This category focuses on developing good boat handling & performance skills. These skills will help you develop stellar boat speed, solid tacks and gybes, and smooth mark roundings.
This is Part 2 of a 2-part series with Allan Terhune, Jr., North Sails – Manager One Design North America Division. He shared ideas about boat handling, why the leaders appear faster, the importance of rounding the windward marks well and more at the…
Our recent post, Learn to Change Gears, focused on three upwind “gears:” footing, pointing, and max VMG. These gears rely on changing the angle of attack. In this post we address another form of gears: using sail controls, rig tuning…
Top sailors know how to “change gears” to adapt to the needs of the boat. In this post, we discuss three primary gears for sailing upwind. In a future post, we’ll discuss using these gears in different wind and wave…
Basic jib trim on a dinghy is not difficult, but beginning racers need to know a few things. In this post, we discuss the importance of the jib and a simple approach to setting the jib leads and sheeting. Why…
You probably don’t want to imitate the picture above, but you can raise your sailing game if you learn to hike harder and smarter. Hiking takes effort, but by being fit and using proper technique you can get better results…
As a follow-up to our series on Upwind Mainsail Trim, we wanted to sharpen our skills at analyzing upwind sail shape. With the help of a former sailmaker, we photographed sails and studied their “flying shape.” This post discusses what…
