2018 Florida Masters

By Doug

I took a five month sabbatical from sailing after breaking my ribs training for the Croatian Master Worlds and am happy to be back on the water again. The final day of the Florida Masters was held in the open water with a strong gulf stream and the biggest waves I’ve sailed in for five years. Note to self: no practice + big waves = a bad result. I was embarrassed to be the top GGM.

Or maybe others are getting faster. Former GM world champion Peter Shope finished 5th. Mike Matan just retuned after training for 2½ weeks in Cabarete and was fast, finishing 4th. Dave Chapin and Ari Barshi were fast and finished 3rd and 2nd respectively. But the event was easily won by Ernesto Rodriguez who finished 3rd at the Master Words in Croatia last year. Ernesto had great speed and explains how he won both races on the final day.

New Settings for the Mk2 Sail

Brett Beyer has updated our cheat sheet for sailing upwind in choppy water, and the changes are shown in red. It's interesting to note that:

• there are no changes to how you play the mainsheet in any condition,
• there are no changes to sailing in 5 knots or less, and
• the most changes are for setting the outhaul.

Brett can be contacted here. When we give a clinic, we print and laminate this chart so that people can tape it to their Laser. Here's your copy...

For questions and comments from Brett, click on comments...

Brett Beyer’s Personal Experience With the MK II Sail - an update...

Brett has just won the Aussie Laser Masters, again, beating 38 competitors (and discarding a 1st). While his speed downwind was good, he feels that his speed upwind was not. Here's his report.

By Brett Beyer

I used a brand new MarkII sail at the AUS Master Nationals. About half the fleet used the old cut sail, including some very competitive sailors. I’ve seen the sail in use many times line up against the old cut sail but this was the first time I’ve had the opportunity of using it myself.

Upon first impression, as expected, was the sail has very nice shape and produced more power (but more weather helm) than the old sail. This suited the flatter water and light breezes very nicely. The deeper head and firm leech really provides great feedback and feel. This was very nice upwind, on reaches and downwind. In fact, downwind is where sailors that struggle to precisely set-up correct vang will mostly benefit. It is simply easier to get right downwind and on reaches.

This is all very positive so far and is an easy decision in such conditions. It is when the breeze picks up along with the chop that things can begin to change around.

With most of our races sailed in choppy 8 – 15 knots, I found the sail too ‘sticky’ upwind and couldn’t release the power easily enough. This is usually done with either downhaul and/or vang, but this sail suffered when I pulled any of these systems on. Also, simply getting the sheet tension correct upwind took so much attention away from my sailing that it was difficult to have anything left over for tactics or technique. Any upwind speed advantage I used to have was no longer there with the new sail. At best, I could only stay with the top guys upwind and made all my gains downwind mostly due to technique and not the sail.

Brett in the middle - downwind speed was good.

The perplexing thing for me was that some of those ahead of me were using the new cut sail and seemed to make it work upwind. So whilst I was coming first across the line, I was quite disappointed with my performance upwind. After 3 days of racing I had made up my mind to definitely not use the new sail for Worlds, preferring instead to rely on the predictable performance of the old sail.

On the last day of racing, I had my only upwind where I felt the speed was superior. This, in similar conditions with similar set-up. So why? It seems the sail, with its firmer leeches and better quality cloth needs more ‘break-in’ time than the old cut sail. This was the general agreement amongst those that have used the sail far more than I have.

So, what sail for the Worlds?

• Answer 1: Old sail if you can’t get enough training time with the new sail.
• Answer 2: Old sail if you are already comfortable with your speed/height/versatility upwind and wave catching downwind.
• Answer 3. New sail if you think wind will be lighter, water flatter and you have good sheet tension skills.
• Answer 4. New sail if you can get to use it in training for more than 1 week.
• Answer 5. New sail if you expect good winds (14kts+) and have good upwind technical skills and fitness.

Brett Beyer’s Personal Experience With the MK II Sail

by Doug

Brett in Kingston winning his 11th Masters World Championship

I mentioned to Pam that I wanted to try to make it to the Florida Masters week in February. Her knee jerk response was ‘then you better buy that new sail now and start using it and not waste the opportunity.’ Oh, the joys of being married to a sailor. Even a self-described ‘batshit crazy, menopausal’ wife seems to remain a sailor first and a wife second. Or maybe I just got lucky.

So, before spending the money, I decided to check with Brett Beyer and get his opinion on the break in time and competitive life of the sail. His reply surprised me. He bought a new Aussie boat and it came with the new sail, and he is currently on the fence about using it in Mexico.

With Brett's permission to share, here are the noteworthy points of our exchange:

Doug: From your experience, how long does it take to break in and how many regattas do you think that it will remain competitive? I noticed that the MK II is being made by both North and Hyde. Do you have a preference?

Brett: Most don’t realise that, at this point in time, there is a third manufacturer. Neil Pryde made in China. The Pryde sail is the only one we have access to in Australia. Time will tell if there is any difference.

I have a new sail supplied with my new boat … I am having second thoughts about which sail to bring over [to Mexico]. I have seen the MK II sail in a breeze and don’t think it is as good as the original. Up to around 15 knots it is an easy decision, but over that, I am not convinced as yet. For sure there are some variations in set-up with the new sail and we’ll have to get used to that in the future.

We have our Aussie National Masters in February and I plan to compete myself and use the new sail. I will decide on which sail to take to Mexico based on that regatta.

… I see the new sail as being pretty good straight out of the bag. The cloth is heavier and the shape better so not much push and shove required for the sail. At the top level, we were upgrading [the original] sails about every 30 sessions, maybe less if it those outings were generally windy. I can only imagine the new sail to have better life with the upgraded cloth quality and thickness.

Doug: … [Do] you mean that over 15 knots the original sail may be better? I would have expected the opposite.

So if Mexico is under 15 knots you'll probably use the MK II, and over 15 knots (which many expect) you're still undecided?

Brett: Yes old sail may be better over 15 knots. The Cunningham doesn’t work on new sail as effectively so the concern is how to reduce power on new sail. Vang on and ease/play sheet seems to be only option and this adds another dimension to upwind. Whilst I'm quite happy to play the sheet to balance power, I know many Masters will not/cannot.

And if Mexico has swell, then this becomes even more critical and I’m not sure with my 88kg and ability that this is the best option. …

Doug: … why is the MK II better under 15 knots?

Brett: The new sail has straighter and firmer leech and better shape at top 1/3rd of the sail. This produces more power, and theoretically, more speed. But only if you can manage that power. With good technique.....good fitness......or enough lard, it seems you can manage this extra power up to around 15 knots.

Stay tuned ...

The New Laser Mark II Sail

by Brett Beyer

Brett is the current Master World Champion, an event he has now won 11 times. He has worked with Olympic sailors from multiple countries and is the best coach I have ever met. Brett has written some of our most popular posts, including:

• Why the Aussies win more at the Olympics
• How the US could improve it's Olympic coaching
• Sailing upwind in choppy conditions (see the table in the margin)
• On-board coaching downwind

Brett has been assessing the new Laser Mark II sail in Sydney. Here are his comments.

This week, one of my guys tried the new sail for the first time. We had a range of wind conditions from 5 knots to 15 knots so it was a good test. My initial impressions are:

• There is no leech flutter at all – so that will be an improvement.
• The tapered battens conform to the natural sail shape better – so that will be an improvement.
• There is less lower leech hooking – so that will produce less weather helm.
• The mid to upper leech really stands upright, even with firm downhaul. This I feel will produce the biggest (potential) difference. Bigger/stronger guys can enjoy better/more consistent sail shape for longer up the wind range before depowering.
• The use of downhaul now doesn’t need to be excessive as this is not an effective depowering device, like on the old cut sail.
• The depowering will now be more reliant on vang and outhaul – more like the Radial sail.
• You can produce a flat/depowered sail and still have nice consistent sail shape. ie no mismatch of shape.
• There is not the amount of knuckling on the luff when some downhaul is pulled on. Seems the sail is cut with less luff round down low.
• The top tapered batten produces rounder shape up the head which will be more power for lighter winds/bumpy water.
• There is still some diagonal wrinkles from mast join to clew but not as bad/deep.

I’d like to see a top class sailor use the sail in over 15 knots to see how the leech responds. The old sail just stretched and with excessive downhaul did twist off the leech a little. I’m not sure that will or can happen with the new sail, hence the reliance of vang over downhaul.

So, I think the sail will be an improvement in most wind and chop conditions. Because of the very firm and upright leech, I’m not sure how it will go in 5 knots and bumpy water and then in 15 knots or more. There will be some re-learning I suspect of how to get the rig to be slightly more ‘elastic’ in bumpy water, i.e. more leech movements.

Given all that you have learned, do you plan to use the new sail at the next worlds?

I am convinced the sail will be better in light to medium breezes and flatter water. I'll wait to see a top sailor use it in a breeze to see how the leech opens up. I suspect it won't and therefore you have to rely on excessive vang like the Radial, but that is just a slight variation. So that only leaves light wind and bumpy water where I think the new sail will be a disadvantage.

I will use the new sail in Mexico as I think it will hold its shape up the wind range and therefore suit bigger guys like me.

An update from Brett:

We have just concluded the NSW States Titles over the weekend with around 50 Standard Rigs. Probably 10 were using the new cut sail. It seems to have a slight downwind advantage as well. Not necessarily in raw boatspeed but the firm leeches make getting the exact vang tension more forgiving and more accurate over a broader wind range.

The new sail does produce more weather helm and over-sheeting is more of a risk in the lighter winds. But to me, these slight variations are not enough of a disadvantage/risk to not use the new cut sail.

We don’t have access to rolled sails in Australia so the choice of rolled vs. folded is made for us. It is early days but I suspect the break in period will not be as long or as critical as the original cut sail. Better and stronger cloth with better shape means the sail is fine straight out of the bag.

Update 1/15/2016:  additional impressions

Sailing Upwind in Choppy Conditions

2012 (c) Brett Beyer

Waves. They are our friend downwind and our enemy upwind. They add another layer of technical skills and it’s little wonder that waves separate the fleet very quickly. Anytime you are sailing far enough from shore, or in a sea breeze, we are exposed to waves. The size of the waves often determines the type of rig set-up. Although the Laser has a simple rig, we still have the ability to pull a particular shape into the sail. For example, in flatter water, we may want a flattish sail that is set up for low drag and to control whatever the wind strength is. However, in choppy water, we want a sail that is more forgiving to changes in steering angles, but still has enough ‘torque’ to push through waves upwind. The sail will look (and feel) very different for 8 knots flat water compared to 8 knots choppy water. So here is a clue straight away…..ask yourself, are you setting the sail for flat water or for choppy water? Well now you have to have a definition of “choppy water”.

I think the definition of chop is when going upwind, that the waves either make you change direction (by slapping the bow away) or slowing you down (by slamming into the bow). Either of these situations is damaging to speed and height and we now have to steer more aggressively around the waves. But now the rig must accommodate this extra steering range. It must be broadened in its ability to be efficient both when (momentarily) high and low. How? Add more depth to the entry. That is Cunningham. Most people are reluctant to use this as we associate it with depowering on a windy day. This is true. So we need to apply just enough Cunningham to add entry depth, and no more. Similarly, we use soft vang to achieve the same result. A straighter mast also means a deeper entry so we make sure we are not too hard on the vang in winds less than say 12 knots. With a softer vang, we now have full control of sail shape with mainsheet tension alone. It becomes very simple. In bigger waves, ease a touch of sheet. This straightens the mast, adds depth and power and relaxes the leech a little. Perfect for finding that extra punch in bigger waves on lighter wind days. As the wind strength increases, just add more and more downhaul and vang in equal portions.

It is not easy to quantify the above amounts, but is intended to give you a guide as to what you should be focusing on for best rig set up to match the wave conditions. It is not appropriate to produce a similar guide for downwind as waves are largely sailed in a technical way where sail shape is not the major factor.

Now that the rig matches the wave conditions, all that is left is to steer correctly. I can hear you asking the question now, but this is best left to another time!!