Practice Tips

… a book can only teach us so much. Ultimately you teach yourself. Eric Twiname in Sail, Race and Win The sailing season is upon us! Seems like a good time to develop an improvement plan and go out and…

Unexpected incidents … can jeopardize your results and will need decisive action. Taking a penalty is the easiest solution – hoping for the best and doing nothing is a risky strategy and likely to see you in the protest room. Ian…

The result was electrifying. The catamaran’s performance improved immeasurably, and from only one pound of weight reduction.  Steve Colgate, in Steve Colgate on Sailing. If we’re pitching too quickly, and frequency is the problem, we start spreading the crew, slowing…

Rudderless Sailing This video from Norman Sailing shows Optis using the sails and body weight to steer the boat. Minimizing use of the rudder is a key racing skill and the techniques apply to all light boats. See the links…

We see a lot of sailors struggling to pull in their mainsheet rapidly while retaining control of the tiller. As an example, we’ve seen lots of less than ideal techniques for leeward marks: steering with foot on tiller while sheeting…

In the MC class, your biggest opportunity to pass boats occurs while beating to windward. It separates the top 10 percent of the fleet from the rest. If you want to be a better MC-Scow sailor, boat speed is the…