...What I learned at the Old School.....

 The Old School then, was a way of approaching things- a philosphy : you get the basics in a kind of rough but safe way before you can go on to learn more detailed skills. If you don't understand the larger principle, you will never develop the comprehensive reactions to weather and racing conditions and you will not develop finesse in boat handeling.

What did I learn?  A list in no real order of some of the best stuff I remember at least.

1) HSE : A tidy boat is a safe boat......and a safe boat is a fast boat because accidents are slow!  Able bodied seaman must scrub the decks and coil the ropes. Coiling is a bit of an art, on a dinghy it is very ok to have learned from Derek Andrews how to coil towards the cleated halyard and then roll the coil into a knot on its start, leaving just enough line for you to make climbers coil in the middle and knot it up towards the cleat through the loops. Tidy and quick release. I use that to this day in many different circumstances on and off the water.

Also coiling away in the pit, even if I am main trimmer. I found myself on the Færder overnight as main trimmer, bumping down the fjord in top of force 4, taking time to clear the pit up between tacks and also when we were off wind, clearing the excesses of the gennaker trimmer etc. Alistair Richardson also taught me this on the FC Europe: woe betide any boat who does not keep the halyards tidy down the hatch and the spinnaker halyard free to run!

I teach man over board of course with one in the boat, and two in the boat too. I always teach them to chicken gybe and the whole exercise for crew in particular is a very good instruction in wind direction and maneuvering precisely and safely to the 'victim'.

Also I am very very old school when it comes to commands: "Ready about " MUST be answered and I prefer to say "set up for a tack , one down first". Gybing I am often the only guy calling "heads!!!" and I am sure this has saved many concussions. I like to take the main myself on the Melges, away from the excessive ambtions of the helm in the gybes because I see around the crew and throw the bitch over when I feel it is right and people are ready to get out the way.

2) Points of sail, points of the compass and the whole point of where you are going next..... I am still trying to convince my erstwhile helmsman on the Melges 24 that he does not understand the geometry of the race course and the wind shifts.

In the old school RYA they taught the five things you go through in your head, incessantly on some beats even: course, current direction, sail trim, heel and fore-aft trim. Where are you going to and is the boat in the right trim to get there quickest you can?   Points of the compass - this is something I have also used in land navigation and surveying, as a kind of sanity check and it does indeed pay to understand and helps to interpret in light of weather forecasts and how the geography should be tackled when you sail in sounds and lochs.

You may decide that you want to get out of the tide quicker, or sail into a possible back eddy so get there quickly by thinking about which point of sail will get you there. Some sailors in estuaries reach on the beat to get over the worst current in the middle and over to a back eddy or trustworthy shallow. Other times you may be struggeling with a spinnaker- drop it and go high to protect your wind and lay the mark.

Several times I have seen short cuts, and other times I have seen bananas to sail (once it was said FC Europe at West Highland Week that showed a nasty hole while I saw there was wind on the Mull shore and called it  - a big banana to sail- I think we won our class).

Always be thinking which is the shortest way, or the fastest boat speed to the next mark or round the next headland? Don't trust the fleet : trust what you see in front of you- fleets, especially one design fleets, usually behave sheep-like  and this is for different reasons, but they tend to flock so if you are following or well ahead you can often take a quick decision based on a shorter way to sail and make the fleet follow you!

Then think if there are holes, where is the wind? Is the shortest way a car park?

If you add the old school notion of the tide carrying you in a great bucket of water and going into the shallows or aiming into bays to get out of it and into back eddy's then you can move up the results list if you were not thinking much of that before. Or just have a more rewarding cruise down the coast.

3) Rough sail signals instead of tell tales and windexes and trying to be on a reach when you can. A rough sail signal is usually that the luff backs: on a keel boat it can be that the forestay begins to flatten as the sag is relieved of pressure if you sail a little to high.  Essentially all boats are fastest on the reach in medium winds, so if you have the possibility of reaching towards your goal then do it: ie let the sails out  if you are not on a beat to a well laid weather mark. This may sound a bit primary school, but when the tell tails are stuck to the sail in wind, or ripped off, or there is not enough wind to make these and the windex work, then try pushing the sails out: you may be sitting close hauled in light airs, but a boat will drive itself close hauled slowly, while in fact you may able to slip out and sail a reach on the same course.

Another rough one I use is the jib going "lazy" as you sail by the lee. In strong winds with the spinnaker up I like to either have the no 3 up or have it half way up, so that it is very clear to everyone that we are sailing by the lee and need to head up a little. In  a sea this can mean mainsheet trim and allowing the boat to heel to leeward in order to get up as the helm may be dead. I use this so often and it is a lot better a gauge than the windex believe me and easier to see.

The trouble is that windexes and tell tales lie, they are nasty little fibbers!!! Windexes can get caught in the wash from the exit of both sails, in a vortex effect - that is why TP52 windexes are on a two meter spire above the mast. The instrument panel with windex link on it, is often a little slow to react too.  Tell tales also can be stuck in an old stream along the sail - the sail is still beating on its' surface while the wind is actually at a different angle of attach. The old upwash is yet to change : this is why you sometimes get a wind shift which suddenly backs the sail- the sail ploughs a furrow infront of itself, the upwash, and this pressure bubble will bend a new wind into it, until the wind breaks it.  The same is true if you bear away on the helm: the sail can continue to fly on a beat (as above) but is at the point of stalling: the sail should be let out if you are unsure of the new wind direction to see if the luff backs or if you can shake the old upwash off and get the boat onto a reach.

So it may seem a bit trite: the old school teach you without tell tales and to therefore let the sails out until the luff backs, and trim in, repeating this often. However this is a winning tactical weapon and helps you keep your head out of the boat.

4) Main Sheet Twixt Forefinger and Thumb.... Derek Andrews taught me personally when he saw I was a bit club handed at sheeting the main on dinghies. My attitude was all wrong of course, and I am pleased he corrected it:  Not only did the sail school lack any tell tales, it also had NO cleats for main sheets. In fact they had taken them off with a hack saw.  How was a yachty going to learn to sail with this type of nonsense ?

What he taught me was old school gold dust. In a light airs, up to say force 2 you should be able to trim on and hold the main sail with finger and thumb, "cleating" it onto the tiller extension alone with this finger grip. As the wind blows up you then add a finger to trimming and holding the sail, as you reach force three and then you really should only need one more finger, before it is really blowing and you then use your whole hand to sheet on and help create some more friction by leading the sheet round your thigh.

There is another principle in this, nothing to do with strong fingers: you should not need to fight the sails. I think Derek also taught me or I got it on another course there or at Minorca Sailing, that in light airs you sheet on first to move the boat up to the wind, while in heavier airs you steer first, unloading the main and then sheet on being as smooth as you can until you master it as a curve you follow with sheeting, not a jolt you fight with biceps.

 In more wind on the beat , you get a kind of autopilot effect whereby as the wind tugs on the sheet your arm is pulled down and you luff up on the tiller.

I use this still in bigger boats although even in dinghies I do prefer to cleat off in over 9 knts wind, I just do it for the hell of it otherwise. It is surprising how much feel and finesse you can get by using this approach.

6) The Rudder is a Big Brake Pad at the Back of the Boat ..... the rudder is almost an aid to steering a boat rather than the sole means. In light airs in fact I took this principle of sailing without a rudder, and in racing the Tasar  I used to roll the boat into the tack or luff, sheet in slowly and follow the turn with the rudder. Little or no pressure on it.

In the Impala I sailed, we once had a real chance to get to the right place for the new wind in front of the fleet. All we had to do was tack over onto starboard towards the Mull shore to get to a fresh wind band. We were in light airs but moving, and I knew the crew would be a bit iffy about roll tacking, not being trained up on it. I sheeted in the main gently and moved myself over to leeward rail, standing on it while I pushed the helm round very gently with just a little bit of pressure on it. We tacked round without losing much speed, and two to the guys knew the game and held down until they shot up and rolled the main sail into speed. We shot off up to the new wind while everyone else was messing up their tacks and we had 200 m on them plus windward advantage when we came back onto port to beat up the band of wind.

The Melges 24 has quite a neutral rudder and it is easy to over cook it, the helm has to be a contortionist to get between the main sheet and the tiller which adds to the fact. So really you have to roll tack, and then swap hands before you go through the gap such that your leading shoulder goes through and your new hand rotates around the tiller extension while it guides the boat through the tack. 


On a later visit to Tighnabruaich sailing school c 1999, I asked for one to one tuition on roll tacking and gybing and I was lucky they had laser IIs which are ideal for practicing in with crew. I would later hire a laser single hander from a local sail school and just go out and get a feel for roll tacking and gybing. There are limits to what you can do with crew weight on over 30 feet of boat, but you can also use waves and the main to help induce some roll into the maneuvre.

7) The Wind is a Fickle Mistress   ...coming back to a couple of points above about putting your boat in the right place and testing for changes in wind, thinking of the cardinal points of the compass and the shortest, fastest way to sail or keep way-on. You have to be in love with a fickle mistress - accept that the wind will always be changing and surprising you and you will learn to love her and go with her to beat the fleet, or with her sirens song to the wrong bloody side of the course and blame her for that then. The wind is flickering around an average direction and stregnth for a while, and is tending towards a new direction sometimes or will shift, abruptly.

There are weather signs and the biggest one is how the clouds are behaving- starting with say 8/8ths cloud cover and low clouds- the wind will come in later when the sun burns convection holes in the cloud, or when a new wind comes in and blows this "fog" out the way.  Either way, wait for a bit of blue sky or a change in temperature and then act quickly as soon as you know the new wind direction.

The sequence of weather is often right, but the timing is often imprecise in weather forecasts. So you can read the sequence signs and if all else fails ask yourself what the wind on the water looks like around you.

To me it is still a mystery why wind sometimes lies along the land and dies out off into a sound or loch, and as to why it can suddenly die without warning. However I have won more races and dragged boats up from disaster by spotting the weather shift or the wind on the water often enough to be happy with the wind as a fickle lover.

8) Forget Your Instruments:  If you sail OD, you can use your log during tuning sessions, you should then tune the rig for the day and just look at leaches of other boats to see if you have boat speed on the fleet. In handicap sailing, you can often look to see how you are doing relatively, trying to find boats which you know should be slower than you in particular.   Really in terms of boat speed you can in most boats get a feel for that smooth groove upwind and the pressure in the spinnaker off wind. Having said all this, sometimes some boats feel right but are not optimal and when you are sailing on your own you could take a look at the instruments.

In the successful j109 I was main trimmer on in Oslo, I seem to remember spending more time talking with the helmsman than ever watching the log. ... talking about rudder load and being a little over canvassed, stalling in waves a bit and asking for a big press on the jib while I slipped 2 inches out or down the traveller, whether we stand on and cross ahead maybe, taking height or foot off to get past a starboard boat, rock or headland .... certainly I spent no time at all not the AWA/TWA /VMG dial. This focus on continual trim and decisions to go for the awkward shift to our no 2 (class no 3) paid dividends through two seasons. My arms were also notably longer after a couple of seasons on main!

Outside boat-speed and echo-sounder, the only instrument should be the magnetic compass IMHO. Instruments are a way of getting your head stuck IN the boat, not freeing you to get out of the boat. I still prefer a half hoisted jib in a blow to a windex instrument for seeing if we sail by the lee any day.

9) Plan Your Course; Brief ; and Debreif. 

Planning your day: well I have to say that often sailors can be a bit bloody passive when it comes to "what are the committee going to do with us today?"..... I have been on a weekend RC/RO course and really it is something that any competent team should be able to do themselves and therefore predict: Where the course will be and when the wind will be right to start.

The philosophy here is that of a class room: you plan, talk about your plan and then talk about what went right and wrong, but more importantly what was learned as a team. 

In passage racing it pays of course to go through firstly the dangers, the main challenges to safe passage and the likely progress given the wind forecast. Then you can compare to the tide and later weather sequence predicted and start to build a couple of scenarios in relation to wind, tide, opportunities and threats to safety or to getting stuck in tide or wind shadow or on the wrong side of the course for a big wind shift.


A passage race may have then a set of sub plans relating to short distance and tide eddies, plus a strategy for a predicable, front or sun driven wind shift. Regattas may take a bit of info gathering on the water but the same sub plans, plan A , plan B given condition X and so on rule: This usually relates in terms of tide to the 123-321 tide build in any direction, slack water and then the known time point locally that the tide will turn, and which features will empty first or which back eddies may form. In terms of wind, it means looking for the tell tale signs of wind pattern in the sky and remembering what the forecast said and looking for confirmation in flags, smoke or gust patterns ahead that the shift is as predicted. Remember that for example in thunder storms, a storm will often suck the wind to its centre, which can mean a 180' degree wind shift when the rain starts under it and this can be several hundred meteres infront of the cloud line if not kilometers. A jagged front in the northern hemisphere means a veer clockwise to the right, and these micro phenomenon, squalls in particular are as much dangerous as they can be fortuitous if you go right to be upwind in the veer or to where the big wind will hit first over the course.

Sailing schools and training evenings, should start with a briefing and define the sailing area, discussing the reasons for gathering the sailors in that area and any dangers of being there or straying from there.  It is worth going through the racing signals for the day with all the crew: it involves them and they often will have feedback " should we not avoid the start line on the way down" ..."we are supposed to go east of this cardinal" and so on.

Sailing schools always have a debrief to recap on what was learnt that day and any points on safety. In racing, debriefing is all too often a case that the helm scurries off to find a friend or mentor helm from another boat rather than discuss the wins and losses of the day with the crew around the table. Of course some crew are all to eager to run off for a beer and bitch about the helm. Really it is good to get the boat cleared up early after the race,  and everyone sits around the cockpit or cabin table , or arrange a crew meal at a quiet venue.

Deconstructing your race on the fails and the successes to get a balanced atmosphere is good, to overcome sour pusses and let everyone know that you the owner/helm/crew boss are not unduly negative about mistakes.

You can go over the top in spending time on breifing and debreifing with the whole team, but dont be afraid as Helm or Crew Wrangler to get everyone used to 5 mins before on board, with respect of safety and conditions ahead too- new crew may be introduced as not so super star or au fais with the boat as those regulars -, 5 mins after the first practice beat and then a good debreif focusing on the positives, what individuals learned, and what "challenges" the team could tackle better and learn from. That way the cynics can be either turned to contrubutors or they can make their own mind up and choose to leave the learning curve the boat is on as a collection of people.

On larger boats you may want to concentrate the time on the team leaders and even manage a bit by dividing and conquering: appointing a tactician and having a private meeting with them instead of giving the atmosphere that everyone can play in, which can lead to chaos and maneuvre-mutiny as I call it! Better to take up from the last debrief and get other sub teams to focus on their weaknesses in boat handeling and boat speed rather than the management's percieved failings in tactics.