Gybing - Thoughts from Steve Cockerill, Frank Bethwaite... and me

By Doug

In the post about Laser Mainsheet Snags, comments were made about how Steve Cockerill's video suggests letting the boom out to initiate a heavy-air-gybe. I commented that surely letting the boom out would not work because it would be too unstable.

The boom is waaaaay too far out. But even a little out makes things unstable.

Then one of the sailors that Steve sponsors said this comment was correct and the reason for letting this boom out was to intentionally make the boat unstable.

So, let's recap:

• We're in strong wind on starboard and want to gybe.
• Almost all top-level events are held in open water, so there are probably big waves - a tricky situation.
• Steve suggests letting the boom out which is how you invite a death roll and swim (the twist at top of the sail is pushing everything to windward).
• The center of effort is now to the right of the boat which now wants to bear off.
• This initiates heavy air gybe with little or no rudder movement.

I have never tried or even seen this, but it's brilliant!! Except for one problem - it's a controlled heavy-air-death-roll-that-ends-up-in-a-gybe. Steve is a better man than me because my priority for a heavy-air-big-wave-gybe is getting the boom across without tipping.

This brings to mind comments from another world-class sailor. Several years ago, there was a Sailing World cover story article by Frank Bethwaite about how you bear off in a strong gust rather than the more intuitive heading up. 

Trying to head up in a strong gust.

Frank called this 'steering for balance' and it was controversial at the time, with lots of people saying that Frank was wrong. Frank was, of course, correct.

One of the key points Frank made was that by turning sharply in a gust, the boat wants to 'trip' over the centerboard. And the higher the speed, the more the importance as you lose control from the pressure in the rig.

I learned this by accident about ten years ago practicing on a local lake in a 30 knot breeze. With each gybe, the boom would slam across and there was a huge pressure on the rig and in the steering as I tried to get the right balance again. We've all had this problem.

So I tried something different and for me, counterintuitive: as the boom slammed across and I was on a new tack, I bore off to head straight downwind - steering for balance. The helm went neutral and everything worked beautifully, even in 30 knots.

So here's a combination to try when it's really honking - sheet out a little to start a gybe, let the boat bear off on its own, and as the boom slams across, bear off sharply to neutralize the helm. Oh and Ute, try to not wrap your mainsheet around the end of your boom!

In the 90s, the Worlds courses included a gybe mark and in a breeze it was referred to as the graveyard because so many boats would tip at the mark.  My practice sessions would include gybing at a certain point in a breeze and not waiting for lulls.  The goal was to have enough practice and confidence to gybe at any time while maintaining control at all times so that I could maneuver around boats that were scattered in the graveyard. That era inspired Laser sailors to practice and perfect various techniques.  That's the key ... pick a technique that works best for you and then practice it until you're comfortable.

Keep it Level

By Doug

Someone asked me a question that I thought was strange. "It's been suggested that I put a level on my Laser... where would you suggest I put it?"

You know, a level used by carpenters. I guessed that this was the result of a discussion about keeping a Laser flat. But were they talking about flat vs. heeling? Or keeping the transom out of the water? With so few surfaces on a Laser that are level to begin with, where would you put it? And how would you read it without moving closer and changing the heel/trim before you could read it?

Way too complex for my little brain.

Here's a much simpler suggestion: let a small amount of water into the cockpit and then keep track of it during a race... in the middle as much as possible to keep the boat flat, on the leeward side when it's very light so that gravity helps keep the shape of the sail, and on the windward side when there are no waves and you want to dig in your centerboard to get more lift. I like to get my Laser going and then look at the back of the cockpit to see if the water is where I think it is.

That's the in-and-out trim. Fore-and-aft trim is easy and does not require any water. Just keep your weight as far forward in the cockpit as comfortably possible until other factors become important. Like having to hike or having to work your Laser over the waves.

So much simpler.

Julian Bethwaite on Fast Handling

by Pam

With Julian outside Bethwaite Design - March 2012

So, I really wanted an answer to the question in my recent post, Fast Handling vs. Natural Handling, so I asked Doug if he would ask Julian Bethwaite if he could answer it. Of course, he could, and he did!

Julian Bethwaite is the son of Frank Bethwaite. In addition to working closely with his father, he is an extremely talented sailor, and an extremely talented designer. Pretty much all high performance dinghies can be traced back to one of Julian’s designs, in addition to the asymmetrical spinnaker, the upside down vang, and some trapeze thingy. I met him briefly, shook his hand, snapped a picture with him and was suitably impressed with how laid back and super cool he was. Then, we later saw him flying across Sydney Harbor testing out some new rigging on one of those numbered ‘er’ boats. I envy that man’s lifestyle. 

So, here’s the question I asked and the answer I received:

My Question:  Frank's work with the simulator helped him see the difference in fast vs. natural handling. How do you take the fast handling know how on a dinghy and transfer it to fast handling on a bigger boat? Specifically, how does a good dinghy sailor transfer fast handling knowledge to a bigger boat that far outweighs him and doesn't respond to his body movement, and, similarly, how do I apply it to a full rig Laser that outweighs me and doesn't respond to my body movement when the wind picks up?

Julian’s Answer:  Regarding the simulator, the fact you can have 1-2-3 people sailing the same course, under the same conditions and the same people do it consistently faster, and you also have print outs of their tiller movements, their sheet movements and their hiking responses or their preemptive moves, then with some deductive analysis that dad was so good at, the differences and the consistencies in those that do and those that do not, stand out and scream at you.

Then with a tad of taking a "natural" sailor and suggesting "fast" techniques and seeing if there was a corresponding increase in their simulator performance proves the point. As mentioned to get that to come across to on water performance had a few more hurdles to jump, but again, he got there.

Regarding reaction to a boat that may weigh many times more than the crew, like a yacht, I find the biggest issue is being preemptive and also getting the boat in balance. If you know what to look for and again, sailing simulator will teach you that, but so will a good coach, then getting any boat in balance will make it go so much better, dare I say automatic. Regarding yachts, a few years back I sailed on a boat called Occasional Course Language or OCL for short, it was a Farr 40 but designed for ocean passages. Consistently we found the boat had lots of weather helm, and we also found it was not quite stiff enough (taller Carbon mast may have done that).  So we went from a L keel to a T and added 500kgs [1100 lbs] plus we also extended the fin aft at the keel line maybe 300mm [approximately 1 ft]. Moved the CLR [center of lateral resistance] aft, helm went back to a appropriate windward helm, boat went 5 degrees higher and about 0.5 knots faster on average, it just did not slow down.

So long way about answering your question, but that, a) getting the boat in balance and b) being preemptive so seeing the gust coming, luffing before it hits, getting the traveler down before the gust, and then squeeze everything back on before bearing away which is all simulator learning, all makes a significant difference.

My Observations:  If I read between the lines, first, I think if Julian had sailed a C Scow, he’d probably redesign it.  And second, I believe he’s telling me I can learn to sail a full rig Laser in wind.  Not that I’ll be competitive against a big guy, but it should teach me plenty about balance and anticipation.  Doug thinks he can teach me those things so we’ll see how the winter goes.  Of course, it’s always possible that the first face full of freezing cold water will be the end of my sailing until summer.

Laser Cheat Sheet - Sailing Fast Pipeline 2

By Doug

Cheat Sheet.  My preparation for the Laser Master Worlds has always been practicing on Dallas lakes and then arriving early to hopefully get a feeling for the open-water conditions. One of the really cool things is that the Master Worlds are often scheduled right after the Open Worlds, so I got to watch Robert Scheidt win in Algarrobo, Cancun, Cork, and Hyannis, as well as watch his epic battle against Ben Ainslie in Melbourne. Robert was easy to pick in a crowd because of his fore and aft movement in the boat - he really punched through the waves and I'd listen to various discussions about the legality of these movements. The consensus was that something this beautiful to watch was surely legal. In fact, many feel that Robert redefined what was "legal" in sailing a Laser.

Unfortunately, I also watched another champion win an event that was definitely illegal. I was just ahead of this World Youth champion as we headed for the finish line and could hear his boat accelerating and decelerating as he rolled me. I turned around to watch 90 degree sit-ups.  He stopped, gave me one of those what-the-hell-are-you-looking-at stares, and then continued. I gave up sailing for several months out of disgust.

For those readers who may not be familiar, try this next time you're sailing upwind in a medium breeze: lean in and out so that you can feel the sail fanning or pumping the breeze. With each pump, your boat will accelerate.

Why does this work? Surely, any gain leaning out is negated by the corresponding opposite movement in? The reason is that the pressure is the square of the wind speed. So a 7 mph (square=49) is slower than 5 and 9 (average of 25 and 81=53). The bigger the pump, the bigger the advantage. This of course is illegal in a Laser because the rules state that sailors "shall not otherwise move their bodies to propel the boat." And at judged events, the things that judges look for is this in and out movement and also the resulting movement at the top of a mast.

So, we have a fore and aft movement that is legal and an in and out movement that is illegal. Sailing at night helped me find something in between and, yes, it's legal because I've had World's judges watch and follow me without objection from just a few yards away. Disclaimer: this is what works for me - if you disagree with any part of this, please post your own comment.

Besides being illegal, there's a problem with an in and out movement. On the left, we can see that the additional pressure on the sail is sideways and not forward, so it's not very efficient. But on the right, a movement that combines both in and out and fore and aft works with the part of the sail that moves your boat forward. And the more the fore and aft the movement, the closer we're getting to Robert's legal movement. And if it's so subtle that there's no movement but rather just feeling the slight changes in the pressure at the front of the sail, the top of the mast does not move and it's legal. And it's fast!

Sailing at night helped me develop a better feeling for Laser sailing and taught me to focus on subtle changes in the direction that I want the sail to go, both sailing upwind and downwind. This was really obvious when watching Robert sail downwind:

Photo courtesy of sail-world.com

Sailing update: Robert is now the current world champion in the much larger Star class and is Brazil's Olympic representative. And yes, he does sail it just like a big Laser:

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com

Laser Cheat Sheet - Sailing Fast Pipeline

By Doug

With the Cheat Sheet articles about "be smart" completed, I'm going to post some thoughts about "be fast" (you can review the 3 sailing gears here). For me, these are the conditions above 5 and below 15 where boat speed is everything.

I grew up and learned to sail in Montreal, where Bruce Kirby and Ian Bruce introduced the Laser and yes, I knew some of the people working at the original Performance Sailcraft. But I left for Sydney a year before the Laser was introduced and it was not until five years later that Frank Bethwaite suggested I buy one. While moderately competitive, I did not win a major event for the next 15 years and was never fast enough to go to the open worlds. It was not until I as in my 40's and I bought waterfront property in Dallas that I really learned how to sail. After putting my sons to bed, I'd go for a night sail as a way to wind down, and certainly did not expect this to change my sailing forever.

You see, sailing at night was completely different because it cut me off from from my regular senses. I could not see the sail or waves and could not judge my speed, but I could feel the boat and hear the differences in speed as my boat moved through the water. After a few months, I found a whole new way to sail, everything from getting more lift from the centerboard and trapping differences in wind pressure to going through certain types of waves faster.

It was amazing, and I started winning major events on boat speed alone. Instead of trying to figure out the  local shifts, current, and conditions, I simply picked a person I wanted to beat (more on this here) and then went with that person. If I got behind, I'd stay with the leader instead of taking a flyer. Boat speed made me a more patient sailor.

It's interesting to note that my vision was failing at this time and I was on the way to slowly going legally blind. But rather than slow down or quit, sailing at night actually helped me improve enough on my own to win master national and world championships (I wanted to keep my vision issues private but some people figured out that I could not properly see laylines, wind patterns, and even my own sail).

I tried variations, like sailing during the day blindfolded to simulate sailing at night. But believe me, it's not the same because I really had to starve my normal senses to make this work. For most of us, sailing at night is impractical and even dangerous. So rather than recommend this, I'm going to share everything I learned to improve my boat speed.

Everything was centered around what I call "pipeline" which is a term I got from watching the skiing halfpipe competitions on TV. In the middle, they're going the fastest and they slow down and stop on either side. Speed in the middle is everything, and pipeline is my way of describing the feeling of finding something in the middle that is really fast. I used this feeling with the only real controls I had sailing a Laser - my mainsheet, my tiller, my weight in and out, and my weight fore and aft. While this might sound simplistic, there are many combinations that are really fast, and my purpose of sailing at night evolved into getting extra boat speed from these four controls.

For example, heading up stalls and slows the boat down and you counter this by leaning in. You then bear off again and lean out as you accelerate. While the pressure on the sail changes, the top of the mast does not move, so it's completely legal.  Pam calls this "fishy" because of the way the boat goes through the water, and can be really fast in 6-10 with small waves because it leads to a trick I learned called "pressing." This will be discussed in more detail.

The truly great sailors instinctively find and use the fastest combinations of these four controls to give them additional speed. The most gifted sailor I have ever watched is Robert Scheidt. In my next Cheat Sheet post, I'll discuss my observations of how he used his fore and aft movement to go over waves which contributes to his distinctive style and amazing speed.

Wednesday Night Lessons - 2

by Pam

We arrived at the lake planning to sail two boats but my boat became disabled upon rigging. I won’t say what happened but I didn’t do it. So, we sailed double-handed again and I got to see an up close demonstration of boat handling that still has me in awe.

First, I worked on steering upwind and downwind, trying to use less helm and get back to feeling the boat. Doug would lay on the bow looking at the sky and could feel when I did something right or wrong with the gradual progression toward getting better.

Then Doug took the helm. The boat is like his avatar. He grabs the main sheet, tiller and connects his butt to the deck and there is this transformation where the boat becomes an extension of his body. He showed me windward heel, trapping the wind and using it to squirt forward. He did this thing over and over and described every step as he did it. I could see it, feel it and even hear the acceleration of the boat. He’d say ‘the guy next to me didn’t do this and I just gained a boat length.’ I saw what he did but can’t even fully describe it. He’s completely tuned into the wind and the boat and it’s a multi-coordinated movement of weight, helm and sail adjustment and the boat just digs in, grabs and wind and water and takes off. Just an amazing feeling. If I could sail a boat like that I’d be out there all the time.

Then the light went on. I’ve been scanning portions of Frank Bethwaite’s book, Higher Performance Sailing where he is talking about the difference in a sailor that simply relies on the helm and steers the boat versus one that uses coordinated movements. The difference is exactly what Doug and I experience when we sail at the same regattas. One of us is at the middle or back of the fleet and the other is at the front. And according to Frank’s experiments, that will never change until I learn to coordinate my movements. I definitely want to learn more about the sailing simulator Frank has developed that can take an absolute beginner and after 90 minutes a week for 5 weeks, have them sailing with the coordinated movements and speed of world champions and they never develop bad habits or intimidation of heavy wind. Surely, I read that wrong ... or why wouldn’t everyone want to learn to sail that way.

Wednesday Night Lessons - 1

by Pam

While in Australia, we learned that some clubs are teaching beginning sailors a little differently than they have in years past. They now put them in a bigger boat that will accommodate the student and coach, and as a result, the kids are learning at an accelerated rate because they are getting instant feedback.

Last night was on the breezy side and I wasn’t up for an experience of struggling with the boat so Doug and I sailed double-handed in a full rig. Two things happen when we do this. One, I’m instantly at ease which means I can focus on feeling the boat and the wind and I am able to pay better attention to what is being taught. Two, I learn the boat’s edges because, without even trying, Doug is constantly demonstrating what a balanced boat looks and feels like.

So, I learned a few basics things that were noteworthy:

First, Doug taught me to recognize waves going downwind and where and how to jump on and off. We were heavy and flattened most of them but it did give me something to practice on my own. The jump on and off point were actually different than what I thought. Doug is now learning how to jump waves, so it would seem the whole wave technique is something that continues to evolve. And of course, my definition of waves is totally different than his.

Second, Doug took the helm and we sailed downwind with the boat perfectly balanced and he demonstrated that once the boat is balanced going downwind, that if you let out the main and do nothing else, the boat immediately tries to tip. Main in, balanced. Main out, tippy. Good to know. I hit the tippy stage before most people and now I know how to stop it. And apparently, Tom Slingsby actually sails downwind with his main in more than most but, of course, his angle is such that he’s sometimes on the verge of a gybe. Still, it tells me that by choosing to sail conservatively with the main in, I’ll be more balanced and probably not losing too much speed.

Third, Doug centered his weight on the boat which simulated the feel of sailing a radial upwind and I was able to take the helm, hike and sail the boat by myself. I learned that I will rarely sail with the boat block to block since there is only a small wind range where it will be possible at my weight. I’ve often struggled with getting the main in since I simply don’t have the strength. He showed me how to luff up quickly, bring the main in, then pull the vang on HARD, then ease the main sheet so that it goes straight out (not up). There is a huge difference in pulling the main in when the vang is on hard versus not. Then I’m able to play the main to keep the boat moving through the water instead of feathering.