sailing upwind in waves and each wave will tend to slow the boat.After coming out of a tack on a keelboat, it can take up to a minute to build up to target close-hauled speed.Acceleration gear is also often needed in extreme conditions, either in lots of wind or very little.This gear is achieved by sailing a little off the wind, with sheets eased to suit and with slightly fuller sails. Cunningham and outhaul are also eased if the acceleration gear is to be used for any length of time.Work on basic manoeuvres in light to moderate wind strengths, up to the strength at which moderate hiking is required.Roll tacking and gybing are crucial skills for dinghy sailors, especially in light and moderate conditions. The boat should come out of the tack faster than when entering it.Mark rounding is also important to follow the ‘wide in, narrow out’ principle.Spinnaker hoists, drops and gybes are crucial to clean mark roundings, yet few keelboat and yacht crews practice them outside of races.FREE CHAMPIONSHIP SAILING GLOVESSailing DownwindDownwind helming in planning conditions is an important skill for dinghy sailors. This requires different instincts to helming upwind in gusty conditions, or downwind in a displacement (non-planing) boat.The key to bearing off in gusts is to dump large amounts of main plus spinnaker sheet if necessary.In these conditions, both mainsail and spinnaker will tend to turn the boat into the wind. The main will probably already be right out, but the kite sheet will also need to be eased to allow the helmsman to bear away on a gust.The vang may need to be dumped to further depower the upper part of the mainsail.In survival conditions, most gusts bring a risk of capsizing or broaching. You’ll need to bear away aggressively the moment the gust hits and before its effects are felt. The aim is to keep the boat flat.In less extreme conditions, a small luff, before bearing away for the gust increases apparent wind. This will start accelerating the boat even before the gust hits.Similarly, heading up at the end of the gust will maintain the increased apparent wind strength for longer. In this way, you retain control of the boat, while maximising the distance sailed on each puff.Background knowledgeIt takes time to fully understand the Racing Rules of Sailing. Therefore it’s something you need to keep referring to and building your knowledge of.Too many people, even those who consider themselves seasoned racers, don’t fully understand many of the basic rules.On-water practice isn’t enough on its own to progress your skills. It’s also important to build a core of theoretical knowledge and reading is an important way of doing this. In particular read all that you can on rules, tactics and sail trim.Don’t worry that many such books are impossible to digest fully in one sitting. On the first read, you’ll take some important tips away. In subsequent readings, many more useful lessons will become apparent.

With the sailing season fast approaching in the Southern Hemisphere, and winter series in the North it's time to get sailing fit. Physical demands of high-performance sailboats and the weight limits in many one-design means that fitness is in the spotlight.Design of a Specific Sailing ProgramBeing robust and resistant to injury should be the primary factor when devising a strength & conditioning program.Seek professional help to create a program to focus on your sailing discipline. Current strengths and weaknesses will be assessed and will be taken into account before you start.CLICK FOR FREE SAILING GLOVESPhysical Attributes Required For SailingAerobic Capacity - Get Sailing FitAerobic capacity is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can use during intense exercise.Sailors need to tolerate repeated efforts over a varied time frame being the duration of a race. This of course depends on the type of boat they sail with off-the-beach boats and sport boats being the most demanding..An example would be grinding. Being able to sustain this action over an extended period requires endurance and an efficient aerobic system.Agility - Get Sailing FitAgility is one of the most overlooked physical attributes in sailing and is difficult to replicate in a gym setting.Attempting to be too specific is often where sailors and their coaches fall short. There are many examples of complicated agility drills that could be simplified for less time investment.BalanceBalance and agility are required when moving from different positions on the boat while sailing in varying wind and sea conditions.Attaining balance is a non-transferrable skill. The way that balance is required on the boat is highly unpredictable so training for balance is a waste of time.Time spent sailing in various conditions is the best way to develop balance.Strength - Get Sailing FitDevelop strength with structural balance in mind and this goes hand in hand with robustness and injury resistance.Sailing athletes are often ‘pull’ dominant. Muscular structures that initiate pulling motions are often overdeveloped relative to ‘push’ dominant muscles producing numerous muscular imbalances.It is also important to focus on posture as more often than not this will limit strength long term and put the sailor at greater injury risk.CLICK FOR FREE SAILING GLOVESTrainingA serious sailor should allocate time to train around 3 sessions per week.Complete Aerobic capacity sessions on either the same day after sessions also later in the day or on separate days.Top Eight Sailing Exercises - Get Sailing FitI looked at plenty of sailing workout routines and selected several based on simplicity and adherence to the above principles. The most common exercises in these plans are: - Sailing on a windy day - Hiking on a bench or ball - Chin-ups or lat pulls - Inverted rows - Leg extensions or squats with leg curls for muscle balance - Sit-ups, planks, or leg lifts with back extensions for muscle balance - Rowing - Cycling, Running, or Elliptical

Insight into Running a Big Boat Program. Brett: For something a little different from the normal sailboat racing tips I am speaking with Rod Hagebols, an extremely well-qualified professional sailor and accomplished sailing coach. A few Classes that Rod has sailed: Int Cadet, Fireball, Flying Dutchman, Int 14, Etchells, Star, J24, 12m, Soling, 1D35, Quarter Ton, Farr 40, Sydney 38, TP52, Maxi. Rod's Notable Sailing Achievements: - Victorian & Australian Champion Fireball, - Australian and Pre-Olympic Champion Flying Dutchman, - South Pacific Champion Int 14, - Coach James Spithill Youth Match Racing Worlds & National - Coach - John Dane III and Austin Sperry - USA Star class representative Beijing Olympics 2006 - 2008 - Overall, Winner - 2010 Rolex Middle Sea Race - Lucky TP52 - Overall, Winner Line honours/ IRC - 2013 Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam - Lucky TP52 - Overall, Winner Line honours/ ORC - 2017 Palermo to Montecarlo - Lucky RP63Rod's going to enlighten us about what goes into campaigning a large boat on the international circuit.FREE BOOK - TIPS and STRATEGIES Brett: When we first met, you were heavily involved in dinghy sailing with a view to representing Australia in the Olympics. What was the impetus to get you into keelboat and offshore sailing? I was lucky enough to do some sailing with David Gotze out of Brighton and did my first offshore race with David on the Sword of Orion or Brighton Star back then, which was a Reichel Pugh 43’ and we did the Melbourne - Hobart.In my first offshore race, we broke the rudder just on the other side of Bass Straight, near King Island and unfortunately, we had to make up the emergency steering, which I can tell you wasn't that flash but luckily the wind was blowing us straight back to the heads.We spent 24 hours, me and another young guy, hanging onto the spinnaker pole out the back of the boat with the floorboards strapped to it.So that was my first foray into offshore sailing. But it didn't put me off. I guess from that point on, I learned about preparation and making sure your emergency procedures and everything are in place because I saw firsthand sort of what could happen if things go bad. That started me off on the offshore program and big boats. Obviously, I don't think there was any real paid professional sailing going on back then. And actually, the size of Maxis back then, the big boats back in the 80s and '90s, I think the big boats you'd call a 60-footer.Well, it's amazing how the boats have just got bigger and bigger and now we're into the 100 footers.Not too many professional sailing gigs back then. You just sort of did it for the love and still do. I didn't really see it as a career path.It was more just learning about sailing, and there were a lot of good guys and a lot of offshore sailing back then.But I got into it I actually did that, as well as the One Design stuff and found it a very good marriage.SAILING TO WIN So that's where it all started. - And so I moved over to the USA back in 2000, and I lived over there for 15 years. And during that period, I did half a dozen Transpacs and Pacific Cups. Pacific Cup is San Francisco to Hawaii, and Transpac is from Los Angeles to Hawaii.They were a lot of fun. I think I did three or four of those on a One Design 35, and we were four and five up. A great boat, a good downwind boat, designed by Nelson-Marek.It was 10 days at sea going hard downwind, and so I learned a lot about downwind driving, and it was a lot of fun.And during that period, I did some sailing on a Transpac 52. They were looking for a navigator, and I put my hand up to navigate for them.The owner also had an Etchells, so I did the Etchells program and the TP52.And that's how my role as a program manager and tactician came about. My first tryout was our first Etchells regatta down in Miami.We ended up third out of, I think it was like 90 boats.I didn't really know where it was headed at the time. Never would I have imagined that I'd be looking after a Maxi program. Brett: So, you were the sailing master on the boat I believe. Rod: Yes, a few of us are involved at different levels. There was a sailor who looked after the boat in terms of maintenance, and he delivered the boat to the venue.That could be by ship or on its own bottom by water. His job was also to make sure all the equipment got to the venue and all the equipment was ready to go when the teams arrived.Now in terms of the teams, at that level it becomes a lot of work in managing, let's say, payroll. How all that works and the agreements you work out with the crew because everybody wants a different thing.The simplest way for us was to work out a tiered system in terms of payroll because obviously, some people are more experienced than others. In the old days, people used to work for food and board. Well, that's changed a lot since and there's a lot of people with their hand out these days.If we go to a venue where there's a big regatta on, the logistics are not just payroll, but room and board and feeding the people. There is also the time when people need to arrive.If you've got 22 people standing onshore twiddling their thumbs while the work is being carried out on the boat, it gets expensive.You've got to make sure that as the team members arrive, the boat's prepared in a way that either, you can have a full team there, the boat's got to be ready to go sailing.If it's not, then it's the partial team there who helps with the preparation over sails and so on and so forth.So it's sort of like a three-phase arrival pattern when we go to a venue, and that includes when the chefs arrive and when you're cooking for 25 to 30 people. It's usually at a regatta site.FREE BOOK - TIPS and STRATEGIES You won't get a restaurant for that many people at a set time, By far the cheapest and most time-efficient manner is to have chefs or a chef and a couple of sous-chefs who prepare lunches each day and have dinner ready, and lunches and breakfasts, if that's necessary, depending on the venue.But the most important part for us is the dinner at night when we come home, to make sure it's ready and we can all have meals.Usually, we'll have one central house where the meals will happen and then usually there's either a bus that goes around picking up crew, or sometimes there's a couple of trips bringing crew in.Quite often, if the house isn't quite big enough, we will do two sittings with the meals, and you rotate that each day. There's a lot of moving parts. Brett: So gone are the days when everyone used to sleep on the boat or wherever they could end up. They're long gone, I guess. Rod: Sleeping on the deck is long gone. We certainly don't rough it. We stay in some pretty nice housing, and we get well looked after. So that part of it has changed. Brett: You mentioned that the boat can be configured differently rating-wise depending on conditions expected at a regatta venue. Rod: Let's say we're going to go pick an event, basically, we look at what the goal is for the event, and we take a good look at what the venue is like, what the weather is like.Then we start working with our navigators to work on a weather modelling and see what sort of winds and conditions we're going to have.So that then helps dictate what sort of sails we may work on for the event.So we don't throw endless dollars at a sail program. What we do is, rather than replacing a whole wardrobe, we'll take a really good look at the sails that will be up most of the time and make sure those sails are in very good, if not new, shape.SAILING TO WIN And we try and look at that in terms of IRC rating. And, you know, one of the biggest things I learned early on with the rating stuff is there's no point, especially with IRC, there's no point in carrying big sails if they're not going to be up in the air. Just because you've got the big sail onboard means you're getting penalized every second of that race that that sail is on board.So if you're going to take a big spinnaker, for example, you've got to make sure that it's going to be up. Let's say you're doing the Sydney - Hobart and you've got a massive spinnaker. Well, you want to make sure the weather means you're going to have a lot of downwind.If you're going to have three hours of downwind and you're paying, 2 hours and 2 days and 20 hours of penalty, is that worth it? That's the juggle you've got to do. Brett: So, Rod, with your rating you have different certificates for different situations? Rod: Yes. Brett: How long out before the start of the race do you have to nominate which rating you're using? Rod: Usually in the notice of race, it stipulates when the last certificate can go in for the race. And that's usually about a week to two weeks before the event starts. Brett: So, you're still taking a bit of a risk, aren't you, with your plan? Rod: A little bit of a risk. As an example, you know a Sydney - Hobart's changeable, but a week out you sort of get a rough idea. So, you're better off to have a close guess rather than no guess. And then if you're not sure, you can always hedge either way a little bit.But when you get races like Transpac, that's not IRC. You go to Asia where you end up with weather patterns that are very trade wind-orientated.FREE BOOK - TIPS and STRATEGIES Brett: Okay. So planning is pretty important at the start of the regatta? Rod: Well, yeah. When you consider, what the sail budget could be. Yeah. I have to look up what the spinnaker the value of a spinnaker is, but it's not cheap. Brett: How many events would you do a year? Rod: I think the average over the period has been about three big events a year. Brett: Okay, logistics are getting the boat there, whether it goes by ship or on its own bottom? Rod: Yeah, that's right. And so there's a lot of planning that goes on with that.Three 40-foot containers follow the boat around as well as a 40-foot chase boat.

I have copied below parts of an interview that I conducted themed Observation and Sailing with Super Coach and super competitor Adrian Finglas. Adrian is an extremely experienced coach and has spent more hours in a rubber duck coaching than just about anyone else on the planet. Brett: do you approach your regatta differently in big or small fleets? Adrian: Great question, Brett. Sailing in big fleets is very different from sailing in small fleets, so the priorities have got to change.The big fleet, you know, the basic thing that I think about is risk, so you're always trying to minimize the risk. It's a little bit like gambling, going to the casino, putting all your chips on the table, and having a crack.But, you know, sailing in small fleets is more about speed. And so, yeah, the different way you approach regattas, depending on the numbers is definitely something you think about.FREE BOOK - TIPS FROM SAILING LEGENDS Brett: How do you avoid, or do you avoid risks on the racetrack? Sailing at the level you are sailing at, you're at the front of the fleet so probably you don't need to take the same risks as someone back further in the fleet. Have you got any thoughts on that? Adrian: I think it doesn't matter where you are in the fleet, you're always managing risk.The regatta I just did with 90 boats, the Sabre states, there was a lot of risk involved at the start line. You had to be always managing the people coming in from behind, late in the sequence.So just make sure that you're not ever flat-footed. Always swiveling your head, making sure you're looking around everywhere. Just trying to see or foresee the potential pitfalls coming up.A lot about observation. Sailing in a big fleet you got to observe a lot. And that's a skill in itself. Brett: Part of that observation would obviously be looking for where the good guys are. You've got to plan your strategy based on who's around you at the start. Adrian: That's an interesting thought, Brett. Many years ago, one of my mentors, the famous John Cuneo out of Queensland. John was a gold medalist in the '72 Olympics.When I was a young lad sailing Sabre’s, John said to me, "Starting is like being a boxer. If you stand flat-footed, you're going to get hit."So in the regatta we just did, I was always on the move, always changing my gaze, looking for other boats coming in. But also changing my boat position. The competition has a little bit of doubt in their mind about what you're going to do.So, I love that old analogy, "Don't be flat-footed on the start line. Keep moving and shaking and keep your competitors thinking."FREE SAILING GLOVES Brett: What you said about keeping your head out of the boat, I hear that from a lot of really good sailors. That's probably one of their key differences from the rest of us further back in the fleet. Adrian: You're looking up the course along the way, there's a few phases with observation.You're looking at long-term, midterm, and immediate-term, You're constantly going through those observation phases to try to capture that information and change your plan.And the older I've got, I've got glasses on, and I can't see as well these days.I am always washing my optical sunglasses so I can see up the course, to make sure I am capturing those little wind lines accurately. Brett: You mentioned planning for legs. How far out do you plan the next leg? Do you have a plan before you get to the mark, or do you wait until you get there? Adrian: No, I try to get a bit of a snapshot...especially on what the breeze is doing before I approach the mark. The other thing, as I'm sailing to the top mark, I have a bit of a visual on where the reach mark or the downwind mark may be.So you've got a basic idea of where things are situated. So you got that rough plan in your head and then when you get to your mark. You're prepared somewhat for the visual on where the mark is or the pressure is. Brett: And whether you're going to go left or right on the downwind. Adrian: Yeah. So you do plan ahead a little bit. Brett: But basically you've got to have your head out of the boat because situations change.

I have copied below excerpts from an interview I did with Mark Bulka on Mark Rounding - Planning and Placement.Mark has won World, National and State championships in a number of different classes ranging from single handed monohulls through to catamarans.On top of that he is an accomplished Ocean Racer and has competed in a number of Sydney to Hobart's as sailing master.His experiences and thousands of mark roundings have given him a unique insight into what it takes to effectively carry out this manoeuvre. Brett: As you get close to the weather mark, I have heard you talk about where you don't want to be.. Mark: I always called it the "death zone," from the mark backwards and this area here in the last 400 meters is another area we just didn't like to be.It really gets ugly as people get spat out and start to come back, it just becomes this mixed up area, you're ducking people and unless you right at the front it's a pretty bad area. Brett: in a big fleet, the air is even more disturbed and when you're closer to the front of the fleet there are fewer boats, what do you do if you are deep in the fleet?. How far out do you plan your weather mark strategy? Mark: It's an evolving situation over time and there's a lot of luck involved as well because you only need someone who doesn't care about you so much to lamp on you at the right time.Or perhaps it's your mate coming across...he's more likely to give you a little bit of breathing room. So there is a lot of luck involved and... Brett: So what you're saying it depends on the boats that are out there because it might be someone who you're racing against for a regatta or a championship so they're not going to give you any leeway at all. Whereas, it may be someone from your own club who might have a bit more respect and say, "We'll look after Mark because he'll look after me”. Mark: Certainly at the Olympic level, it was a no go to ever tack on your...on anyone else in the front group.It was a lot of respect amongst the sailors and they were happy to fight it out with shifts and not try to hammer you early on in a race anyway.They would probably hammer you on the last beat if there was nothing in it but, you know, there was a friendly...because they know if you do it to them... Brett: It's going to come back. Mark: It's going to come back so it's good to have as many friends on the water as possible so, you know, that's really important as well. Brett: Something we just spoke about before, how would you normally approach a weather mark if you find yourself well back in the mob in a big fleet? You said an interesting thing about, sometimes you're better off coming in later on the port tack lay line perhaps. Mark: If you're back in the fleet obviously it's pretty hard. There's no magic trick all the way back up, but there are some things you can do that can pick up big numbers of boats.One, don't go to the starboard lay line. That will always lose you ground, I have never seen a starboard lay line work.Perhaps if you're on an A class cat which is accelerating...you know, accelerates by 50% of its speed by overlaying, but a boat like an Etchells which doesn't actually accelerate at all you're just guaranteed to lose heaps of groundIf you're looking for a big pick up of places, the port lay line is actually your best chance to pick up a lot of places.You can pick up 20 boats in a solid Etchells fleet just coming in on the port lay line, but as I said you've just got to be prepared to take a big duck at the end if there's no hole.You know it's a risk. I think it works 80% of the time but, if it's a really bunched up fleet and there's no holes, you've got to be prepared to go back early. Brett: Pretty good odds, 80%, isn't it? Mark: Yeah, the other way we would do it is the one thing I don't want to do is come in...like I said, you don't want to go on the starboard lay line but you don't want to go underneath the starboard lay line and have a wall of boats either.So I would always tack back when I knew I could still hold my air.So if you're in 10th place and there's a bunch of boats already lobbed up on the starboard lay line, a bunch of boats on the port lay line, and you can't obviously get right up. You tack before you lose your air on the starboard lay line.So it might be 50 meters short of it, it might be 100 meters short of it. Whatever will still give you a lane of breeze getting across back towards the mark. So that's one way I determine when to go back.Obviously, if you're 30th, then there's no air. There's boats coming from both sides. That's a bad situation but there are less boats coming on the port lay line than the starboard lay line.You’ve got more chance on the port lay line and again, this middle zone here it's a terrible place to be. In a big one design of fleet there's nothing going on here in the middle, upwind or downwind. Brett: So what you're saying is you got to make a choice as you're approaching the weather mark. You make a choice whether you keep going back to end up on a port lay line, You don't want to get in that death zone as you called it. Mark: The death zone's no good and the starboard lay line is the worst place ever, so. Brett: It's interesting when you're seeing a big fleet you'll notice that the guy’s right back get in the starboard tack parade. The further back they are, they end up sailing a hell of a lot of extra distance and they can't dictate any terms at all. Everyone else dictates to them. - Mark: And the boats on the starboard lay line are going so slow so a boat coming in with speed on the port side of the course will generally...you know, these guys will be squeezing, squeezing each other out and trying to stay high.This guy will come in with so much more speed and maneuverability to be able to put himself in a position. Brett: Because everyone's guarding their position on the starboard tack lay line, they're going higher and higher, trying to keep out of each other’s dirty air, and they're going slow. Mark: And the other thing is most of the boats on the starboard lay line, they're often over the lay line so, the rule does allow the boat on Port to tack as long as they don't cause the boats above to fetch. There's actually a lot of opportunities to tack underneath just at the end.