Greg Fisher's Speed Session

Ever been lapped in a one-design race? The thought had never crossed my
mind, at least not until I gave the Flying Dutchman class a try. My
debut was the pre-Olympic trials, and I painfully recall a race when I
had to look backwards to see the leaders. We finished so far in last
that it was dark by the time we completed the long, slow trip back to
shore. Fortunately my wife, who maintained a better sense of humor than
myself, aimed the car headlights down the launching ramp, and with a
smile asked if we had stayed out for some extra practice.

After such humiliation you might ask, "Why bother trying a new class?"
After all, if you're comfortable sailing your own boat and finishing
pretty darn well at times, why rock the boat? The answer is simple: new
boats demand new techniques, and if you want to become a sharper
sailor, you have to expose yourself to alternative ways of sailing.
Heck, the experience can even be enjoyable - if you have the right
attitude and a good game plan.

The game plan is easy. The attitude is a bit trickier. Setting
unrealistic, unattainable goals can totally derail your plan for
learning the new boat. Remember that no matter how hot you are in your
own class, there are accomplished sailors with equally impressive
results in the other classes.

After our enlightening experience in the Flying Dutchman, we completely
reassessed our expectations. For sure, we recognized that unless some
incurable plague attacked the rest of the U.S. FD fleet, we didn't have
much chance of making it to the Olympics. Instead, I focused on just
plain enjoying the exhilarating ride, learning as much as possible and
applying what I could to the other boats I sail. That didn't mean I
suddenly discovered how to make a Flying Scot or a Lightning plane
upwind, but I did, for example, learn a great deal about helm balance
when sailing upwind in a breeze.

Let's say you've picked a new class and you've got the right attitude.
Now it's time to get up to speed as fast as you can. To make the most
of your new experience, you need a plan of attack.

Step 1: Preparation

Research. First, gobble up all the written information that is
available on the new boat. Call the major sailmakers and ask for a copy
of their tuning guide. Be sure to contact the class secretary and ask
for back issues of the class newsletter that have articles about
tuning, sail trim and most important, boathandling techniques. Be sure
to keep track of any questions that develop because there will be
plenty of opportunities to ask them later.

Watch a race or two. The knowledge gained from watching the new
class race can be a huge help. Watch how the fleet approaches the
start. How do they trim their sails and handle their boats? Even the
back-of-the-fleeters' mistakes can be educational. If you really want
to be fancy, take video footage. Watch the hot guys and take note of
the questions you want to ask them later.

Set up your new boat. Armed with tuning guides, articles and the
information you gained from observation, it's time to set up your boat.
Try to duplicate what you've seen and make notes on areas you don't
understand or can't duplicate.

Call the sailmaker. After you think you have your boat set up
like the hot guys, call the sailmaker and get the lowdown on the
details of sail trim and boat setup. Be sure to ask, "How should the
boat balance?" The sailmaker should give you some idea of the feel on
the helm in the various conditions. Then ask, "How should the sails
look in light, medium and heavy winds? What are the trim differences
between normal speed and pointing, the high pointing mode, and the
footing/ acceleration mode?"

Of course, you'll have the tuning guide in front of you so you'll be
able to reference your questions about outhaul, cunningham, etc. For
me, it helps to compare the trim and tuning that I'm used to on my old
class to that of the new class. If the trim is different, try to find
out why.

Step 2: Dry run on shore

Boathandling and teamwork is just as important as sail trim and tuning.
Running through the rough moves for tacking, jibing, hoisting and
dropping the spinnaker, etc. on shore can smooth out the edges before
you and your team take to the water.

After my first day of racing in an MC Scow, a handful of near capsizes
(it was blowing all of 8 knots) and getting stuck in irons while
tacking, I had the opportunity to watch an on-land seminar by one of
the class hotshots. As soon as he demonstrated his first tack, the
light bulb came on. I realized I had been doing it all wrong. The only
way I knew how to tack was to put the hiking stick in front of the
tiller. This technique doesn't work on an MC because the mainsheet is
too close to the end of the tiller. As soon as I flipped the hiking
stick behind and over the top of the tiller, my tacks were much
cleaner. Had I spent just five minutes going through tacks on shore
before I put the boat in the water, my first day of racing might have
been a bit less humorous. Here are some of the things to concentrate on
during your dry run:

Practice the hand-off. The skipper has to become comfortable
with switching hands between mainsheet and tiller extension while
facing forward, both tacking and jibing. It's a good idea to hook the
main halyard on the boom and hoist it until the boom is at sailing
height to simulate actual sailing trim. Obviously the same is true for
the crew with trimming the jib from tack to tack. Dry land tacking will
also help the crew determine if they should be facing forward or aft
when trimming the jib from tack to tack.

Perfect your footwork. How often do you come out of a tack in a
breeze fishing for the straps while the boat heels precariously,
slipping sideways? As you become comfortable with your hands, practice
the placement of your feet. During a tack, you want to land on the new
side with your feet finding the hiking straps automatically - not
digging around for them with your toes.

Test your spinnaker handling. Without question, much can be
gained by simply running through the basic drill of setting the pole
and play acting a hoist, drop, etc. Going through all the moves
beforehand will make your first sail more productive, and probably
generate some more questions to ask your fellow competitors.

Step 3: On the water

Common sense tells us that our first race in the new boat shouldn't be
a major championship. Certainly not the Flying Dutchman pre-Olympic
trials! Instead, pick an event you can approach with a light attitude.
This is important, as the first experience will have a strong effect on
your future attitude.

Getting up to speed in a hurry requires good onboard communication. The
skipper needs constant feedback from the crew on how his experiments
with trim and steering affect boatspeed. When I'm concentrating on
steering and the balance of the boat, I rely on my crew to compare our
speed and pointing ability with that of boats around us. Hopefully they
say, "We're higher and faster," but there are often times when we're
lower and slower. That's when it's time to experiment. While the goal
is to be higher and faster, learn to be content with equal height and
speed.

Objective assessment of the situation by the crew is critical, but
while I appreciate a crew who is brutally honest, saying "Geez, do we
have a bucket out?!," doesn't help. The crew should pick a boat close
by - a boat that isn't in a different wind - and then describe its
relative speed and height without emotion.

Kelly Gough, a multi-class champion, has a technique that his crew uses
to feed him information. He calls it, "Good news, bad news." His crew
might say. "The boat to weather is slightly higher and nearly half
again as fast." When this happens, Kelly asks for the good news. His
crew might reply with something like, "Now I don't have to turn my head
as far to see them!"

Step 4: Post-race assessment

When he got into the Snipe class, Ed Adams was not bashful about
pestering the class hotshots with questions. After one race, Ed
approached Jeff Lenhart, a perennial Snipe ace known for his economy of
words. But before Ed could get his first question out, Lenhart rolled
his eyes and said, "Ten questions." "What?" was Ed's response. "Now you
have nine," was Jeff's answer. Ed made the remaining questions count,
and within a year, became a Snipe hotshot himself. The moral is, if you
don't understand something, don't be afraid to ask.

Remember the importance of attitude; the desire to win must take a back
seat to the desire to learn. When your eyes and ears are open, you see
and hear a lot more. Copy the fast sailors, then quiz them on it later.

There should never be a shortage of questions, especially if you
involve your crew. Start with the start. What's the best technique to
get off the line? How much time does it take to accelerate? Does the
boat slide sideways when you trim in? Be sure you understand how to
"change gears" upwind, not just with sail trim, but also with steering,
hiking position, etc. Learn each step the top crews go through when
rounding a mark. Find out the best way to catch a wave or get the boat
up on a plane.

The questions can be endless, so you must prioritize. Sit down with
your crew on the way in from the race and mentally run around the
course together, figuring where you lost the most ground to the
leaders. Then you can focus your questions on those parts of the race.

I vividly remember my first heavy air downwind leg in an MC. I learned
all too quickly that these long, flat boats have a tendency to bury
their bows when it's lumpy and breezy. I panicked the first time the
front half of the boat stuck itself under water and stayed there. Just
ahead of me looking back, as my crew and I scrambled to the transom,
was the eventual regatta winner. That evening I tracked him down and
asked how he kept his boat from doing the Titanic imitation. "I figured
you'd come looking for me," he said, then went on to explain that the
boat had to be quickly heeled either to windward or to leeward so the
bow could pop free from the water.

Step 5: Reality check

It should go without saying that, with all this questioning and
research, you should keep a notebook. Then you can go back and review
your notes. Often, answers to your problems will become crystal clear.
Better yet, the creative juice will lead you to experiment in the other
boats you sail. But sometimes your notebook may harbor what seem to be
confusing, illogical or contradictory answers to your questions. That's
when it's time for a little reality check.

Take all the things you've learned and compare them to what I call "The
ten commandments of boatspeed." (See sidebar.) These are universal
guidelines that seem to apply to almost any type of boat. Sometimes you
can use these rules of thumb to create respectable speed without a
whole lot of research beforehand. But these rules are most useful as a
reality check. If your notebook seems to tell you to do something that
contradicts one of these rules, you'd better understand why. Oops! I
guess that means you have to ask more questions! Isn't learning fun?

A sailmaker for North Sails One Design, Greg Fisher has won
championships in the Lightning, Flying Scot, Highlander and Thistle.
However, he is best known for his dedication to helping others learn to
sail their boats faster.