Sailing in Waves, Learning From Mistakes

If we want to consider sailing with finesse, then why not look at some points we know we are personnally weak within and sail with the opposite of finesse, clumsiness. Helming upwind in waves has been a bug bear of mine over the years, but I have by in large cracked it now.

Finesse actually begins off the water with judging the conditions for the day and rigging the boat for the conditions.

Many keel boat racers, especially outside one design in cruiser-racers, really miss a big trick especially if they have a fractional rig. You can also bet the lower half of a one design fleet are also sailing with the wrong rig settings.

If you are going to be sailing in choppy estuary conditions, which can get really steep despite being only maybe a meter and a half high, or if you are sailing in a big sea then the first thing to check is if your rig is stable. A friend of mine bought a j109 rigged and left it (against most advice) rigged over the winter. We sailed an early summer race in 30 knts with me trimming main, and I had to fight the thing the whole way, even when we put a single reef in. I felt the rig later, just the outer pair and they were soft. He asked Norths who had rigged the boat and they said it had last been sailed in light winds and they had slackened off the rig.

Rig

When you know you are going to be beating to windward in a choppy or rough sea, then the first thing to check is actually the forestay. A key sail setting you want to achieve is being able to bring the draft of the jib forward, which you need to have a tight forestay to achieve.

Also as mentioned you want to stabilise the rig, and this means  by having both the fore/aft triangles taught ie good tension, as well as the shrouds being in enough tension to hinder side to side instability. It wil surprise you how much a rig can begin to bounce around when confronted with both gustier conditions and a steep chop to sail in. What seemed like a nicely setting rig in flat water,  becomes a shakey flagpole! The accelration, decceleration and impact  shock from the hull all put vastly more dynamic loading and  unloading pressure on the mast when sailing in 'significant' waves than in small waves or  flat water.

The third reason for considering forestay first, can be very critical in some boats, is that you want to reduce the amount of weather helm in the boat by bringing the tip of the mast forward a little.  In boats like the Melges 24 and the Etchells 22, the mast tip only needs to be five centimeters wrong each way to really affect the realtive performance of the boat in a fleet, or to give unwanted weather helm in waves.

It is usually worth measuring the forestay length and very precisely on a dinghy and using a Loos tension gauge and then checking against class rules firstly so it is not to short or long, and then recommended settings. Some forestays are very standardised, like the sigma 33 or the Beneteau 25 Platu so you can then go by the position of the tensioner be it a rack and pin or a bottle screw, or on some dinghies and small yachts, a combination. Some boats like the Melges 24 have a through mast system with the bottle screw under deck, others like the HOD35 have a hydraulic forestay, while some others like the j35 have a mast ram which tensions the whole rig by pumping the mast up against it. However as mentioned you want to avoid weather helm for sailing in waves, so checking the forestay setting is worth it before you pump the hydraulics.

If you are not sure about the desired setting, then get a sail maker to go out with you and take some photos up the jib vertically to then see how the jib halyard tension helps move the deepest part of the sail, the max draft position. In waves you want it forward to on or just before the first third of the sail's chord legnth ie as the crow flies from tack to clew, the deepest point is at one third of the way in. 

You may need to experiment, but a hard forestay will give you good 'knuckle' in the jib for sailing deep and steering with power in the sail, while also stabilising the rig.

The next rig to consider is the backstay accordingly, which on some boats where it is running pretty freely on a purchase system, will definetly affect rig stability and weather helm. On many small to midsized boats with fairly bendable rigs you will find that the backstay will first tighten the whole rig up before it induces any bend in the mast. It will also move the tip of the mast backwards if the forestay has any give realtive to it. Once on harder, in a fractional rig it will bend the top 1/3rd of the mast, thus opening and flatteing that portion of the sail, useful for both depowering and inducing twist. On mast head boats, if it is powerful and the rest of the rig is well tensioned, it will bend the mast all the way or where ever it is likely to bend to which is worth talking to a sail maker or other owners about to avoid unwanted effects !

On boats with running backstays, in fact the same goes for the forestay at least- too long a forestay will mean that you first draw the rig back over long before you induce any bend in the rig. So if  you sail say an X99 or a First Class Europe and you get bad weather helm when it is windy, then try shortening your forestay before you sail. Then the runners will be stabilising the rig as soon as they are on, and progressively bending the mast more than they rake it backwards as they are 'beasted up'.The backstay should not be forgotten because it wil help open the top of the sail, but also importantly it will stabilise the rig during tacks when the runners are released.

With sailing dinghies you have the advantage of no back stay while also being able to load up the rig on dry land. Here the mainsheet acts like a backstay and both stablises the rig, induces rake and increases bend if it is powerful and the rig is pliable. It can be much easier to fiind the draft positions and the rake on land, but also it can be trickier to set them just right because just a centimeter at the mast head can make a big difference!!

Shrouds are the next thing to set for the conditions, and as mentioned these should be set for firstly rig stability, and secondly any pre-bend for winds of over 9 knots in dinghies and about 12-14 in sport boats and yachts. With adjustable swept back spreaders, it is best to both refer to the tuning guide and also make measurements of the prebend, the rake and the forestay as well as noting the tension on a loos gauge.

Too much prebend makes the mast notably shorter in chord legnth to the hounds and the forestay can become slacker, countering your earlier attempts. This means that the boat uynder way when mainsheet and back stay are applied will develop too much rake and may have an unstable forestay (laterally)

Also too much prebend in waves is bad because it can flatten the mainsail too much and you can loose power you actually need for punching through waves.

Running Rigging (sheets, cars etc)

The rig now you have set up for stability, correct rake, a tight luff on the jib and correct depth for the wind strength but deepened a little to add power.

Now there are three main things to achieve while sailing upwind in waves

i) "knuckle" in the jib, ie depth well forward
ii) An open slot
iii) Twist in the main sail and jib

Knuckle means that you will be able to saw around in the waves, steering through a good 5' range or more while the jib keeps drawing. Really fast IAACC boats and light no 1 genoas on regatta machines are designed to have a more efficient shape with the draft further back and often relatively shallower and this is not good for a dinghy or cruiser-racer out in a 5 foot chop of wind against tide! Their fine entry as it is called, a sharp cutting angle, needs to be sailed in a much smaller range of angles of attack to the wind, and the sail will stall if the helmsman started to steer outside the 'groove' for those settings.

The open slot is important for a few reasons, but it firstly helps the air simply pass between it , especially as you plunge down waves or are hit by gusts. Also as you steer through the waves it means the main will not stall so often on its luff. Finally it does depower the 2+2=5 effect for the two sails.

Twisting the jib by drawing the sheet cars backwards, and easing out a bit on the sheet opens the slot up a bit, but also if you have inhaulers you can slip these out. For sailing in waves you want to consider using a smaller foresail in order to achieve an open slot, a good knuckle and matching main twist.

The main is then twisted off at the top, with even use of the traveller taken to the mid point in up to force 4 or more. Twist reduces healing while increasing forward power as the sails are pointing forward more. Correspondingly it decreases pointing by the top leverage effect being reduced, which is also desirable, but it does set a max height to which you can point before losing the effect of the sail. Top tell tale then should fly all the time in any difficult waves.
It is a hard ask of a main trimmer, but on some boats in waves it can pay to play the main sheet rather than the traveller in waves because you keep the boat powering while reducing heel in the gusts. Traveller dumps depower the boat and it can take some time before the helm feels the groove is established afterr a dump in a gust especially with just a couple of adverse wave hits.

In a dinghy too, you may find that having a really hard kicker, vang sheeting as it is called, can be counter productive in waves and you are better sailing lower and with more power, using the main sheet to depower while holding a low course through the waves.

Helming

Once you have actually given rig setting a good tweak and discussed this, observed it, measured it and so on it is time to get out and try it out. You may find that sailing your dinghy on lake chop now becomes a lot easier, and when you first race your progress is much better despite the bow looking like it is pointing lower.

In small chop or soft longer waves then you may find the boat now punches through and you more or less hold a course to the jib luff and sail away from your previous position in the fleet. Suddenly as it has done with me, you get the feeling for good boat speed and no longer fighting the boat.

As the chop gets bigger and we start to climb notably and slam down the other side of waves, then we need to use more helm to steer us through.

Generally percieved wisdom is to luff up until the bow passes the crest of the wave and then fall off. The falling off achieves two things, firstly it reaccelerates you with most of the boats water line in the water and secondly you avoid slamming down into the trough and having a lot of water resistance as you dig into the next wave.

However this is not always the case. Sometimes we see that the current wave ahead is small and we can keep the boat pointing. This is partly what Frank Bethwaite talks about in 'aim for the flatter parts' but also that you have an advantage to gain if you can keep going a little steeper uphill when the waves allow you to so to speak. You may indeed find that you are in low-fast punching mode with little active steering until every magical 'seventh' wave which you then have to steer the bow up and over, avoiding stalling in the trough.

Your rig should be set then to allow for all this helming without much sheeting if any in a keel boat, and little in a dinghy. There should be more to gain in having all your crew hiking out in the middle of the boat on a keel boat, or in using your body weight (look up Kinetics) and helming in a dinghy to make the split second movements to get ontop of the wave and off it at a lower angle.

Trim and Balance

As mentioned for dinghy sailors there are some advanced ways of moving around in the Laser in particular which help reduce use of rudder while increasing actually power in the mini pumps upwind.

Putting that to the advanced learning side, in general all boats have the same principles.

In lighter chop which means waves which  you do not slam into, rather nudge through, you actually want to trim the bow down a little more than usual because this then allows you to pierce the waves without shaking the rig, while also the wave exits the boat with less drag from the stern and the rudder. This is not mentioned in any text book I have read, but is to be found in a couple of Norths tuning /sailing guides I have seen. It applies to most all boats, but the effect wears off first in dinghies of course as the wave size increases.  In terms of sail sheeting and so on, you still want to achieve more power as the waves are creating more resistance and exit drag than flat water. Essentially you want the boat to punch along without rocking.

As the chop gets bigger then you need to bring the bow up out of the water more, and make sure that you have all the weight you can have around the centre of the boat over the keel area such that the weight oscillates least and contributes most to stability and forward motion. In boats like the Mumm 36, you actually have to trim the bow up quite soon and this can mean a crew hike out aft of the helm and main man. The 36 has a low volume bow section, flaring up with reserve bouyancy,  so it gets deep quicker than boats with rounder bow entries and more even volume .

Remember that the combined effects of bouncing up and down and side to side rotation for hiking crew can mean that they get sea  sick or at least fatigued. So dont be ofer ambitious with your 'active sailing through the waves plan' as you do not want a naseaous crew at the weather mark. Remember twist and back stay to keep the boat balanced laterally as much as you can.

Unfortunetly as the wind builds it tends to get less stable so you then need to sheet more actively to stop too much heel. Some boats can have a very useful effect in waves from just backstay, which can be used as a fine tune for heeling and pointing as you go up wind.  Other boats will eventually need a lot of playing of the traveller or main sheet or both, so it is worth getting the main sheet man to come into the cockpit from the rail.

As a rule of thumb I would say as the waves get to slamming size then go low and fast, and just take the odd opportunity to sheet in or let the back stay out in order to point up when there are smaller waves ahead of your bow. As the sea gets bigger, so too become your helming movements and so too is the twist you will use in the sails in order to induce drive and make for a wider 'groove' in which the boat is powering along.

I would  say as I have done myself, go out and experiment against other boats in OD races or two boat tuning sessions and see if low and fast with little steering and a good deal of relaxed movement pays for you more than see-sawing around trying to go higher on each wave crest and avoiding hte biggest troughs.  Look upon active steering as an added bonus once you know you can sail a low more or less straight line comfortably.

In racing it is really important if you are interested in doing well, to get the crew fully hiking while practicing long before the start. Here in waves upwind you can get a feel for the rig settings and if you are going to go low and fast or if you are going to actively steer, Also you will have a feel for the gusts and if you need active sheeting, and if you will prefer to use traveller and back stay,  or mostly main sheet. It also affects very much your choice of foresail in a regatta machine or venerable cruiser-raccer. Needing to strip down from a number one 140% genoa will upset the crew even more than being overpowered with it up. Also a smaller head sail will naturally lend itself to a wider range of sailing angles and an open slot.

As you gett better you will get more used to deciding gears and knowing your boat's rig. Then you can start to make the fine tweaks and decisions on how high to sail which win back height over the competition without you slamming into waves or fighting the rig as you did years before, like me !