NORTH SAILS BLOG

M32 CLASS SAIL CONSISTENCY Quality Assurance Production With North Sails 📸Drew Malcolm / M32 World Consistent Shape How does North Sails make sure that the new M32 sails are consistent in shaping? The process starts with the layout. For the 3Di mainsail, each sail is machine-taped from the same file so it is identical. For the paneled gennaker, sails are cut on a laser plotter using the same cut file, in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room. 3Di sails for one design classes are molded to the exact same shape. When more than one sail is made at a time, they are put on the mold one right after the other. Assembling paneled sails is done by the same experienced team, with each member of the team specializing in one specific job (eg., sticking the seams). The level of detail in the molding is such that when repeat sails are made at a later date, the same mold is used and the same shaping file is used to adjust it. This means that even if a sail is made 6 months later, it is molded to the same shape. 📸Raphael Demaret Consistent Finish How does North Sails make sure that the new M32 sails are consistent in finishing? To ensure that finishing on all the sails is the same, the full order of sails is added to the same work ticket and once again a team of experts completes the job. The work ticket specifies every detail of the finishing, including the length of the webbings, the position of the batten boxes back from the luff, and the location and size of the reef patches. It even specifies the stitching pattern and thread. For example, a set of templates locate the batten boxes in exactly the same place on the sail. This ensures that the boxes are the same distance back from the luff and at the same angle, on every single sail. 📸Raphael Demaret Consistent Size How does North Sails make sure that the new M32 sails are consistent in sizing? Once the sails are finished, they are all measured to make sure they’re within class tolerances. The rare sail that doesn’t measure correctly is either fixed or rejected. Measurements include perimeter dimensions, girths, batten lengths, batten boxes, luff offsets, and several other details. Once sails pass inspection, they are packaged and shipped to the distribution site where they are checked again. The battens are installed before they are shipped to the end user. Update for 2020: While the luff lengths for all the sails are identical, the specifications for luff tape and bolt rope tensions are going to be further refined to be within 5 kg of each other. Additionally, the batten pocket end finishing is going to be changed from cuben fiber to 3Di utility cloth for smoother finishing and increased durability. At the request of the class, the sail shapes are going to remain unchanged. 📸 Drew Malcolm / M32 World READ MORE

BISCAYNE BAY LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Get To Know Your Racing Area © Andrew Palfrey, Etchells Winter series Miami, FL To help you prepare for the 2019 Winter Racing Circuits, we asked the local Star and Snipe World Champion Augie Diaz to explain about his home waters of Biscayne Bay in Miami, FL. Biscayne Bay is I think pretty straightforward. The weather is driven by cold fronts approaching, and we don’t get as much breeze as we used to because the city’s grown so big. But generally, any breeze from the northeast around through the southwest is great sailing. From this direction, the breeze is usually under fifteen knots, with relatively flat water (chop but no swell). Spring and fall are the best seasons, because we don’t get many fronts. Dominant wind direction: easterlies The old rule of thumb is still the case: if the wind’s to the left of the south end of Key Biscayne, you go left. Near the Key, from 120-160 degrees, there is a little more pressure closer to the end of the Key, and also a geographical shift off the land. How favored is somewhat current-dependent; from 70 degrees to 160 degrees with an outgoing current, then left is really good, what we call the “Old Man Expressway”. At the top of the beat on the J/24 Worlds course, the Old Man Expressway could be important. On what I call the Cuba Course, where the Etchells sail, way down south of Matheson Hammock, there’s less left down there than there is closer to the point of Key Biscayne. So you have to keep in mind where you are on the Bay. Current Understanding the current is very important. People think the current comes in and out of the Bay from the east, but it actually runs in and out from Bear Cut. If you get close to what we call the Valves, which are the channels through the shallow areas that on the chart are labeled Biscayne Flats, there is a component of current going in and out of there. But you have to be very close to the Valves for that to be the net effect. Otherwise, the current basically ebbs from the southwest to the northeast, and goes the opposite way when it floods. As for the timing relative to high and low tide, I’ve seen it as much as an hour off, so I just use tide change as a gauge and then keep checking the buoys, all the time. Sometimes seaweed will show lines of current, but I’ve never really seen a change in the color of the water. Other wind directions Once the wind gets to about 170-180, it’s pretty important to protect the right. That’s true all the way to 220 degrees. Anything right of 220-230, it’s going to march quickly to the northwest because that’s a frontal-driven direction, which doesn’t doesn’t have the ability to stick. If the wind’s right of 230 degrees, I like coming in from the top left because you get some really nice puffs off the left shore. It depends where you are on the Bay; on the J/24 course, close to the west shoreline, you’ll definitely want to come in from the top left. Northwesters are like you’re on a lake: very shifty, very up and down. But in late October, it’s actually less frontal, so that’s less likely. Secret to success Focus on what the current’s doing, and in the easterly understand how important it is to go left. READ MORE

VELCRO STUFF BATTEN POCKET Installation Guide North Sails Velcro Stuff batten pockets are simple to use yet require proper installation in order to ensure maximum sail performance. Step 1: Lay out the sail and identify the battens Lay out the sail with the batten pockets facing up. Check the label on the batten to determine the order in which they go into each pocket; #1 is the bottom batten. Note the arrow showing which end should go toward the luff. If there is no arrow label, insert the tapered end first. Step 2: Insert the batten into the pocket With the Velcro tensioner lying flat, insert the batten into the pocket making sure that the arrow on the label is pointing in the correct direction (tapered end goes in first). The batten should be placed between the Velcro tensioning strap and the Velcro top piece (sewn inside the pocket). Insert the batten as far as it will go without forcing it. When properly inserted, the batten should stick out of the sail a little bit. Note: On new sails, the batten pocket reinforcement at the inboard end my be creased, preventing the batten from being fully inserted. Should this occur, smooth out the reinforcement and re-insert the batten until it slides all the way in. Step 3: Insert the tensioner Insert the end of the batten loader (the small “batten” included with your sail) into the capped end of the tensioner, with the removal cord positioned off to the side of the Velcro. Insert the tensioner into the pocket end above the batten. Apply the desired amount of batten tension. Note: When inserting the tensioner, make sure that the batten removal cord (attached to the tensioner) is not lying on top of the Velcro strip. Step 4: Secure the pocket When the batten has been loaded and the desired tension applied, remove the batten loader from the pocket and secure the pocket Velcro by rubbing firmly on the top of the pocket. Important: When removing the batten, first slide the batten loader into the pocket to split the Velcro bond. Pull the removal cord and loader back simultaneously, allowing the Velcro tensioner to come out of the pocket with ease. Always try to align the removal cord over the middle of the pocket before you pull on it. READ MORE

METEOROLOGICAL CONSULTING FOR COMPETITIVE SAILING Chris Bedford’s Sailing Weather Service “Don’t confuse your weather app with a meteorology degree and 30+ years of experience.” Sailing Weather Service is respected world-wide for the experience and expertise in marine and coastal meteorology provided to the world’s most accomplished and successful sailors. Chief meteorologist Chris Bedford and his team are sought out for their straight-forward, honest, and practical approach to using weather knowledge as a competitive advantage. Join our clients – who range from top-end professional teams including America’s Cup and Volvo racers to local weekend racers – and let us help you and your team maximize your chances of success on the race course. Services offered include: Analysis, forecasting and routing for offshore racing Customized forecasts and briefings for day racing Live or recorded weather briefings for races or regattas Bespoke weather training for navigators, decision makers and team members as well as race committees and Organizing Authorities Historical weather analysis and data to help you plan for future events, design a new yacht or optimize your sail inventory Global scope—any sailing venue in the world or the open oceans Contact us at admin@sailwx.com to see how we can help you! READ MORE

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR J/70 JIB North Experts Explain The Advantages of the J-2 and J-6 2019 J/70 World Champions powered by the J-6 jib, F-1 mainsail and AP-1 spinnaker. 📸 Sportographytv One of the common questions we get at North Sails is “Which jib is better, the J-2 or the J-6?” The answer is: Both jibs are great, but they fill different roles. We sail in different venues, have different sailing styles, and have different teams and equipment. So, after a lot of development and testing, we have two amazing jibs in our inventory. Understanding how the sails perform will help you make the right choice on your next order. First, let’s start with what the sails have in common. Both are made out of our exclusive NPC Radian fabric. North NPC Radian makes possible a more sophisticated radial panel construction and offers superior shape holding over all other materials. Both the J-2 and the J-6 have been designed to take advantage of NPC Radian’s benefits. Both jibs are constructed with a high clew, to allow for in-hauling and proper jib trim. The other commonality is the results they produce. These jibs are fast and deliver top performance on the race course. In 2019, the J-2 won the Europeans, while the J-6 was used to win the Worlds and the North Americans. At the NA’s we saw both jibs finishing in the top four and winning races. 2019 European Champions powered by the J-2 jib, XCS-2 mainsail and AP-1 spinnaker. 📸 Zerogradinord   Here’s What Makes Each Jib Special: We repeat: Both jibs are great, but they fill different roles. Which will be right for you depends on where you sail, your team, and your style. We can confidently recommend either, because no matter which jib you choose, the top guys are translating all that development and testing into success on the race course. Read also: Which mainsail is best for your J/70 team? For more info on the world’s fastest J/70 sails, visit the J/70 Inventory page. 2019 J/70 World Corinthian Champions powered by the J-2 jib, XCS-2 mainsail and AP-1 spinnaker. 📸 Sportographytv   Oivind Lorentzen’s Team Nine, 2019 North American Champions powered by the J-6 jib, XCS-2 mainsail and AP-1 spinnaker. 📸 Chris Howell /J/70 Class Association   READ MORE

KEYS TO FINDING YOUR UPWIND GROOVE What To Look For How wide is your groove? Sounds like a question from the ‘60s, doesn’t it? In this story, North expert Skip Dieball explains the upwind groove and tells us what to look for. Earlier this year, as part of a story called Achieving Balance in Your Sailplan, we discussed refining your boat’s upwind angle of attack. That’s another term we use to describe your upwind groove—the point of sail in which you sail against the wind most efficiently, at a consistent angle of heel. In practice, the groove covers a range of a few degrees angle to the wind in which you are able to steer consistently at a steady speed. How your rig and sails are set will change the width of your steering groove at the start and upwind. Depending on your set-up, the groove on your boat may be narrow, with a tolerance of only a couple degrees, or wide, in which you can head up or down several degrees. If the groove is wide, you can handle gusty winds and steer around waves better, but you won’t point as close to the wind. If it’s narrow, you must maintain a precise course, which can be a challenge in variable winds but can be very fast in flat water. Sometimes I call finding the groove finding the “happy spot,” because that’s where, for a given condition, our blend of forward speed and pointing are as good or better than boats around us. The term also applies to how you’re feeling if your groove is too wide or too tight. Visual cues are also useful: if your telltales react too fast on both sides of the sail, the entry angle is super narrow; if the sail will actually luff before the telltales react, the entry angle is too wide. Adjust the forestay length If you think your groove is too wide or narrow, try changing the length of your forestay. Here’s why: All sails are cut for a certain amount of curvature, known as luff curve. The more material in the front of the sail, the deeper it will be. Your forestay needs to be long enough to match this depth, and the way to tell is by studying how your telltales react from top to bottom when you’re sailing upwind. If they react in unison—all luffing at the same time as you head up—your forestay length (and halyard tension) is about right. But if the tell-tales in the mid-section of the sail are reacting differently from those at the top and bottom, then the forestay is not set up for the way your sail is cut. The shorter your headstay relative to your luff curve, the flatter the luff or entry angle will be in the middle of the sail and the quicker the middle telltales will react on both windward and leeward sides. If the headstay is too long relative to your luff round, the telltales in the middle will tend to be slower to react than those at top and bottom. In most one-design classes, you need to set the headstay length before the race and leave it. On some boats with deck-stepped masts, you will tension up the rig at the dock, such as the Thistle, Highlander or Interlake. On these boats, the sailmaker will cut sails for a static headstay sag and you’ll need to adjust the groove by means of halyard tension. This tension is spelled out in the sailmaker’s Tuning Guide. (For more on this topic, read “Why is Headstay Sag Fast Upwind in Light Air?”) On boats like the J/70 and Tartan Ten, with swept spreaders and a wide shroud base, you’ll set the headstay and then use shroud tension and backstay to tighten the forestay underway. On boats with keel-stepped masts, you can chock the mast forward at the deck to create more headstay sag and add power to the sailplan. If your mast butt is movable (like the Etchells), then you can move it aft to induce more sag or forward to tighten the forestay. Keep in mind, however, when you adjust the mast butt, you are affecting the mast pre-bend too. You can also tighten the forestay with the permanent backstay and through rig tune. The Lightning, Etchells and Star fall in this category. Change headstay tension I think of the forestay length as the gross tune for the groove and the halyard tension on each sail as the fine tune. Once you find a nice spot for the forestay, then you can fine-tune with halyard tension. Simply put, the more tension you add with the halyard, the rounder the shape forward and the wider the groove will be. Loosen up the halyard for a softer, finer entry and the groove will get narrower. Again, on different boats, the dynamics are a bit different. Jib-halyard tension is actually a key component on boats with deck-stepped masts and some boats like the J/70 have a fine tune on the jib halyard for this purpose. When I want a finer entry, I ease the halyard until I have wrinkles at the snaps along the luff of the jib. When sails are newer with a harder finish or a more true shape, it’s easier to set them up. I find the range of halyard adjustment on a new sail may be only an inch or two (depending on purchase system), while it’s five inches on an older sail. Either way, it’s good to have marks on your halyards for quick reference; we color code them too—red for tighter and more forgiving, black for less tension and a finer entry. Leech adjustment on the main Mainsail trim changes the width of your groove, too. If you sail with an open, twisted leech, the groove will be wider and more forgiving to sail in at speed. However, you’re not likely to point as high. If you sail with a straighter, firmer leech, the groove will be narrower. You’ll be able to point higher but both helmsman and main trimmer will need to be able to react quickly to changes or you may be slow at times. Depending on the style of boat, use of the backstay or vang-sheeting can contribute to the shape of your leech as well. Tightening the permanent backstay, if you have one, will open the leech; easing will add “hook” to it. With a deck-stepped mast or on any boat that can induce mast bend through use of the boom vang, vang-sheeting can be a powerful tool to help create a more open leech. Taken together, the forestay length, halyard tension, and mainsail leech shape can have a large impact on the width of your groove when sailing upwind. If you’re sailing upwind and feeling grumpy, try making some adjustments until you find a happier spot. All these need to work in harmony to find the ideal upwind groove. Connect with North Expert Skip Dieball for more information. READ MORE

PLANNING YOUR BEST PERFORMANCE North Sails Hosts Two Seminars To Prep for 2020 Newport Bermuda Race 120 sailors attended a two-day Performance Seminar ahead of the 2020 Newport to Bermuda Race, which starts next June. Hosted by North Sails, with special guests Peter Isler and Chris Bedford, topics included weather, sail selection, and setting up your team for both safety and success. The presentations helped sailors make a plan, set realistic goals, and start thinking about preparations for boat, sails, and crew. Two locations The seminar began in Rhode Island with our Portsmouth loft team on Friday evening and continued Saturday morning in Milford, Connecticut. Peter Isler served as master of ceremonies, sharing his own vast offshore experience and fielded questions to the North Sails experts about how to optimize a sail inventory for the 635-mile blue water classic. Historical weather Weather guru Chris Bedford ran polars for five different boats, based on eight years of weather data and 248 race simulations, for the two weeks before and after the start date (June 19). Understanding the weather helps determine what sails to take on the race, but because different boats have different polars, optimizing your boat requires a unique sail combination. Sail selection While the sail allowance for the Bermuda race is generous, optimizing performance by taking only the sails that you know you’lll need is an important aspect of the race. Historical weather and a thorough review of your current inventory will help you identify the best fit for the 2020 race, and also look at what additions you’d want to make with plenty of advance time. Besides understanding the special sail requirements for the race, the big takeaway for sailors was that a Tweener can definitely help performance because a Tweener is a more efficient sail compared to a 75% mid girth sail. What’s a Tweener? Also known as a large roach headsail, a tweener is an off the wind sail that has a mid-girth of less than 75% and fits in between a jib and a traditional 75% mid girth Code sail. Tweeners do impact ratings, though generally lightly in ORR. The latest advancement to this multi-purpose sail is the North Helix Luff structure, which relies on Load Sharing Technology and eliminates the need for a heavy anti-torsion cable. For more details, talk to your North Sails expert to learn how to optimize your boat and team. Team preparation A 635-mile race requires several overnights, and with half the crew off-watch it’s important to optimize human performance. That means making a solid plan with a watch system, as well as food and clothing. Navigation is also very important because crossing the Gulf Stream complicates the race track. What you can do right now Seven months before the start, you should already be making preparations. For sails, make sure to have them serviced before they go into storage for the winter, and also check your inventory for any possible holes. It’s also a great time to put together your sail repair kit; ask your local North Sails expert what should be included. Thanks to this Performance Seminar, over a hundred sailors are now better prepared for a race that starts next June. Let us know how we can help you get your boat, sails, and crew ready for next year’s bluewater classic. Download Presentation Download Presentation Download Button Interstitial First Name * Last Name * Email * By entering your email address, you agree to receive emails from North Sails as well as promotional offers and announcements from North Sails. Collected information will not be shared with any third party. Privacy Policy Opt-In * I have read and understand North Sails privacy policy Age Consent Opt-In * I am 16 years or older Continue READ MORE

WHICH MAINSAIL IS BEST FOR YOUR J/70 TEAM? A Complete Guide Considering Rig Tendencies and Batten Choices Team Rimette at the North Americans powered by North F-1 mainsail. 📸 Chris Howell/J70 Class Association Trying to stay up to date with all the latest testing and sail development in a highly competitive class like the J/70 can be quite daunting. How do I pick the right sails? Does crew weight matter? Does the venue matter? What about my mast? How do I know how much pre-bend I have? What do I do with all these battens?! There is a lot to think about for sure, but in this article I will try to simplify some of these elements to help you make the right choice for you and your boat. Choosing the right mainsail for your team is imperative. One of the major factors in designing a mainsail is the bend characteristics of the mast. With over 1,500 J/70s built, there is bound to be a bit of variance in bend characteristics – especially now that there are two different brands of spar out there – the Southern and the Selden. Not only are there inherent differences in stiffness, but where you carry your rake (more rake = more bend) and how swept your spreaders are will also greatly impact the bend tendencies. North Sails offers two brilliantly designed maisails, both of which are garnering tremendous results around the globe. By getting to know your mast, and learning how to use your battens and rig tune, you will be able to have success with either sail. But you may find that one sail will fit your rig better than the other. Let’s keep it simple to start out – there are two choices – the XCS-2 and F-1. The XCS-2 is fuller than the F-1 and was therefore designed to fit perfectly with masts that tend to carry more bend. A bendier mast requires a fuller sail shape so that it won’t invert too quickly when the breeze comes up and the mast starts bending. The F-1 is a flatter overall sail designed to accommodate stiffer masts. If the mast doesn’t bend very much, you need a flatter sail to avoid extra drag – especially in light air when there is not enough pressure to bend the rig and it’s too light to use backstay. How Can You Tell Which Sail is Best For Your Mast? The first thing you’d want to check is your pre-bend at “base”. You will need the mast up with the upper shrouds set to a tension of 16 on the PT2 Loos gauge. For the lower shrouds, set them so they have a tension of 10 on the gauge with the mast looking straight, and then take another 2 turns off each lower shroud so they are loose. You’ll want to find a pre-bend checker which is essentially a ruler that can be hoisted up the mast track (see photo below). Hoist the bend checker up the sail track on the spinnaker halyard (don’t forget to tie a line to the bottom of the checker so you can pull it back down!). You want to get it just above the spreaders where the max bend is. Now you will pull the main halyard up against the gooseneck (pinch it right into the bottom of the sail track). As you look up the mast, you’ll see the main halyard coming in contact with the bend checker. Read the bend checker to determine how much pre-bend you have at “base.” We’ve found that the range can be anywhere from 1.25” to just over 2”. Quite a range!! If your mast shows less than 1.75” of pre-bend, it’s likely that the F1 will fit your rig better and if you’re over 1.75”, then it’s more likely a good fit for the XCS-2. What if your mast is right at 1.75”?? Perfect! Try both! (Kidding but probably not a bad idea!). Another test you can do to learn about your mast stiffness is to wind the rig all the way up to the our tightest recommended rig tune setting which would have both your upper shrouds and lower shrouds reading 29 on the gauge. The number of turns it takes for you to get to this setting will tell you a lot about your mast. Again, we have found quite a bit of variance here from rig to rig. If it only takes you about 7 turns on the uppers and 5 turns on the lowers to achieve these tensions, that is a sign that your mast is quite stiff and probably better suited for the F-1. If it takes you closer to 11 turns on the uppers and 8 on the lowers, that is a sign that your mast is bendy and probably better suited for the XCS-2. Nine turns on the uppers and 7 on the lowers would be somewhere in the middle. One more telltale sign you can use to determine your mast stiffness is by observing the overbend wrinkles on the main while sailing upwind. There needs to be enough wind so that you’re using 70-100% of your backstay. So your rig tune should be tight. While sailing, play through your range of backstay and observe where your main is showing the biggest overbend wrinkles. They should be all below the window in the luff of the main (to see the jib leech) until you’re at the point of full inversion. If you see a very large “hinge” in the main that goes from the forward end of the bottom batten, up to a point above that luff window – that is a sign that your mast is on the bendy side and probably better suited for the XCS-2. If you never get to the point of the full “hinge” and all of the overbend wrinkles stay below the luff window, that is a sign that your mast is on the stiff side and probably a better fit with the F-1. No matter which mainsail, you end up choosing, you have a lot of range depending on which battens you put in. Using stiffer battens will give you a flatter sail shape while softer battens let the sail become fuller. This is extremely useful when trying to make your sail shape fit the mast in a given condition. If you decide to use the F-1 main but are sailing in a venue where you know you will want a little bit of extra power (say it’s overly lumpy compared to wind strength), you can error on using the softer battens in the Main to help give the sail extra depth for more power. Conversely, if you have the XCS-2 main but want the option to keep it flatter (say it’s blowing 14 knots but dead flat water) you can go to heavier battens to get rid of some depth in the main. The key takeaway here is that is very important to learn your rig tendencies so you can make the best decision possible for your team whether you’re looking for your all purpose sail, or for a venue specific sail choice. Combining this knowledge with the correct batten choice will give you peace of mind in knowing that you can achieve the perfect sail shape for any condition. As always, consult your favorite North Sails J/70 expert for more information or any questions about your sail choice! READ MORE

QUICKCOVER INSTALLATION GUIDE North Sails QuickCover makes storing and protecting your mainsail a simple and easy process, eliminating the need for a cumbersome sail cover. Following these steps will ensure that your QuickCover is properly installed and will be easy to handle. Step 1- Attach Clew and Foot Slide the sail’s clew slug into the boom, followed by the bolt rope on the foot of the cover. The sail and cover should slide all the way to the end of the boom and attach to the outhaul. If the sail has reef slots in the foot, run the reefing lines inside the cover. NOTE: If your boom has a clew car then there is no need to worry about bending on the main and cover at the same time. Simply install the cover and flake it out on either side of the boom. Step 2 -Attach the Tack and Luff Slides Once foot and clew are in place, attach the tack and install the luff cars/slugs into the mast. After the tack and luff are secured, install the battens into the pockets on the inside of the QuickCover. Zip the cover from the clew to the mast and you are now ready to install the Lazy-Jacks. Step 3- Install Cheek Blocks on the Mast Installing the cheek blocks will require sending someone approximately 65% of the way up the mast, which is where the cheek blocks (supplied) will be installed. You will need a center punch, a drill fitted with a 5/32 bit, a few 5/32 pop rivets (supplied), and a pop rivet gun. Mark the location of the cheek block on the side of the mast, slightly more than halfway aft. Use the center punch to pre-locate the holes, drill, and install with supplied pop rivets. The Lazy-Jack lines lead through the cheek blocks from aft to forward. When you come down the mast, the Lazy-Jacks should be led down the backside of the mast. Make sure they are aft of the spreaders. Step 4- Adjust Lazy Jacks and Install Padeyes Pull the Quickcover up into place where it will sit when the main is dropped, and tension both sides of the Lazy-Jacks evenly. Install the supplied padeyes at the forward upper end of the cover and at a 45-degree angle, about the same distance aft as the cheek blocks. Tie the line attached through the webbing into the padeyes. Step 5- Install the Lazy Jacks Cleat Once the foot and clew are in place, attach the tack and install the luff cars/slugs into the mast. After the tack and luff are secured, install the battens into the pockets on the inside of the QuickCover™. Zip the cover from the clew to the mast and you are now ready to install the Lazy-Jacks. Step 6- Lazy-Jack Fine Tune Lace the line at the tack through the gooseneck fitting. The forward edge of the QuickCover should be even with the backside of the mast. Once the tack is tied securely, tension the cover from the clew by running the line on the bottom of the cover through the back of the boom. Usually there is a hole or shackle that can be used for this. If you have a topping lift, tie the line on the top aft corner around the topping lift to keep the top of the cover tight. If you don’t have a topping lift, the cover will still work fine; the aft lift for the Lazy Jack provides ample support. Don’t forget to rig reef lines and run them through the slots along the foot. Step 7- Install The Front Cover This separate piece is removed for sailing. NOTES To reduce flutter in the QuickCover while sailing, zip together the two sides. Lazy Jacks will work best when you hoist or drop the main with the bow pointed directly into the wind. READ MORE

Get The Most From Your J/24 The 2019 Worlds are just around the corner. Is your team ready? Our J/24 Tool Kit will help. Scroll down for tips about boat speed, tuning, shifting gears, jibing in breeze, and much more. Created just for J/24 sailors, by our team of experts. Get To Know Biscayne Bay To help you prepare for the 2019 Worlds, we asked the local Star and Snipe World Champion Augie Diaz to explain about his home waters of Biscayne Bay in Miami, FL. How The 2018 Worlds Were Won It may not be Lake Garda, but Miami could serve up some similar conditions where tuning and sail selection comes into play. We can expect a little bit of everything at the 2019 Worlds, and you may see some recurring themes from Garda that find their way to Biscayne Bay. Shifting Gears Two-time North American Champion and North Sails expert Mike Ingham explains how to shift gears when pressure is unpredictable. Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. After countless hours of sailing, sail testing, and competing in the J/24, our World Championship winning sails will get you up to speed quickly with our newly updated tuning guide and matrix. Jibing With Authority The key to perfect jibes is practice, practice, practice. Get the play-by-play on how to execute a jibe with success. #NSVictoryList There is no better performance test of a one design sail than the results it produces. In 2019 alone, North Sails J/24 inventories have powered many teams to the number one spot all over the globe. Let us help you achieve your end goal. Building Your Confidence In Breeze Windy day ahead? Here are 10 tips to help you conquer those days at the top end of the genoa’s range. Videos: Get Your Team Up To Speed World-level preparation works for smaller regattas too. Before your next regatta, watch our video tips from Tim Healy and Will Welles. Preparing For A Big Event Will Welles talks us through boat prep, tuning, how to put together a winning team, and regatta logistics. Define Your Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. Our J/24 Speed Guide will help you leverage our expertise to make the most of your sailing. Common Questions, Answered We respond to 13 of the most frequently asked questions about racing a J/24 well. Trust In Our Expertise We’ve been winning in the J/24 since the class started, and we can help you win too. Contact your local expert, check out our inventory, and join us at the front of the pack. READ MORE

Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours sailing, testing, and competing in the Melges 24 our tuning guide will help you achieve race-winning speed. Raise The Bar With 3Di Lucky Dog confirms new 3Di sails make a difference in the race course at the Melges 24 North Americans. What To Expect In Villasimius Fresh from winning the Pre-Worlds, North Sails Expert Giulio Desiderato provides his intel on what competitors should expect at the upcoming Melges 24 World Championship. Get Up To Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. The North Sails Melges 24 Speed Guide leverages our expertise to help you improve your team’s performance. World Champions Tips What worked for Team Altea in the past Worlds? Take a look at the tips from the winning team and get inspired to sail fast. Our Experts Make It Happen Have questions? Contact your local Melges 24 expert today for more information on choosing the right sails for your Melges 24. READ MORE

MELGES 24 WORLDS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE What To Expect In Villasimius North Sails Expert Giulio Desiderato provides his intel on what competitors should expect at the upcoming Melges 24 World Championship. It is hard to say exactly what we expect to see at the Worlds. The pre worlds event was my third event in Villasimius this year, and each time I’ve sailed here we’ve had different conditions – a strong Mistral, strong northeasterly with flat water, light sea breeze, big waves, and even one time with wind from the south. Each day at the pre worlds the wind was out of a different direction, so it will be very interesting and we should expect a variety of sailing conditions. Because Villasimius is not a very common place to hold regattas, there isn’t really any local knowledge as not a lot of people of sailed here very often. This means it will be an open playing field when it comes time for the championship. It could be anyone’s game, which will be exciting. I’ve sailed here in the tactician role and as main trimmer, and now most recently I’ve coached. What I’ve observed over those experiences on the boat and from the sidelines is that if the wind comes from the North, it will be really important to keep an eye on it and try to figure out which side the newest pressure will fill in. During this time of year in Sardinia, the wind can be anything. The sea breeze is still common, but because of where Villasimius lies geographically, it is close to a cape and exposed to storms and wind lines that can be frontal and come up quickly. Tips For Clients: Manage your risks and get a good start. It will be important to manage your risks with the large fleet. Avoid big mistakes during the starts, and focus on finding a good place to get a clear lane off the line. Ideally, if you can start and sail for three minutes straight before having to make any moves, this will be key. Keep an eye on pressure. Try to figure out where it’s coming from most often. They may drop the windward mark in an area where the pressure is filling in, which may put you on one particular side of the race track. Tuning. Don’t be afraid to adjust your rig. If you try different settings, you can find what works best with the conditions at the time- which are going to be changing a lot at this location. It could be beneficial to set up for a certain condition knowing you’ll see it at the top-end of the course. Sailing with 3Di? With 3Di, you won’t have to play with your tuning settings as much as teams using paneled sails will. We always use the same numbers. Our jib track setting also remains the same. The benefit is that there is not much play required. It is very user friendly. Recommended Sail Inventory For the championship, I recommend the following inventory: Mi1 mainsail, Ji-2 Jib, P-1 and P-3 Spinnaker. Have questions about sails? Interested in upgrading your Melges 24 inventory to Championship-winning sail power? Contact your local expert today. READ MORE

J/24 WORLDS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Get To Know Biscayne Bay To help you prepare for the 2019 J/24 Worlds, we asked the local Star and Snipe World Champion Augie Diaz to explain about his home waters of Biscayne Bay in Miami, FL. Biscayne Bay is I think pretty straightforward. The weather is driven by cold fronts approaching, and we don’t get as much breeze as we used to because the city’s grown so big. But generally, any breeze from the northeast around through the southwest is great sailing. From this direction, the breeze is usually under fifteen knots, with relatively flat water (chop but no swell). Spring and fall are the best seasons, because we don’t get many fronts. Dominant wind direction: easterlies The old rule of thumb is still the case: if the wind’s to the left of the south end of Key Biscayne, you go left. Near the Key, from 120-160 degrees, there is a little more pressure closer to the end of the Key, and also a geographical shift off the land. How favored is somewhat current-dependent; from 70 degrees to 160 degrees with an outgoing current, then left is really good, what we call the “Old Man Expressway”. At the top of the beat on the J/24 Worlds course, the Old Man Expressway could be important. On what I call the Cuba Course, where the Etchells sail, way down south of Matheson Hammock, there’s less left down there than there is closer to the point of Key Biscayne. So you have to keep in mind where you are on the Bay. Current Understanding the current is very important. People think the current comes in and out of the Bay from the east, but it actually runs in and out from Bear Cut. If you get close to what we call the Valves, which are the channels through the shallow areas that on the chart are labeled Biscayne Flats, there is a component of current going in and out of there. But you have to be very close to the Valves for that to be the net effect. Otherwise, the current basically ebbs from the southwest to the northeast, and goes the opposite way when it floods. As for the timing relative to high and low tide, I’ve seen it as much as an hour off, so I just use tide change as a gauge and then keep checking the buoys, all the time. Sometimes seaweed will show lines of current, but I’ve never really seen a change in the color of the water. Other wind directions Once the wind gets to about 170-180, it’s pretty important to protect the right. That’s true all the way to 220 degrees. Anything right of 220-230, it’s going to march quickly to the northwest because that’s a frontal-driven direction, which doesn’t doesn’t have the ability to stick. If the wind’s right of 230 degrees, I like coming in from the top left because you get some really nice puffs off the left shore. It depends where you are on the Bay; on the J/24 course, close to the west shoreline, you’ll definitely want to come in from the top left. Northwesters are like you’re on a lake: very shifty, very up and down. But in late October, it’s actually less frontal, so that’s less likely. Secret to success Focus on what the current’s doing, and in the easterly understand how important it is to go left. Thanks Augie! READ MORE

HOW TO BUILD YOUR MOTH SKILLS Dan Neri Explains How To Get Started Sailing this Foiler Compared to most dinghies, building the basic skill set for the Moth takes a long time. After about 40 hours of sailing the Moth, I can foil with confidence in all directions in the limited window of 8-14 knots of wind. I feel like I am close to executing a foiling jibe but have not connected two of them yet, and every tack is still an adventure with a surprise ending. The experienced Moth sailors tell me that I am on a typical timeline. I was told that my decades of Laser sailing would help, but I don’t recognize a lot of cross over to the Laser. A skiff sailor will get there more quickly. Younger sailors probably learn faster than older sailors, but older sailors can afford to replace the broken parts! It all evens out. Here are some lessons I have learned in my first nine months of Moth ownership that might help a fellow beginner. First Assembly: Study the boat manufacturer’s assembly guide. Then get an experienced Moth sailor to help you. Plan on two full days. Take your time and you will break less parts. Rigging: Watch the Nathan Outteridge tutorials. Then get a Moth sailor to help you the first time. (And make sure to read How to Rig a Moth in 20 Steps) Launching: Watch the Nathan Outteridge tutorials. Rig up in your yard and practice carrying the boat around in an area with no obstacles. You will find a balance point with the boom and mainsheet on your shoulder and the mast tip and wing bar both off the ground. Flight setup: Get a Moth sailor to help you set the ride height control (see Flight Controls below). Pull the wand all the way up. Put the gearing in the middle. Then forget about the flight controls, and pretend it is a regular dinghy. Balancing the Moth at low speed: Look for a day with 8-10 knots of steady breeze. Practice low riding while focusing on keeping the wings out of the water. Learn to tack at low speed. Hint: you can not scull with a Moth rudder. Try to not get stuck out on your Moth in less than six knots of wind. The Mach II is happier in reverse than in forward in very light wind. Foiling: Watch the Nathan Outteridge tutorials. Look for a 10-12 knot day. Less than 10 knots makes taking off tricky. More than 12 knots feels like a hair-on-fire experience until you get some confidence. Plan to sail for one hour with equal time spent swimming and foiling. Sail back and forth on a beam reach and enjoy the ride. Upwind and downwind can wait for another day; the first sensations of liftoff and controlled flight are the foundation that will keep you working up the steep and frustrating learning curve. Turning downwind: This might be easier for sailors with skiff or catamaran backgrounds than it was for a lifetime Laser sailor, but the upwind-to-downwind transition is where I’ve had my most violent crashes. It is mostly a matter of starting with windward heel and then committing to the maneuver. The more breeze there is, the more aggressively you need to move through the transition zone. Waves make it more exciting. If you don’t go home with a few bruises, you probably did not progress. Get comfortable making the turn up and down in 10-12 knots before you try it in 14-16. Foil Jibing: Watch the Nathan Outteridge tutorials. Then plan to crash a lot. The maneuver has a few distinct steps; get moving at maximum speed with a slight windward heel, set your back foot on the hull and tuck your front foot, swing the tiller extension to the new wing bar, and lunge across and under the boom. Let the boat carve through the turn while getting your butt fully onto the new wing bar, then switch hands. While doing that make subtle steering adjustments, pushing the tiller slightly toward whichever wing bar is higher, to keep the boat under the rig. Simple. Sail Trim: The Moth is extremely sensitive to sail trim, but for me, there was so much other stuff to deal with (balancing the boat in particular) that I took a set-it-and-forget-it approach at first. That was a mistake. Sail trim makes a huge difference in lighter wind by generating take-off speed (with a powered-up sail) and then by reducing drag and heeling moment once you are foiling (a flatter sail than you’d think). Again, the learning curve is steeper than other boats. To make sail trim adjustments, you have to learn to grab the right control lines (vang and cunningham) without looking down to find them, and then you have to pull two feet of line without upsetting the boat, while steering with the mainsheet in your tiller hand. Easier said than done. Flight Controls There are four controls that dictate lift-off and ride height. 1.) Ride height adjustment: It’s critical to set the ride height adjustment barrel in the correct position. The ride height mechanism connects the wand to the main foil flap. The ride height range is set while still on land but after the boat is fully rigged, on its side. Once the range is set correctly, you can dial in a little more or less lift with the control line while sailing. The ride height adjustment controls the position of the main horizontal foil flap. If the linkage is set with the rod too long (barrel screw opened up), the flap will be pulled up (no lift) and the boat will not take off. The opposite adjustment (barrel screw closed down) creates too much lift (a big gap between flap and vertical foil indicates the flap is pushed down, making a lot of camber) which will cause the boat to lift off and keep rising until the horizontal foil catches air (and you crash). The long black barrel is a telescoping screw that changes the length of the wand connecting rod. The barrel is turned by the control lines wrapped around it that lead out to the starboard and port wing bars. The aft end is connected to the curved arm (between my hands in this picture). The curved arm connects to a vertical rod that is in turn connected to the flap on the main horizontal foil. The “gearing” adjustment moves the ride height barrel up or down on the curved arm. A lower position results in more direct response between the wand and flap, while a high position dampens the action. Got it? Experienced Moth sailors set the ride height by eye and it is a bit of a black art. If there are no expert Moth sailors available, adjust the barrel so that the flap and forward part of the foil form a fair curve when the wand is angled back about 45 degrees. Another gauge on the Mach 2 is to measure the gap between the flap and the vertical foil, which should be about 7mm with the wand all the way forward. This shows the camber amount needed when you are up on the foils with just enough lift to keep you flying, with the wand hanging straight down and ticking the water. Set up your ride height control line so that this neutral lift position is at the middle of the range of adjustment. If the breeze is very light, dial in more lift. If the breeze comes up, dial out some lift. As a newbie, it is easy to second-guess the ride height adjustment when in fact your technique is the problem, or to assume your technique is bad when in fact the ride height is way off. Get some help, so you can have confidence in this setting and focus on sailing. 2.) Gearing: Gearing comes into play once the boat is flying. Anthony Kotoun explains the function of the gearing control as “how much information do you want the wand to deliver to the flap.” If you find your boat is bouncing when passing over small surface waves, you have too much gearing (the flap is moving too much). If your boat is too floaty and slow to respond, the flap is not moving enough and you need to pull the gearing control down. Setting it in the middle is a pretty safe bet. On my boat, the gearing control is the red line. If you follow it forward (towards the lower left of the photo) it connects to the black slider that is pushing down on the ride height adjusting barrel, along the curved arm. Most boats have the gearing led to both wing bars for adjustment on the fly. For now I leave it in the middle, so I have less lines to get tangled in! The blue control line adjusts the shock cord that pulls the wand forward. In very light air, you want very little tension on the shock cord; as the breeze comes on, you want a little more. Worn shock cord makes the boat hard to control in windy conditions. 3.) Rudder angle: The rudder pin (the long pin that goes through both the upper and lower gudgeons) slides forward or aft in the rudder head, which changes the pitch, or angle of attack, of the foil at the bottom of the rudder. Changing the pin position and foil pitch controls the fore and aft flight trim. With the pin forward the rudder head moves aft, which in turn tips the foil up and creates more lift. More lift results in easier take off and more bow-down fore and aft trim. Moving the pin aft causes the rudder foil to sink and makes the boat fly with the bow higher than the stern. The pin position is adjusted by a big plastic screw inside the tiller, which is adjusted by twisting the tiller extension. 4.) Wand Length: The wand is telescoping with the length adjusted by a continuous-loop control line led to both wings. Shorten the wand for a lower fly height (better control but more drag and lower speed) and lengthen the wand to fly higher with greater righting moment and less drag (higher speed). Left: shorter wand, lower fly height (better control, but more drag and lower speed). Right: long wand = higher ride height. That probably seems like an awful lot to learn. It is, but it is also much easier to understand once you get your boat rigged up and laying on its side at the water’s edge. Pre-launch set up and check over is the only part of the Moth sailing game that you can learn while comfortably on land, without fear of crashing. READ MORE

HOW TO RIG A FOILING MOTH IN 20 STEPS Dan Neri Gets Ready to Sail this Singlehanded Foiler When I first set up my Moth, I broke a lot of stuff. Since then I’ve learned what to do (and what not to do) and in what order. First, bring everything to the beach. Set the foils off to the side, safely out of the way of the boat and any spectators. Rig sail and spreaders 1. Slide the mast into the sail, keeping the mast above all the camber inducers. It is easy to get the mast past the lower cams. You’ll have to shove it past the top two one at a time. 2. I keep a string with a couple of spliced loops in my pocket to use as a temporary cunningham. I pull it just enough so the spreader bracket is positioned in its sleeve cutout. After stepping the mast this string is replaced by the regular cunningham. 3. Push the cams onto the mast and zip up the sleeve, starting at the top (when you derig, take them off starting at the bottom). To load the cams, put the mast on your knee, push down on the batten (against your knee) with one hand and push up on the cam with the other hand. 4. Before you lay down the sail and walk away, make sure the battens are pushed down so the sail doesn’t fly down the beach. 5. With the sail laying across the wing bars, untangle the stays, install the spreaders, and then attach the forestay and side shrouds to the mast. Step the mast Note: My boat has an adjustable headstay, so I can step the mast with the headstay adjustment at its loosest setting. If you have a fixed headstay, you’ll need to use a longer temporary headstay. 6. Position the boat so that it is pointing about 10 degrees away from head-to-wind. Hook up the shroud on the windward side and the long headstay. Pick up the mast between the two attached shrouds with the masthead into the wind, put the mast butt into the step, and push the mast up into place. 7. The wind will do most of the heavy lifting and the mast will fall to leeward, toward the loose side shroud. Hook up the leeward shroud, but leave the headstay long until after you attach the clew to the outhaul. 8. Attach the boom to the gooseneck and then hook up the cunningham and pull it tight. The tight cunningham will help to bend the mast and make it easier to hook up the outhaul. 9. Attaching outhaul to clew requires three hands; two hands to pull the sail and boom together against the boom vang, and a third to install the clevis pin. I have learned a little trick; I set the boom in the crook of my elbow and simultaneously pull down on the leech with that same hand, until the clew grommet lines up with the outhaul car. Then I install the pin with my other hand. Don’t forget to tension the headstay. Install blades 10. If you’re rigging on a beach, remember to put a flat rock or a towel or anything other than sand under the tip of the bowsprit and the wand axle bolt. Then capsize the boat so you can install the blades. 11. Make sure the sail battens are popped down so the sail does not lift the boat. Tighten the mainsheet so the wind is pushing the sail towards the ground. 12. Assemble tiller/rudder and install on transom. Remember to put the tiller under the shock cord. 13. Take away the dolly and insert the main foil into the slot. Insert the daggerboard retaining pin. (You may need a hammer to tap it in if you are having trouble lining it up perfectly.) Final adjustments 14. Hook up the ride height adjuster and gearing (on the floor just aft of the mast). 15. Pull the gearing to the middle of the range. 16. Attach the ride height uphaul/gearing cap. 17. Pull a little tension onto the wand shockcord. 18. Use a stiff ruler to check the foil flap gap with the ride height adjustment barrel control line in the middle of its range. For the Mach II, with the wand all the way forward, a 7mm gap is a good starting point. 19. Install a GoPro on the tiller so you can compare yourself (unfavorably) to the Nathan Outteridge tutorial videos. 20. Go find your hat if you are bald, and your cheapest sunglasses. Take off the foil covers. Ready to go sailing! Read Moth Newbie: Dan Neri Learns to Foil READ MORE

SPEED READING: J/70 WORLDS Marshall King’s Corinthian Team Soak Racing The 2019 J/70 Worlds had a great showing, with 77 boats and 36 Corinthian teams. We interviewed Marshall King on Soak Racing about winning the 2019 Corinthian World title, his team (Ian Wilson, Adam Brushett, Andrew Shorrock), and their success. Maximizing Their Potential For Marshall, it started three years ago. He and co-owner Ian Wilson knew they wanted to put together a competitive team for the Worlds, so they focused on ways to maximize their potential. “I felt quite strongly that the J/70 rewards accurate trimming, particularly of the jib, but also the main, and so we decided to set up the team in a way that had someone fully dedicated to just boat speed. “We distributed the tasks so that the strategy and tactics were the main points of focus for Ian and Adam,” he continued. “Once the jib trim was completed, Andy would take over the main trim and work hard on keeping consistent boat heel angle and have the two sails working well together.” Conditions varied all day, every day, so the sail trim was continually adjusted. “When it was gusty or shifty, or the sea state changed, he’d switch back to the jib, and I’d handle the main. That level of attention to main trim is a key part of making the J/70 go fast. We never really cleated the main. “Ian looked after the big-picture strategy and was also our spinnaker trimmer. Adam, our bowman, focused on the shifts upwind and where we were in relation to other boats. He was all about the numbers and compass headings.” Adam and Ian were always talking, keeping the entire team aware of how they were doing. Preparation Started Way Before The Worlds “This year we went to the Monaco Winter Series in January, February, and March, and the Spring Series in Warsash—all with the same crew,” Marshall said. “We focused on getting the boat going as fast as possible and after each event, we would share our notes and try to be our own coach. We found that other boats were faster from time to time, but we felt more consistently fast because we focused on those small trimming details.” Trusting North Sails Design & Expertise Why did Soak Racing choose North for their J/70 campaign? “The reason we came back to North was that we felt their product was consistent,” said Marshall. “They were faster than any other sails out there. We thought the sails were manufactured well. We used the same XCS-2 mainsail all year, and it was still fast in Torbay. We also used the J-2 High Clew jib and AP-1 spinnaker downwind.” “Consistency is important to me,” said Marshall. “Our sails were great all-around performers and we felt fast in all directions. We were happy in all conditions.” “We used North’s tuning guide as a base,” added Marshall. “We found that the suggested settings were great in certain sea conditions, and in some cases, we modified them slightly until we were happy with how we were going.” How They Won The Regatta Soak Racing finished second in the seventh race. “It was probably one of the windiest races of the regatta. We had a bad start, but we were able to get out and find clear air, and we had unbelievable boat speed. We hit the shifts and rounded the top mark in good shape. We got to the bottom of the run right behind Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat. The second beat was a challenge, and Paul’s team extended on us. On the last run, we made sure to hang in there for a solid second-place finish. Going into the final race of the regatta, there were two boats close on points. “At the last start, we made a late call to go right just before the gun. From there, we didn’t take any risks.” Soak Racing finished even on points with DSP but won the tiebreaker. “DSP pushed us hard, and it came right down to the wire in the end – but that’s the excitement that comes with J/70 racing. It just doesn’t get much closer than that!” 2019 J/70 Corinthian World Champs, Team Soak Racing © Sportographytv Second place corinthian team DSP © Sportographytv Third place corinthian Joyfull © Sportographytv READ MORE

THE BASICS OF SAILING THE IC37 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup With more than 30 boats sold, the IC37 is officially the next big thing in one-design keelboat racing. This Mark Mills design is purpose-built for close racing in large fleets. Strict class rules that mandate mixed-gender, amateur crews and limit teams to one set of three one-design sails per year are intended to level the playing field and create a competitive environment where the team with the most talent and dedication and teamwork wins, rather than the one with the largest bank account. The first few years of a new class are always a time of tremendous learning and the IC37 class is no different. The winning techniques are evolving regatta by regatta. Here is a overview of the boat and the core maneuvers required to get around the racetrack. READ MORE

MELGES IC37: REEFING MADE EASY Step By Step With North Sails Ken Read 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats / Sarah Wilkinson for Beigel Sailing Media With just three sails for all conditions, the ability to reef both the main and jib of the IC37 is crucial to sailing the boat in heavier air. The best way to properly de-power your boat is to reef your sails, and North Sails has done everything possible to make this an easy adjustment. Class rules state that in 18-20 knots, the Race Committee can display code flags which mean you need to reef your sails before the starting sequence. From the time they hoist the “V” flag (which means reef your mainsail) or the “J” flag (which means reef your jib), you’ve got 10 minutes to reef before the start of the sequence. North Sails President Ken Read explains the process for reefing your sails on the IC37 in this latest how-to video. Learn how to do it and be comfortable setting it up so when the time comes, there is no question when you are out on the racecourse. See also: North Sails Tuning Guide for the IC37 Learn more about the North Sails products for the IC37 by Melges. READ MORE

ROLEX BIG BOAT SERIES: NICO POPP’S BUCKET LIST San Francisco Sailor Explains His Goals To Win The Biggest Series On The Bay Nicolas Popp has a day job in tech and is not a professional sailor, but he says he started preparing his boat Invictus, a SunFast 3600, for the 2019 Rolex Big Boat Series as soon as the 2018 regatta ended. “We never stop in San Francisco, that’s the beauty,” he says. “We” is Nico and boat partner Jacques Benkoski. “I call him my girlfriend,” Nico jokes, “because right after I call my wife I call him next to ask, ‘When are we going to go sailing?’” Bucket List Like many San Francisco Bay sailors, winning the Big Boat Series is an important goal for Nico. “Even if it takes fifteen years, we’re going to keep at it. It’s the grail for us.” His team has been sailing together for a long time, but last year they brought North Sails expert Seadon Wijsen onboard as a coach to help them improve. “We needed a coach to take us to the next level—make us work better together, and maybe be more silent on the boat!” Nico laughs. “Everybody on the boat loves Seadon, and his coaching has made a tremendous difference, even now when we sail without him.” Once they recognized their improvement, the team recruited North Sails Brian Janney to sail on Invictus for this season. As Nico puts it, “We thought, ‘My goodness, it’s truly important.’ And then we noticed the other guys also had somebody to help! So we figure, ‘Let’s do that, because we’ll get better.’ It’s still a long roadway to go towards perfection, but the pace of improvement just accelerated.” Sail Changes “My dad used to say, ‘A third the sail, a third the boat, a third the crew,’” Nico remembers. They’ve improved the crew with coaching, and the boat will have a new bottom in time for the 2019 Rolex Big Boat Series. For sails, Invictus’ upwind inventory is 3Di RAW, purchased in 2018. “It’s such a difference,” Nico says. “The way they keep their shape, they’re easy to trim. In fact, even if you mis-drive they keep their shape, so they look good!” After the 2018 RBBS, they took Seadon’s advice to change out their asymmetric spinnaker. “He looked at the boat, he looked at us, and advised us to go with the symmetric. That made us way more competitive.” Their competition has noticed the team’s improvements. “We know these boats, we compete with them all the time. The last race Seadon wasn’t there, we got positive feedback from : ‘Wow, we’ve never seen you go that fast! What have you changed?’ That was great. And we felt it, we can see the progression, which is always good. We’re getting better.” The team has three goals, Nico says. “Number one, be safe; number two, have fun; number three, win—in that order. There’s a lot of enjoyment in performing better. It’s great to win, but if we sail better all the time, that’s a real motivation.” With all the pieces in place, there will be no excuses onboard Invictus this year. “We’re taking care of the sails, we’re taking care of the crew, we’re taking care of the boat.” And while having fun is a very important part of the mix, “it’s also important to win because it’s reinforcement that, okay, we’re getting better. Even when you win the Friday night races much more frequently, you can see that on average you are performing better, and that’s important. Everybody wants to get better.” “Number one, be safe; number two, have fun; number three, win—in that order.” Enjoying the Process Though Nico and team are working hard toward winning the Rolex Big Boat Series, he says he also really enjoys the learning. “I stopped windsurfing because I was not improving, and I think that’s the magic of sailing. There’s always the next thing to learn, and the little thing that makes the difference. It’s a process. We’re much better on upwind sail trim and crew coordination, and now we’re going to try to improve downwind. Whether it’s at positioning at the start, the laylines, the rig tuning, sail trimming… it’s like, ‘Okay, I think there are just a lot of things we can improve.’” They plan to continue working with a coach even after the RBBS. More Goals Nico says he’s also asked himself, “What happens if we win the Rolex? I don’t want to win it too early… because what’s going to be the next step?” He already has the answer. “We’re going to try the Caribbean next year. And probably when we win the Rolex, we’ll go do Les Voiles.” He lists the Giraglia as another bucket list item; “I absolutely have to go and do that race with the team.” So if and when they do win the Rolex, who’ll get the watch—Nico, or Jacques, his boat girlfriend? Nico has a plan for that too. “We’ll go buy another watch, exactly the same model, and then we’ll randomly put it in a box. We won’t know which one came first!” “It’s really the journey,” he concludes. “The Rolex is just one big milestone to being better, and we’re having fun doing that.” READ MORE

SPINNAKER SNUFFER INSTALLATION GUIDE Making Your Downwinds More Easy and Enjoyable © Amory Ross North Sails cruising spinnakers and Gennakers™ equipped with Snuffer Plus™ spinnaker snuffers make downwind sailing faster and more enjoyable, while saving much of the aggravation normally associated with off-the-wind sailing. When used properly, a cruising spinnaker can add miles to your daily runs. Cruising spinnakers can be quite simple to deploy, even with a short-handed crew. Step 1: Attach the clew and foot On a dry, clean, open area), secure the head of the sail to a post and run the leech and luff making sure that it is free of any twists or tangles. Step 2: Laying out the Snuffer Plus™ In the same way that the spinnaker was straightened, attach the “head”of the Snuffer Plus™ to a solid point and pull the sleeve out making sure it isn’t twisted. Use the colored stripe on the sleeve as a guide. Step 3: Prepare the Snuffer Plus Once the spinnaker and the snuffer have been laid out straight, use the internal retrieval line to pull the cone of the snuffer all the way to the head exposing the swivel Step 4: Attaching the sail Attach the head ring of the sail to the swivel inside the snuffer. Make sure that the screw or shackle is as tight as possible. Step 5: “Snuff” the sail Once the head of the sail is attached, pull the Snuffer sleeve down over the sail making sure neither the sail nor sleeve is twisted. NOTE: On Gennakers™, the cone will not cover the entire sail and should end approximately one foot from the clew. Allowing the clew to go into the sleeve could risk damaging the cone when the sail is deployed underway. Battens can be taken apart by removing the tape and while holding the back section of the splice connector, flexing the front end up and down while exerting pressure in the opposite direction as the arrow. Step 6: Loading the sail into the EZ Launch & Store™ Box Turtle When the sail is ready to be placed In its turtle, lay the turtle out as shown, attaching the tack ring to the green Velcro tab and the clew ring to the red Velcro tab. Insert the cone of the Snuffer into the bag first. Flake the sail into the bag leaving the head of the snuffer on the top. Use the Velcro tab at the center of the bag to secure the head and Velcro the bag shut. Finally, use the straps on the bag to cinch the bag shut. READ MORE

SPEED READING: J/111 PRE-WORLDS Preparing For The Grand Finale Tough racing conditions at the Verve Cup / J/111 Pre worlds © Sara Proctor North Experts Seadon Wijsen on Skeleton Key and Allan Terhune on Velocity sailed the Verve Cup, which was also the J/111 Pre-Worlds. After three days and eight races, both teams had plenty of takeaway lessons. Here’s what they had to share. “The racing conditions were typical for Chicago,” says Seadon. “Light and lumpy, and extremely challenging at times. Our light air speed and technique was top priority.” Allan agrees. “There were bands of wind that came down the course, forcing you to connect the dots and stay in the pressure as long as possible. Light air boat speed was definitely a big factor, but it soon became apparent to us that getting clean starts were going to be the key to this event.” Lessons learned from Pre-Worlds The fleet got eight races in, a chance for both boats to experiment with settings in the search for better light air speed. Seadon’s team played with jib halyard, jib leads, and in-haulers to help transition through the wind ranges. They also tried a looser rig. “It helped our accelerations, but didn’t make much of a difference in our straight-line speed. Moving the jib lead forward helped, so maybe we were just carrying the lead too far aft in general before.” Allan says Seadon was able to help his team with an off-the-boat observation. “We learned from Seadon that we had too much inhauler on in the light stuff. I had this inclination that if the crew was on the rail hiking, we’d need to pull the inhauler in all the way. What it actually did was close the slot and create stall, which was easy to do in the light air. Onboard we couldn’t see it, but Seadon noticed from off the boat. Too much inhaul was deadly.” Both sailors agree that the most important thing for J/111 boat speed is keeping the boat in the right mode. You don’t want to pinch, especially if there is chop. “You need to keep an open mind on every leg. It’s easy to doubt yourself, so you can’t focus too much on the fleet, rather sail your own race and focus on what you think will have the best outcome.” In the light air, it was easy to over-trim the sails. “That was slow, and we had to be super sensitive to this,” said Seadon. Allan added that course corrections had to be very subtle as well. “When we felt slow, we’d put the bow down to help build speed, but if we went too far, this caused us to stall.” Racing in Chicago, Seadon says, it’s hard to find any consistent pattern to the wind. “You need to keep an open mind on every leg. It’s easy to doubt yourself, so you can’t focus too much on the fleet, rather sail your own race and focus on what you think will have the best outcome.” Allan has sailed out of Monroe Harbor in many different classes, and he agrees. “It is very easy to think that it will always do this, or it will be this way—and it most definitely does the opposite.” © Sara Proctor What to work on Seadon has been racing with Skeleton Key for four years and says his team’s consistency is what’s led to their success. “Our rig tune, sail selections, and techniques through the wind ranges are all the same as they usually are. We don’t try to change much last minute, and we usually improve each time we sail.” In the short gap between the pre-Worlds and Worlds, they have a list of things to work on. “We need to improve our leeward mark roundings. We can do that by discussing the planned maneuver, and weight placement. We are also going to look at different batten combinations for light air and windier conditions. “The key for us is to try to improve the things we are lacking, but also focus on what works; we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.” On Velocity, Allan says they will primarily be looking at their acceleration off the starting line, the leeward mark, and speed out of tacks.” Looking ahead to the Worlds, Seadon admits Chicago is one of the toughest places to race—and they face some great competition. “We will have to be mentally tougher. I think we will be better in the lighter air conditions this time around. We are hoping to have a nice range of different conditions throughout the regatta, and maybe even some breeze.” Both teams plan to sail as much as they can, and want to line up with as many boats as possible. As Allan puts it, “It’s about getting as much data as you can before the regatta starts.” Skeleton Key initiating a jibe in tough light air conditions © Sara Proctor / Verve Cup 2019 Have questions about tuning? Check out our J/111 Tuning Guide Click here to view all of our products J/111 inventory READ MORE

Get The Most From Your J/105 The 2019 J/105 British Virgin Islands North Americans in Marblehead is just around the corner. Is your team ready? Our J/105 Tool Kit will help. Created just for J/105 sailors, by our expert team. #NSVictoryList There is no better performance test of a one design sail than the results it produces. In 2018 alone, North Sails J/105 inventories helped teams win regattas all over the US. Tips From The Champ Champion Terry McLaughlin shares some tips that helped team Mandate win the 2018 North Americans. Downwind Tips & Tricks How to sail as deep as possible while still keeping your speed up. Before your next regatta, read this downwind manual from expert Will Keyworth. Define Your Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. Our J/105 Speed Guide will help you leverage our expertise to make the most of your sailing. Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours of sailing, sail testing, and competing in the J/105, our championship winning sails will get you up to speed quickly. Working With The Best Our J/105 sails deliver the best results for our clients. Contact your local expert and join us at the front of the pack. READ MORE

J/24 US NATIONALS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE North Sails Expert Mike Ingham Explains What To Expect in Rochester They call Rochester “Leftchester”. But of course it is not always that simple! We asked North Sails expert and Rochester local Mike Ingham what sailors should expect when they leave the docks at the 2019 J/24 US Nationals. First, some basics: The predominant winds are in the West quadrant (WSW to NW). More often than not, systems come from the West quadrant, most often WSW The thermal is NNE The Genesee River flows North to the lake passing through Downtown Rochester before dropping considerably in altitude, passing RYC and emptying it’s silt into the lake The racing area is typically straight North or NE from the river. It’s not quite in a bay, but the land does indent like a very open bay, so there is land from West through South to East. From West through North to East is largely exposed The Lake is large and deep. It is around 350 miles long and 70 miles wide. The Niagara River flows into the lake on the SW corner and that water empties into the Atlantic by way of the St. Lawrence River in the NE corner Here are some thoughts for each direction: South Quadrant: It’s shifty in all of the South directions. The city of Rochester is ~8 miles up the Genesee and over 400 feet above the lake. That means the wind coming down that long hit is really unstable as it tries to mix in with the air below Heads up puffy lake sailing. Since the wind comes down that long hill, sometimes the puffs don’t hit the water so you don’t see them coming. Need to look and try and connect the puffs, but also need to be ready to react to whatever comes your way. Top of the course is the most shifty because it is closer to land making the last move to the weather mark and the first move out of it pretty critical All S directions (system driven) Flat water SOUTHEAST Can happen, but is not common. Almost always associated with some rain and storm coming, but not always Can get a lift off the right shore, but not consistently Not a sustainable direction, it is unlikely to lock into the SE for more than half a day before something changes it Will rarely turn into a thermal because it is associated with bad weather disrupting any land convection. SOUTH Relatively common system breeze Often warm clear weather Super shifty Rarely any geographic pattern (like get to a shore) because relatively square to the land SOUTHWEST Relatively common system breeze Can be nice clear warm weather, or can be humid with t-storms rumbling through especially in the afternoon Can be very windy, but is relatively flat Very shifty puffy – heads up! West Quadrant Common System driven Often windy, clear Relatively steady compared to the S winds, but still some shifts Can have T-storms associated, especially late in the day Out further in the lake, there can be big waves, but where we race there is a shore to the West, so that cuts down on big wave. Still choppy though. Often very favored left because of a lift off shore and flatter water North, Northwest System N or NW System breeze about once a month lasting a few days (when it is windy) Cold wind from the North Often windy BIG steep waves (up to 10 foot) In the spring and summer, this is an oscillating breeze, so play the longer shifts, could be 5 min + oscillations But in the fall, since the lake is warm and the air cold, mixing makes for big holes and puffs Northeast System Rare Unstable often rainy and stormy Does not last long Play shifts, but don’t expect a solid pattern Can be big waves if it does last a while because it has a very long fetch from the East end of the lake. But often does not last long enough to build up the really big waves Northeast Thermal Almost always a Thermal Sea breeze Lite. It rarely gets into double digits Like any other thermal, need a temperature differential. The lake peaks at around 65deg so it can happen even on a cool day. The lake can “turn over”. Only the surface is warm and if the lower cool water mixes, it can get cool overnight to the mid 50’s Flat water Even though it is coming from the lake, it only goes out a few miles and does not have time/ distance to build up much chop Once filled in, left seems to work more than not Current Surprisingly for a lake, you could see up to 1.5kts of current. Usually W to E parallel to the shore (but occasionally it inexplicably goes the other way –some kind of eddy). You can’t predict it but can easily tell which way and how strong by watching which way the river silt exits the river on your way out. It is caused by the bathtub effect, plus the flow of Niagara Falls (W to E). The lake is 300+ miles long and a low pressure system at one end or the other will suck the water that way, then when that pressure system goes away, the water “sloshes” back. It is relatively even over the race course, there is rarely any local eddy or current relief anywhere because the lake gets deep quickly. You have to go right near shore and we don’t typically race there. READ MORE

LONG BEACH LOCAL KNOWLEDGE What To Expect For The 2019 Viper 640 World Championship Long Beach is hands down the best place to race sailboats in Southern California. With sunny skies, warm temperatures and consistent breeze, the 2019 Viper 640 Worlds should be a spectacular event. We spoke with North Sails expert and local Alex Curtiss to learn what sailors should expect when they leave the dock. What will the breeze be like? For the most part Southern California breeze is very predictable, but the morning marine layer will tell you a lot about what to expect on a given day. For example, if you wake up in the morning, and it is very overcast, maybe even a little hint of mist is in the air: expect lighter winds for the afternoon. If you wake up and it is a beautiful sunny day, I would imagine that it will be a typical Long Beach Day. What is a “Typical” Long Beach day? Essentially there are three sections to the breeze. Usually just before noon the breeze will be somewhere between 190-210 degrees. This will also mean the breeze is relatively light (5-8 knots). Then the breeze will trend to the right. A lot of times the second race is sailed in a breeze direction between 215-235 degrees, with velocity gradually picking up. Then by about 2:30 pm or 3:00 you could expect the breeze to progress further to the right (240-255 degrees). The velocity will be 15+knots and beautiful. What are some things to look for to see the trend? I like to pay attention to the marine layer, the clouds and the haze-line. More often than not, the cloudier it is, the more the breeze will stay to the left. The sunnier it is, the more the breeze wants to move right. Another thing I pay attention to is the clouds inland over the mountains. If you see big towering clouds in the backdrop of the race course, that means the conveyor belt is going and expect a strong sea breeze in the afternoon. The last thing I pay attention to is the haze line offshore. The angle of the haze-line will tell you how the pressure is filling across the course. Sometimes the haze-line late in the day can run parallel to the port lay line forcing a left twist in the breeze near the top of the course. What to expect from the different courses? The NOR calls for three courses: Course A is the “traditional” ocean course. Everything that was outlined in the previous comments hold true to race track. If there was one thing I would say is when the breeze goes past the 240 mark, the race to the right is real. Getting to the break-wall first with leverage will generally lead to good scores. Course B is what I call the “Seal Beach” course. A lot of times the water is a little more chopped up due to being so close to shore. Waves will bounce off the beach and then wash together with the incoming swell, so speed is of major importance on this track. There also seems to be a little more left twist in the breeze down there as well, but there are probably more shifts to be played than course A. Course C is probably my favorite of the three courses. This course is inside the breakwater, so flat water in the mornings and a bit of chop when it gets breezy. It is a bit more college style due to the oil islands, and how they affect pressure and shift. There isn’t a lot of rhyme or reason too much inside, but I would pay attention to the haze line angle if they set a course up near the breakwater. What about Tide or Current? Since you are in the ocean, there is really always current going down coast. There is really no relief but keep it in mind approaching marks and laylines. Favorite Post-Sailing Nosh spots? You can’t go wrong with the beers and food at Ballast Point Brewing company across from ABYC. Also anywhere on 2nd street is a great place to chill out and debrief with the team. READ MORE

DOWNWIND TACTICS In our previous installment we rounded the windward mark just behind our rival. In this segment North U Director Bill Gladstone explores downwind tactics against a single boat when you round close astern. Consider this scenario: We’ve turned downwind within a couple of boat lengths of our rival – close enough that she is “under pressure.” No other boats are a concern. Pos 1 – Set the Scene. How can we pass them? Here’s How: Pos 1 – Set the Scene- to Pos 2 – Soak Speed First You won’t pass anybody if you aren’t faster than they are (or at least as fast and more clever). You’ve got to focus on trim and speed first. When you’re fast then you can make tactical plays. Basic Principles Chase to the sides; attack when they come back. You can’t cover on both jibes. The basic play downwind is to get into attack position sailing toward the sides of the course and then attack when your rival jibes toward the middle. Soak to Position To get into position to attack try to match your rivals speed while ‘soaking’ a little lower. Be careful not to over-do your soak, especially in light air. If you are slow your rival may extend away beyond your wind shadow. Pos 2 – Soak Pos 2 – Soak to Pos 3 – Attack! Attack! As your rival jibes, you jibe. Do not delay. There’s no, “Ready to jibe.” The team is ready! Just turn the boat – that’s the “Jibe Ho” signal (Turn with weight, not helm). This ‘simo’ jibe puts your wind shadow on your rival’s air. Their windex should be pointed at you, and yours at them… Pos 3 – Attack Our jibe suffocates them and they never get to full speed out of the jibe. We roll over them into the lead before they can recover. Well done! Pos 4 – Ahead. Pos 5 – They Strike Back They Fight Back Alas, the leg is not over. On our next jibe our rival returns the favor, jibing on our air. Pos. 5 – Attacked. We can’t clear our air and he rolls over us. NOT Fair! Pos. 6- Rolled! Come Out Hot Sometimes you can escape an attack by ‘coming out hot’ – that is, reaching up to push your apparent wind forward coming out of the jibe. Probably a good idea to warn you team before the jibe of your intentions. It won’t work if you steer ‘hot’ but don’t trim ‘hot.’ Don’t Attack A little while later our rival jibes again. We’re in position, but we don’t jibe. Why not? Recall our basic principle of chasing to the sides and attacking toward the middle: An attack here would violate that rule and leave our rival an avenue of escape to the inside. . Attack or Cross-Over? Eventually we jibe Pos 8 and they jibe again. As the boats come converge we are in position to attack. In fact, we’re closer than before – a scant boat length behind now. One option is to jibe on their air. See below Pos 9S. Option to jibe A jibe would put our rival in our bad air and allow us to roll them. This can be strong play. One potential downside is that they may be able to block us from jibing and crossing. Note that if we do jibe, we should jibe when still 2 – 3 lengths away. That’s close enough for our wind shadow to work yet far enough that they cannot fight back with a luff. A jibe within a length leaves us vulnerable to a hard luff where our rival can take us “to the moon” and then drive off to clear air. Fig: To the Moon! Cross Over The alternative to jibing on their air is to Cross Over and Jibe. By Crossing Over and Jibing we gain control. Though we aren’t dishing out bad air we now control the path to the mark. We hold the starboard tack advantage and can jibe when we choose. Pos 10 – Cross Over and Jibe to Pos 11 – Control Clear Air The Cross Over can be tricky in light air or high-performance boats as you must avoid the wind shadow of the windward boat. Pos 10 – Clear Air Next Play There’s always a next play. If our rival jibes we can match their jibe to a position with clear air aft of their shadow and with an avenue of escape to the middle. If we don’t jibe they may try to Cross Over and pin us in a reversal of our current set up. Conclusion From here we just need to sail fast to the leeward gate. In our next segment we’ll look at Leeward Gate Tactics. READ MORE

LESSONS LEARNED FROM ROUNDING FIRST Mike Marshall Explains Two Mental Traits That Will Help You Stay Ahead Of The Fleet 2019 J/22 Worlds 📸 Pepe Hartman Three years after winning the 2016 J/22 Worlds, I signed on as a trimmer for the 2019 World Championship. I knew crewing would be a fresh challenge, and I was excited to help further raise the game on Raised J, owned by John Koppernaes, a team I’d sailed with in 2017. This year’s Worlds were in Warnemunde, Germany, and our preparation strayed far from the original plan; all our practice days were blown out, so the practice race was basically our first outing—on an unproven, bottom-painted, charter boat. What a surprise, then, to find ourselves rounding the first mark in… first. That evening, I talked through our best approach to the regatta. “We’ve got great boat speed,” I said. “Now we just have to believe in ourselves, and know that we deserve to win.” Sure enough, the next day we rounded the top mark in first once again—but were soon passed by the eventual regatta winners. Without being on the wrong side of a shift, what happened? Looking back in time a bit, Raised J had a tough event in the light and shifty conditions at the 2018 Worlds, and we all tend to set our future expectations by our most recent results. So this year, as soon as we rounded that first mark ahead of 30 other J/22s, the energy and excitement onboard climbed way too high. “Wow! We’re winning a race! At the World Championship!” What we should’ve been telling ourselves instead was to keep calm, sail well, and stay in the lead—that we deserved to be there. 📸 Pepe Hartman If turning a great start into a mediocre result sounds all too familiar, here are two traits to work on before your next big regatta. Trait #1: Confidence Confidence is the biggest mental asset a team can bring to the race course. Confidence in your starting ability gives you an edge over the boats around you. Confidence in your boat handling makes it possible to react more quickly to other boats’ mistakes. If you lack confidence, you may not even recognize another boat’s mistake and capitalize on it, because you’ll be too busy questioning your own abilities to recognize the errors of others—especially if it’s a top rival. Confidence also leads to more rational decisions. If you are sure of your boat speed, you’ll be able to look past the bad shift you’re in or the bad waves you’ve just encountered. You’ll think to yourself, we’re fast, and everyone else also hits unfavorable shifts and waves. We just have to deal with these factors better than they do. Without this basic belief in your own abilities, a single wave can cause you to dramatically change the way you’re sailing the boat, making you even slower. Sure of your own skills, you’ll have fewer doubts and more definitive decision-making, which will actually make it easier to race well. Trait #2: Learn From Mistakes Another essential mental asset is identifying and admitting your mistakes. As cliché as it sounds, admitting that you’ve made a mistake is the first step toward moving past it. Analyze what you’ve done wrong, and have a plan to make sure you don’t make that same error again. Everyone makes mistakes, but your top competitors work hard to only make each mistake once. Putting It All Together Rounding first at the first mark in a World Championship proved we had equal skills and speed with the top contenders. The only thing we lacked was confidence in our own abilities. Instead of wondering how we got there, we should’ve focused on perfecting the rest of the race. Instead of getting excited, as if this great rounding was largely due to luck, we should’ve concentrated on minimizing mistakes—and learning from the ones we did make. Sailboat racing is unique in many ways, but its mental side is the same as other sports. If you listen to top athletes around the world, you can hear in their voices the knowledge that they deserve to be at the top—as well as the humility that comes from working extremely hard to get there. We all need to keep learning, but we also need to develop the mental skills to stay on top after a great first beat. 📸 Thomas Hanf READ MORE

Get The Most From Your J/70 Racing Experience! Teams around the world are heading to Torbay in Torquay, England for the much anticipated J/70 World Championships. Our 2019 tool kit features tips on boat speed, boat handling, crew techniques, and much more from our team of J/70 experts. #NSVictoryList There is no better performance test of a one design sail than the results it produces. Add your team to the #NSVictoryList! What To Expect in Torbay Royal Torbay Yacht Club is excited to host the 2019 J/70 World Championship. We spoke with North Sails expert Charlie Cumbley to learn what sailors should expect when they leave the docks. Register For Free Daily Weather Forecasts North Sails has partnered up with our expert friends at Sailing Weather Service to provide complimentary daily weather forecasts. Register now and receive these daily updates sent directly to you each morning. J/70 Upwind Trim Tips North Sails expert Zeke Horowitz shares important J/70 upwind sail trim takeaways from his recent experience at Long Beach Race Week. Light-Air Headstay Sag & Jib Trim What do we look for in headstay sag to optimize jib trim for a variety of light-air conditions? World champion Tim Healy explains. Managing Your Risks North Sails expert Zeke Horowitz talks about placing your boat in the right place on the race course to make gains and minimize losses. Light Air Speed Notes A week of intense training with the Japanese teams in Newport, RI, taught Tim Healy a lot about light air tuning and trimming. Five Downwind Modes Displacement mode, wing-on-wing, or full plane? Understanding the J/70’s different downwind modes will help you choose the right option. Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours sailing, testing, and competing in the J/70, our tuning guide will help you achieve race-winning speed. Telemetry Testing for Faster J/70 Sails A sail design can be improved, but unless you understand how to trim and tune it properly, you’re not going to get the benefit. Here’s a look at the North Sails technology that goes into designing fast J/70 sails. Get Up To Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. The North Sails J/70 Speed Guide leverages our expertise to help you make the most of your one design sailing. Our Experts Make It Happen Have questions? Contact your local J/70 expert today for more information on choosing the right J/70 sails. READ MORE

Tools For Success At The J/111 Worlds The J/111 Worlds is just around the corner. Is your team ready? This Tool Kit will help. Created just for J/111 sailors, by our J/111 expert team. #NSVictoryList There is no better performance test of a one design sail than the results it produces. North clients dominated the 2018 Worlds, sweeping the podium and taking eight out of the top ten spots on the scoreboard. Add your team to the #NSVictoryList! Road To The Worlds: Establish The Plan North Sails expert Allan Terhune describes what Team Velocity is working on right now in order to peak at the J/111 Worlds in August. Fine Tune With North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours of sailing, sail testing, and competing in the J/111, our tuning guide will get you up to speed quickly. World Champion Tips At the 2018 J/111 Worlds in Breskens, Netherlands, big-breeze speed was the key to success. Martin Dent and his team on JElvis scored nine straight bullets in the 12 race series! Here’s what worked for them. Onboard Communication Onboard communication for racing yachts is a key factor for performance, no matter what type of sailing. We have some suggestions to keep your boat moving through the water and around the corners more efficiently and effectively with better communication. Working With The Best Our J/111 sails deliver the best results for our clients. Contact your local expert and join us at the front of the pack. READ MORE

Tools For Success At The J/109 North Americans The J/109 North Americans is just around the corner. Is your team ready? This Tool Kit will help. Created just for J/109 sailors, by our J/109 expert team. Define Your Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. Our brand new J/109 Speed Guide by class leader Jack Orr answers your speed and boathandling questions. Tune For Speed The North Quick Tuning Guide explains base settings and which sail models to use for the conditions. Learn more: What Worked For Growth Spurt At the 2018 J/109 North Americans, twenty teams battled for the title. We interviewed John Greifzu, owner-driver of Growth Spurt, who won the Corinthian title and second overall. Onboard Communication Onboard communication is a key tool for achieving peak race performance. We have some suggestions to help you communicate with your teammates more efficiently and effectively. Working With The Best Our J/109 sails deliver the best results for our clients. Contact your local expert and join us at the front of the pack. READ MORE

Updated Tuning Numbers For The PT-2 Loos Gauge North Sails is never satisfied when it comes to making faster sails and offering information to help clients optimize the performance of the sails. With decades of experience sailing the J/24, North expert and two-time J/24 World Champion Will Welles has released a new Tuning Guide complemented by a Tuning Matrix for the J/24 class including numbers for the new Loos Gauge Model PT-2. “We have condensed the information and added the PT-2 numbers which were missing. I recommend to download/print the new Tuning Matrix and take with you next time you go sailing. The matrix offers a starting point based on numbers of the average boats. We left some room for you to log in your own numbers and go from there.” said Will Welles. Open New J/24 Tuning Guide Download North Sails J/24 Quick Tuning Matrix: Loos Gauge PRO PT2 | Loos Gauge PRO Model B READ MORE

MOTH NEWBIE: DAN NERI LEARNS TO FOIL The North Sails CEO talks about his recent sailing—and swimming, and crashing—experiences When I first saw a photo of a foiling Moth in Seahorse Magazine I did not understand what I was looking at. Since then, as I watched foiling expand from extreme dinghies to multihulls and offshore monohulls, I took the attitude that foiling came a little too late for me. I figured that, at 60 years old, my learning days were behind me. But after my Laser training partner Scott Ferguson talked me into a ride on his Moth last summer, I was hooked. Two weeks later I bought a used boat, took delivery in September 2018, and my adventures as a Moth newbie began. Welcome newbies Like all recreational one design classes, the Moth class is welcoming to newcomers. The experienced sailors support the bungling beginners because they, too, had to fight through the learning frustration, the broken boat parts and the bodily bumps and bruises, before gaining the skills required to get around the bay or race course. As class veteran Anthony Kotoun explains it, “We all want to get you up to speed so we don’t have to wait around or worry about you.” On land there are no secrets. Everyone is happy to share rigging and setup ideas and even spare parts. On the water, coaching is mostly by means of “fly-bys” to demonstrate the right take-off angle, heel and sail trim. Back on shore, the best coaching of the day comes as small suggestions, words of encouragement, and reminders that everyone struggled at the beginning. It’s complicated The boat itself is a complicated machine. After decades of Laser sailing, I valued a high ratio of sailing time to rigging and unrigging time. The Moth is a different beast. It takes an hour to set up, and half an hour to unrig and put away. When my new-to-me boat arrived last fall, I was eager to learn as much as I could before the Rhode Island sailing season ended. With the days growing shorter, the water colder and the westerly breeze stronger, I felt pressure to cram in learning time between the end of the work day and the beginning of night. Setup is part of the fun At first it seemed like everything was extremely difficult, from setting up the foils to attaching the outhaul. My first day sailing alone I had so much trouble rigging up that I ran out of daylight and never got in the water. The next day was better, even though I ended de-rigging in the dark, shivering after 30 minutes of swimming and 30 minutes of sailing and cursing at myself while looking for ring dings in the sand. But over the first 10 hours of sailing (20 hours of rigging and unrigging), I progressed from fighting the boat to a sort of affectionate truce. I learned to embrace the boat maintenance tasks as a hobby. And I accepted that rigging and foil setup time is part of the game and not just another chore. Making it my own Every Moth is slightly different. Mine arrived with all the required controls plus a canting rig. When I emptied the box onto the lawn I found two sets of vertical foils, a total of 6 horizontal foils, three masts and 4 different sails. These parts are not all interchangeable and for some reason, Moth parts are rarely labeled. It turns out that Patrick Wilson, the prior owner of Moth #4425, is an expert rigger and a notorious gear-head. Gradually I have modified Patrick’s Moth with an emphasis on simplicity at the expense of top end performance. Now it feels like my own boat and when I get it going I find myself marveling at the magic it produces, skimming above the surface of the bay, making no sound except the flicking of the wand. Three words keep running through my head: “This is cool.” After about 30 hours of sailing (and 60 hours of rigging and unrigging), I can foil with confidence in the limited window of 8-14 knots. My next goal is a foiling jibe, though I know that will take a lot more time. Compared to most dinghies, building the basic skill set for the Moth is difficult, especially when you’re almost too old to learn new tricks. Read more about Dan’s Moth adventures: How to Build Your Moth Foiling Skills How to Rig a Foiling Moth READ MORE

MAST FURLING INSTALLATION GUIDE Key Elements of Usage and Installation This guide is intended to help better understand the key construction elements, usage and installation of your sail. If you have any questions after reading this document and before installing your sail, please contact your North Sails representative. It is best to have two people installing the sail which can be accomplished in less than one hour. Your boat needs facing directly into the wind and ideally the wind speed should be less than 8 knots. Step 1: Unpack your Sail Begin by removing your North Sails Purchasers Pack including your Quality Control and Warranty information. Reserve for future reference. Locate and identify the battens (if any) and reserve for installation later. Step 2: Attach the Mainsail Tack Begin by unrolling your mainsail on the side deck from luff to leech. Lift the mainsail tack area and attach to your tack fitting. Your new Mast Furling mainsail incorporates a North Sails exclusive Rope Tack. This feature is designed to provide a soft and easily furled corner attachment. The sail has less patching the normal corner, but has the Spectra/Dyneema rope splayed and sewn into the sail to proved strength. Please ensure the tack rope is connected to a smooth hook or shackle to ensure durability and that no chafing occurs. NOTE: If your mainsail has a Crab Claw Cutaway and two webbing attachment points – Please read the Stowaway Mast Furling Mainsail installation guide. Step 3: Attach the Mainsail Clew Lift the mainsail clew to the end of the boom and run the outhaul line through the clew block. Depending upon the type of block and the rigging of the outhaul, you may need to remove the block sheave or the outhaul line stoppers to pass the outhaul through the clew block. Step 4: Attach the Mainsail Head Lift the mainsail head to the mast and attach to the head of the sail to furling head swivel. The mainsail head has the same rope corner as the tack for ease of furling. Step 5: Hoist the sail and insert Battens (if applicable) If your mainsail has no battens, you can now hoist the mainsail all the way and furl into the mast. If your mainsail has leech battens, you will insert each batten as you hoist the sail. If your mainsail has full length battens, you will assemble the battens before hoisting the mainsail and then insert the battens after hoisting following the leech batten procedure. Leech Batten Installation Most Mast Furling Mainsails with Leech Battens will include Round Carbon Rod Battens. These un-tapered battens are stiff to support the leech and also able to slightly twist around the luff extrusion for easy and compact furling. The leech battens should be located on the inside of your furled sail so they do not impact the mast gap edge hen furling and unfurling. Only sails with the smallest gaps will include flat battens. Your battens will be secure into the sail with a standard Velcro leech closure. The leech (upper) end of the batten has a small plastic cap taped on to fit compactly into the closed leech batten pocket end. The bottom (lower) end of the batten has a custom metal fitting changing the shape of the batten from round to flat to best secure the batten in the sail. NOTE: Please follow the Velcro Stuff Batten Installation Guide when inserting the Vertical Leech Battens as hoisting your sail Full length Batten Installation If you have ordered a Mast Furling Mainsail with Full Length Battens, you will have received your battens in segments, which need to be assembled. Simply identify the segments from the batten labels and screw together using the just joiner. Furl the sail When the sail is new, it will be stiffer than your old sail. Please keep some tension on the outhaul when you are first furling the sail, to train the patches to accept the furl. Take note to see if there are any excessive wear points and that the battens are entering the mast evenly and smoothly. Leech Line Your new Mast Furling Mainsail includes and Around the Clew Leech Line. The leech line is not a sail shape control but an essential tool to prevent leech flutter. The leech line will have a purchase system and Velcro closure above the clew and a cleat with in front of the clew. Your sail will either have micro-blocks or a tunnel to direct the leech line around the clew. Use the leech line to prevent leech flutter in higher wind speeds and when reefed. Excessive leech flutters can cause serious sail damage. Sail Shape Control You can control the depth and position of draft in your new mainsail by adjusting the halyard tension. A tighter halyard will move the draft position further forward and result in a flatter sail. When your sail is new, pull the halyard up just enough to remove any horizontal creases along the luff. In stronger breeze you will need more halyard tension. READ MORE

J/70 UPWIND TRIM TIPS Finding Your Groove In Building Pressure 📸 Bronny Daniels / Joysailing.com North Sails expert Zeke Horowitz shares important J/70 upwind sail trim takeaways from his recent experience in California, USA at Long Beach Race Week. Zeke sailed with Jeff Janov on Minor Threat, and they tied for first place with just 18 points in the seven race regatta. Less than 10 Knots When the breeze is under 10 knots and you are looking for power, be sure to get up to speed by “pressing” on the jib before trying to grab any height. In these underpowered conditions, height comes from achieving flow over the keel, NOT from simply trying to point the boat higher. By pressing on the jib, you will power up the sail plan and allow your crew the chance to pressurize the weather rail. This helps achieve max flow on the keel, and your boat will start lifting. Your leeward jib tell tale should be “nervous” most of the time and you should not sail any higher than tell tales straight back. It’s imperative to get your rig loose enough to help the headstay sag. You can always snug up the headstay by tightening the backstay if you get a little puff. Two turns off the cap shrouds and two turns off the lowers from base is probably about as loose as you should need to go (4-7 kts)*. Trim the main so you have a nice open leech (tell tales streaming) until you are able to get weight on the rail. Once the weight is up, you can trim the main hard enough to begin seeing stall on the leech tell tales. *The exact number of turns depends on your rig. 📸 Bronny Daniels / Joysailing.com Above 15 Knots When sailing in over 15 knots and chop, be decisive about your “modes” upwind. Take note of the wave angle on each tack and decide which mode you want to try on each board. For example, if one tack has the wave direction more on the bow, you may want to try a “bow down mode” to keep the speed from crashing when you hit a hard set of waves. Bow-Down Mode In “bow-down” mode, try centering the traveler car, pulling the backstay hard enough to just see inversion wrinkles in the middle of the main, and pulling the vang hard enough to see some inversion wrinkles down low. Play the mainsheet a lot to maintain a steady heel angle, with the jib tell tales straight back or the inside one just lifting. The name of the game here is speed, so set a target speed number and don’t let the bow come up until you’ve hit your target. 📸 Bronny Daniels / Joysailing.com Higher Mode With Flat Boat If the waves are more side-to, you can try a higher mode with a flatter boat. Bring the traveler car 1/3 – 1/2 of the way up. You’ll have the backstay tight, but not so tight that you see any inversion, and the vang will also be snug, but not so tight that you get low main inversion. The mainsheet will be eased a little more overall to help keep the boat flat. In this mode, you keep some power in the main with the higher traveler and fuller main, but you’ve got more twist in the leech which spills some power to keep you flatter. It’s imperative to get the boat up to speed before trying to point, but with this mode, you can achieve more keel flow by keeping the boat flatter. At times, the driver may feel a touch of lee helm that they must push against, until the main trimmer ‘catches up’ by bringing the mainsheet in slightly. This mode is not as ‘forgiving’ but it can be lethal when the boat is up to speed in open water. *With this second mode, you might need to try a little less inhauler to help keep the headstay straighter, since your backstay and main sheet are not trimmed quite as hard. Learn more about North J/70 products 📸 Bronny Daniels / Joysailing.com READ MORE

MELGES IC37 TIPS: VOLUME FOUR Expert Notes On IC37 Boathandling and Boat Trim 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats North Sails experts have been busy figuring out the IC37 since the first boat became available in 2018. In Volume Four of our class tips, we suggest solutions to some common boat handling challenges. See also: Experts Notes On IC37 Sails | What We Learned at The Leukemia Cup | Training Weekend Notes Best Practices for One Winch from a Pro Pitman Pro Pittman Aubie van Beuren shares his suggestions and best practices. At the start, have the jib halyard loaded on the winch with the handle in and the clutch open. That allows for quick tensioning and easing of the halyard in tacks, as conditions warrant. On the offset leg, the pit person hikes as long as possible and then goes legs in to transfer the jib halyard from winch to clutch. Some halyard tension will be lost, but the luff should be softer for the offset and downwind legs. The winch is now available for the spinnaker hoist. The kite halyard should live on the winch for the downwind leg. I will also wrap the tack line around the winch with a couple of “safety wraps” to prevent slipping. If the tack line needs to be adjusted, the spinnaker halyard can be temporarily transferred to the clutch. At the bottom mark, use the winch to control the spinnaker halyard through the drop. Once the kite is under control, load the jib halyard onto the winch and tension as needed for the windward leg. Finally, open the clutch to allow for fine tuning upwind. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats Best Boat Trim Crew weight on the IC37 needs to be as active side to side as it is fore and aft. Since the boat is very wedge-shaped, more heel makes the bow want to drive down into the water. To compensate, move the crew aft earlier up the wind range than expected. There are two good rules of thumb for most conditions about where the crew should sit: How much noise does the water make exiting the transom? If you hear a lot of bubbling/gurgling noises, your crew is too far aft. The knuckle of the bow should always be about two inches underwater. If more than that is submerged, your crew is probably too far forward. In very wavy conditions, we add a third rule of thumb: If you take three waves over the bow in quick succession, you are too far forward in the boat. In very flat water, pressing farther forward than normal will help reduce wetted surface. On the downwind legs, when there is enough pressure to be constantly planing, moving weight farther aft will help stabilize the boat. Getting more of the wide stern in the water and getting the bow out helps the boat track better and makes it easier to drive. If there is too much weather helm downwind, it could be because the crew weight is too far forward and the bow is digging in. Visit and bookmark the IC37 Class page, your one stop for IC37 resources from North Sails. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats READ MORE

MELGES IC37 TIPS: VOLUME THREE Expert Notes On IC37 Sails 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats The North Sails IC37 class experts sailed the IC37 for most of the 2018 season and are now coaching the fleet during the first three events of 2019. In Volume Three of our class tips, North Sails designer Mike Marshall provides answers to common problems we’ve seen on sail setup and offers his insight to some of the sail decisions that were made during the charter fleet’s inaugural season. Batten Box Stud Installation The batten boxes are designed to have the studs screwed as far in as possible while still being only hand tight. The end of the stud attached to the slide might look like it is farther into the sail than the other bushings on the luff, but that is because the batten slides stick out of the mast farther than the intermediate slides. This is important: don’t over-tighten the studs. They should be screwed in as far as possible by hand and then backed out half a turn. This allows the box to rotate on the stud and line up with the track when the main is hoisted. If the stud is in too far and the box can’t rotate to vertical easily, you risk bending the stud and breaking the batten box. PIC 1: The stud is fully screwed in but not parallel to the luff. This is incorrect. It needs to be backed out half a turn to allow the box to settle vertically on the mast. PIC 2: The stud is parallel to the luff. This is correct. Jib Buckles And Spinnaker Damage The jib buckles have been specifically placed on the port side of the jib to minimize interference with the spinnaker. The spinnaker is most likely to come in contact with the luff side of the jib during a weather strip on port tack. The spinnaker will have minimal prolonged dragging contact with the jib luff during all other takedowns. The most common way to rip the kite is if the spinnaker sheet doesn’t get eased enough through a jibe. When the boat turns down, the crew must aggressively ease the spinnaker sheet to get the sail away from the boat. If this doesn’t happen, the spinnaker will fold over itself, the old sheet, and the headstay, causing a pinch point where the kite can tear. We have witnessed this firsthand in a jibe where the jib was down and in the pulpit; the sheet wasn’t eased enough, and the spinnaker folded in on itself and tore about 3 meters above the pulpit. Spinnaker Zipper It was decided early on that the spinnakers would not have tack zippers. There were two reasons for this. First, with very close racing, sending someone down below is potentially around 10% of your crew weight off the rail. This could be very detrimental to a close cross at the next windward mark. Second, in the spirit of reimagining fun racing, sending someone down below to be banged around while repacking the kite didn’t seem like the right decision. All of this led to the conclusion that the zippers would only be used at the first windward mark of each race. At the second one, the crew will have to learn how to keep the kite in the boat without zippers anyway. Thus, the hassle of zippers was avoided and they were removed. Incidentally, this also prevents a lot of kite-tearing potential from zippers not being broken/opened properly or cars not being removed. Gybulators IC37 spinnakers do not come with gybulators for two reasons. In the initial trials of the boat with a shorter pole, we tested outside jibes and found them slower than inside jibes; the foot of the kite is so long that it is an incredibly large amount of sheet to pull in. Since inside jibes seemed to be easier, the pole length was increased to accommodate them. Second, with the pulpit setup and jib configuration, the stiff gybulator made it very difficult to get the tack of the sail past the forestay. At any angle other than vertical, the sail would be stuck on the leeward side of the jib behind the pulpit. If you want to do outside jibes, tape a batten to the bottom of the front of the pole to act as a bowsprit. Visit and bookmark the IC37 Class page, your one stop for IC37 resources from North Sails. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats READ MORE

Get Ready For The Opti Worlds. There is no better performance test of an Optimist sail than the results it produces. Around the world, kids are winning regattas with North Sails. READ MORE

MELGES IC37 TIPS: VOLUME TWO What We Learned at The Leukemia Cup 📸 Elizabeth Elder/New York Yacht Club It can’t get more exciting than this for the Melges IC37 fleet and the New York Yacht Club members. All nineteen teams lined up for the Leukemia Cup for their first “official” regatta. Congratulations to Cory Sertl and Peter Denton’s Das Blau Max for crossing the finish line first. As the teams figure out the boats, we noticed that the gap between mid-fleet and podium performance is small and getting smaller. Small improvements can make all the difference and means minutes off the course. Here are the takeaways from our experts Ken Read, Kimo Worthington and North U Bill Gladstone: Spinnaker Sets The jib is fairly large compared to the spinnaker size which makes it hard to set the spinnaker due to backwind from the jib. Mark the spinnaker halyard with a piece of tape so the mast person pulling up the halyard knows when they have “rung the bell”. As soon as the mast person says “made”, in light air under 10 knots TWS, the jib halyard is released immediately and completely, un-cleating the jammer and smoking the luff down the headstay to get the kite to fly properly, but not before the mast person says “made”. In over 10 knots TWS, a complete release of the jib sheet on the “made” call will ensure that the kite fills properly and immediately. Then, trim in the jib slightly if your intention is to use it as a staysail. And keep in mind, under 10 knots for sure is too light for a jib staysail. 10-12 is marginal. Over 12 is likely. Jib Trim “I personally think that the jib track starts all the way inboard and only moves out when the mainsail starts too luff due to excess backwind,” explained Ken Read, Melges IC37 Guest Coach & North Sails President. “I didn’t see many with the car all the way in yesterday. I raced in with a boat in the final race with the long upwind leg and found our boat to be quite fast with the car all the way in.” Due to the shape of the cockpit, the jib trimmer when trimming to leeward, sits well outboard from the clew of the jib. This makes an optical illusion for the jib trimmer as the lower part of the jib is very round and looks to literally be pointing back towards the middle of the boat. That is actually not the case. The lower leech of these jibs is quite open to allow for the jib to be sheeted quite far inboard so take advantage of the lead positioning and keep trying to sneak it inboard. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats Runners During Tacks In fresh breeze, with the runners loaded hard, it pays to trim the new runner on before the old runner is eased – the goal is to transfer the runner load rather than ease one side and reload the other side. This requires that the tactician loads and grinds the new runner before the helm goes down, as the old runner needs to be eased promptly as the bow goes through the wind. (When it is windy enough to require this, there should be at least two crew behind the driver – usually tactician and floater. Marking the runner with tape near where the line goes around the winch at max load helps to keep the runner trimmer’s head down grinding instead of looking up at the main to see how much is on. Halyard Play with the controls, constantly. Jib halyard tension directly affects shape and often it is an overlooked control as the breeze picks up or dies down. Keep the cabintop winch loaded with jib halyard when going upwind to allow for fine tuning as velocity shifts happen – clutch stays open. On final approach to windward mark, the pit person closes clutch, swings legs in, transfers load from cabintop winch to clutch and preloads cabintop with spin halyard ahead of hoist. Mainsail Trim In light air carrying the boom just above centerline allows for a proper twist profile without having the main fall into the jib. Don’t get carried away with this. A boom width above center seems to work; up near the runner is too much. Unless running very deep, actively trim main when reaching. It is very easy to ease too far out and lose any advantage from a properly trimmed main. Spinnaker Drops, Step By Step Timing is everything, clear actions are everything else. First step: put your strongest person on the takedown line, ready to go in the cockpit. Second step: if you have an extra body, someone down below acting as squirrel forward and to starboard helps to gather the sail down below (faster and cleaner douse). Third step: a decisive turndown to unload kite should be timed at the exact instance when a douse happens. Blow sheet and halyard while takedown line is being hauled; all load is now out of sail and belly is aimed at the hatch. When foot and belly is under control, blow the pole while bow team is gathering tack – this helps bring pole in. When all under control, finally blow the tack. Pole should be in, tack following suit. Your resource page for the IC37 by Melges Sunday Pre-Racing DockTalk with Ken Read https://www.northsails.com/sailing/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Melges-IC37-Class-YT.mp4 READ MORE

HELIX Versatility, Self Supporting, Forward Projecting Helix Load Sharing Technology is a North Sails exclusive sail structure and shaping solution. Helix sails are more versatile, self supporting, forward projecting, and are engineered to furl using the sail’s composite structure and not heavy, expensive torque cable. North Sails Design and Development teams have worked closely with top racing programs around the globe to apply our unique design and manufacturing capabilities to the inherent problems when combining free-flying reaching sails with furling. In the past, these sails required tight, straight, heavy and highly loaded cables to provide furling functionality. These cables prohibit optimal flying shape which Helix Load Sharing technology now resolves. Torsional resistance and vertical luff load capacity are now a direct part of the sail structure, providing better aerodynamic flying shape while still accommodating the tension and torsional loads required for furling. Furling a free-flying sail is nothing new, either with or without a luff cable. Code Zero’s first gained prominence during the 1997-98 Whitbread Race where the sail luff was reinforced to support high furling loads but the sails were difficult to trim and handle. Since that time, a wide range of furlers and furling cables have been developed – all attempting to improve Code Sail furling performance. The result has been highly efficient furling systems and anti-torque cables, but the problem of optimal flying shape has remained. More recently, Load Sharing Technology has evolved which re-distributes the luff loads into the sail membrane. Most notably, in 2013 ORACLE TEAM USA and Emirates Team New Zealand AC72 America’s Cup catamarans, used North headsails that took on a portion of the headstay load reducing overall rig loads and providing a better flying shape with less sag. Helix was being born. While Helix is offered in both Paneled and 3Di construction, 3Di molded composite sails are particularly well suited to this application. Precise spread filament tape vectors are placed along the load bearing luff catenaries in variable densities creating unique-to-North, lightweight free-flying furling sails. At this stage in development, Helix sails bridge the gap between headsails and spinnakers. When looking at specific examples, the Helix makes Code Sails faster and more stable – across a wider range of wind angles. Helix sail shaping is different than a cabled sail. Helix Sails tend to flatten, project the luff and provide a wider entry angle, requiring specialized design molds. Cabled sails tend to hang off the cable when tightened adding unneeded luff curvature. Helix is a standard feature on 3Di Downwind and Panel Code Zeros. Helix is optional on many additional 3Di Code and specialty reaching sails. Helix Code sails bridge the gap between headsails and spinnakers. The increased luff projection from Helix makes Code Sails faster and more stable – across a wider range of wind angles. Helix is a standard feature on 3Di Downwind and Panel Code Zeros. Helix is optional on some additional 3Di Code and specialty reaching sails. READ MORE

In the order of their importance these are: the sailor’s weight, the expected wind conditions, and the sail’s construction.  READ MORE

ANTIGUA LOCAL KNOWLEDGE What To Expect For The 2019 Optimist World Championship The island of Antigua is excited to host the 2019 Optimist World Championship. This is a record-breaking year, with over 250 sailors from 64 countries registered. We spoke with North Sails expert and local Andrew Dove to learn what sailors should expect when they leave the harbor. Hurricane Season July is the beginning of hurricane season, so there could be some days where the winds are built up from storms that have established nearby. Small squalls are common, but typically the rain and wind are localized and pass by quickly. The best part about these squalls is a break from the sunshine. Heat & Dehydration When competitors get off the plane, they will instantly notice the humidity (98%) even if they are arriving from Florida. They will also have to work to avoid a sunburn. Staying out of the sun whenever possible, and wearing protective clothing while racing, is essential. Dehydration is another concern, especially since it will be hard to identify. A key indicator is heat exhaustion, which may be easy to mistake for the natural fatigue from hiking all day in strong winds. Sailors will need to drink water (adequately supplemented with electrolytes) constantly to stay ahead. Water, Waves, and Current It is very rare to have no wind and smooth waters here; deep water racing with waves is what you should expect. Because the ocean swell has crossed the Atlantic, the wave crests will be quite far apart. Water temperature will be warm, in the upper 80s. Close to shore, the water is only a few meters deep and there’s a current of 1.0-1.5 knots running from east to west. If the sailing area is more offshore, the current won’t be as noticeable in the deeper water. The course marks will be attached with high-grade fishing line, because chain would drag in the deeper water and strong currents. The Wind Except for localized squalls, there is always a concern during hurricane season, winds typically come from the easterly quadrant and are not very shifty. Gusts that build from passing squalls storms may last five to ten minutes, then will transition back to what was there originally. The wind is generally more onshore in the mornings and increases in the latter part of the afternoon. Trends will be evident after a few races, and there shouldn’t be too many surprises. It would be very unusual to have a calm day, but you never know! Club members here in Antigua run great regattas each year, and our island will serve up some fantastic racing conditions that your sailors will remember forever. Just remember: avoid sunburn and heat exhaustion! 📸 Benedicte Beckers READ MORE

MELGES IC37 TIPS: VOLUME ONE Racing Season Begins With Training Weekend In Newport, RI 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats A historic weekend in Newport with nineteen brand new IC37s sailing together for the first time ever, in fantastic weather conditions paired with a fun and educational environment. All teams were eager to learn and sail the new boats. North Sails and North U presented a full-weekend clinic and coaching session, sharing their expertise to kick-start this amazing new fleet with the potential to be one of the most fun one design summers ever for the New York Yacht Club. North experts Tim Healy, Kimo Worthington and IC37 sail designer Mike Marshall, with the help of North U’s Bill Gladstone compiled a series of tips and takeaways from the training session to share with the teams in preparation for the Leukemia Cup. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats Consistent Spinnaker Takedowns For both windward side and leeward side takedowns, time the drop with a decisive turn down to unload the spin. Timing and positioning is everything. Approaching the leeward mark: The Bow Team & Pit Just prior to the start of the takedown, save time and speed up the maneuver by preloading the takedown/retriever line. No slack should be present once the maneuver initiates. At this time the sheet gets released and overhauled, take down line gets hauled down and halyard comes off. The lead bow person can assist the retriever line by also pulling down and focus on getting the middle-foot of the kite up to keep the tack inside the lifelines. The second crew assists with the middle of the kite to the clew, making sure no cloth is over the lifelines. If you divide up the foot, and keep pulling until you reach the corners, the kite shouldn’t ever be in the water. The tack is released with the pole at the same time after foot is in control and on deck or in the hatch. The tack line is then pulled into hatch until the knot stops at the clutch and the pole is pulled in. If it happens at the same time, the tack release will help bring the pole-in, and the tack will be the last corner inside the hatch. This is a good place to start for consistent takedowns. We are sure as teams get more time with the boats this will get refined. As the wind picks up, start the takedown process earlier and be careful not to overstand the gate marks. It is much better to soak a bit into the marks than it is to be coming in hot with no wiggle room and sail past the marks. You will find in big breeze, a conservative take down will almost always gain a point or two at each leeward gate. Understand your crew strengths from the mast forward and set them up for a successful mark rounding. Depending on the takedown, they may need more time. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats Leeward Mark Approach When it’s breezy aim for the middle of the gates so you so can round either mark and give yourself room for the drop. It’s a big loss to overstand the gates. Ease the vang downwind in bow up mode. The traveler should be all the way to leeward and just use the mainsheet for leech tension. A loose vang will reduce helm so driver can go bow up in order to get to the proper heel angle and to reach the target speed. As speed builds, apparent wind will go forward and VMG will increase. Backstay on downwind in overpowering conditions (15+knots). This will keep mast aft in order to keep the luff of the spin tight, keeping draft forward and exit straight for better heavy air, bow up, shape. Backstay on will also flatten the main so the boat will not trip up in a big puff or crashing into a wave. Remember: Release old backstay in a Jibe! Not releasing will be a guaranteed broach in big breeze. When it comes to managing the upwind layline, it’s better to overstand a little than to tack shy of the layline and be forced to gybe out. Remember an IC37 accelerates over boats that are pinching and going slow trying to make the mark. You can use this to your advantage. Achieving The Correct Upwind Sail Settings Your outhaul should be max in over 12 kts. Also, a little vang in heavy air helps flatten the bottom of the main. When it comes to your upwind heel angle and sail shapes, the IC37 is optimized at 18-20 degrees of heel. The goal with your sail setup is to create as much power as possible to achieve that heel. This involves keeping the runner eased, the main sheet trimmed so the number-two batten is just open, and the traveler is high. For the jib set up, the halyard should be on the loose side and the lead set for a powerful foot. The sheet should be trimmed so the mid-leech is just closing. Once you have achieved the correct upwind heel angle, you do everything that you can to get the bow down, and the boat moving faster so that the keel starts generating lift. This will give you the ability to point. Opposite to trying to achieve heel, trying to achieve speed involves making the sail plan rapidly flatter to reduce drag. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats Steps To Achieve Speed and Reduce Drag Increasing shims and backstay tensions Easing the mainsheet Moving the jib lead out and flattening the jib foot Think of the boat as having two power levels, and not a linear power increase. One level is where you are looking for heel. The second level is where you have all the heel you need, and are translating the surplus power into speed. Go to the North Sails IC37 Tuning Guide for detailed and up to date tuning information. 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats 📸 Melges Performance Sailboats READ MORE

UPWIND TACTICS: ONE ON ONE By Bill Gladstone In this installment North U Director Bill Gladstone explores upwind tactics against a single boat as you approach the starboard tack layline. Consider this scenario: We’re on starboard tack about five lengths below the starboard tack layline and about to cross a port tack rival by a boat length. The mark is still a fair distance ahead. No other boats are a concern. What’s the Goal? Our position – one length ahead and owing one tack – essentially puts us even. Our first goal is to round ahead; a more ambitious goal is to round a few boat lengths ahead. Rounding a length or two ahead is rounding “under pressure” (but still better than being behind). Rounding a few lengths ahead would allow us to “sail our own boat” downwind without fear of an immediate threat. What should we do? There are 4 options: Lee-Bow, Cross & Tack, Carry-On on starboard, or a Delayed Tack after sailing a few lengths. Let’s explore them all. Fig 1: From Position 1, we have 4 Options Option 1: Lee-Bow A Lee-Bow tack under the port tack boat would allow us to give them bad air but given the short distance to the layline this play could leave us pinned – unable to tack until our rival tacks. This move might actually leave us behind. There must be a better choice. Opt 1 – Lee Bow Opt 1 Fig 1: A Lee-Bow Tack to a short layline may leave us pinned. NOTE: A Lee-Bow can be a great move IF if there’s enough distance that we will be able to push our rival back and be free to tack. In fact, this might be the first choice in that case. But not here; not with the short distance to the layline. Option 2: Cross & Tack We cross by a length and tack, leaving us to windward and bow to bow headed to the layline. With the Cross & Tack our rival is pinned and we get to make a safe layline call. We tack; our rival “hips up” and tacks; and we lead to the mark, rounding 1 to 2 lengths ahead. In the lead, but under pressure. If we were going to the finish, this would be just fine… Opt 2 – Cross & Tack puts us in control and assures we’ll round ahead. Option 3: Carry-On Never mind the rival: Sail our boat. Rather than tack and make a long layline call let’s carry on. This is a passive approach that leaves us at the mercy of a small shift or puff. After we split and both boats tack we may hold our one boat length advantage, but we’ll be on port. Not strong… Opt 3 – Carry-On is a passive approach (red) Option 4: Delayed Tack In this scenario we sail a few lengths – less than a “speed build”– and then tack. Opt 4 – Delayed Tack puts our rival bow out so they are forced to make the next move. (blue) Then what? Our rival will be bow out and first to the layline. When they tack on the layline we’ll tack on their lee-bow. Note that by extending less than a speed build before our tack we assure that our rival will not be back to full speed at our next meeting. Now we’ll be able to give them bad air all the way to the mark. In this way we’re able to turn a small advantage into a few boat lengths lead – hopefully enough so we won’t be “under pressure” but will be able to let us “sail our own boat” downwind. Fig – Layline Lee-Bow lets us extend our lead (green) That didn’t work out too well for our rival. What else could they do? An early tack would be a gift to us – as two extra tacks would hand us a comfortable lead. The other option would be to over-stand and wait for us to tack. That too is a gift, as each length they overstand gives us a length’s advantage (minus a small payback for their reaching angle after tacking). Delayed Tack – Over Stand: When our rival over-stands we extend our lead. (Green extends. Blue sails more distance.) Oops, NOT so fast… Upon closer inspection I realized we were on the Yellow Boat, not the Red Boat. My bad. What to do? When our rival executes a Delayed Tack we’re in a tough spot. Getting to the layline first leaves us two choices, neither good: tack on the layline and get crushed or over-stand and lose. How can we avoid the layline? As noted, two extra tacks is a gift to our rival. One option to explore is trading speed for height: Rather than race full speed to the layline we pinch up to close gauge with our rival. How do we sail high and slow? Overtrim the main to force the boat up. Trim the jib a little too. By sailing high rather than fast we can let them tack first, “hip up” and tack where we can stay close enough to put them “under pressure” when we round. Fig – Pinch & Hip Up: We can trade speed for height(shown in blue), reduce separation, and hopefully round close enough to put our rival ‘under pressure.’ (green under pressure from blue) Summary: So, for a short hitch to the layline a Delayed Tack pays big dividends. For a longer hitch the lee-bow tack would be a strong choice. Also, for a tack to the finish a “Cross & Tack” would be sufficient – at the finish, a lead is a lead. And for the bow out boat a trade of speed for height is the best play. (And the windward boat should do the same. Don’t tell him.) Next Time: We’ll turn downwind: trailing, but with our rival “under pressure.” ‘til then, sail fast. READ MORE

Get The Most From Your Etchells The 2019 Etchells Worlds is around the corner and here’s our Etchells Tool Kit for you and your team with tips and relevant information on sail trim, boat tuning and local knowledge. #NSVictoryList There is no better performance test of an Etchells design than the results it produces. In 2019 alone, North Sails clients won all the major regattas in Australia and the US. Quick Tips That Make All The Difference As your team prepares for the Worlds, we have compiled a series of speedy tips from North Sails Etchells experts that will help you step up your results. What Worked For The 2018 Worlds Champions Sailing in a 94-boat fleet stacked with past world champions, Martin Hill didn’t go into the 2018 Etchells Worlds in Brisbane, Australia expecting to win. Find out how team Lisa Rose rose to the occasion on the last day to win the title. Dog’s Mast Lever System The Etchells is one of the most competitive one-design classes in the world and sailors have been searching out extra speed gears for over fifty years. One recent innovation is two-time Etchells World Champion Andrew “Dog” Palfrey’s Mast Lever System. Corpus Christi Bay In Late June For the past 50 years, Mark Foster has raced and sailed in Corpus Christi, the venue of the 2019 World Championship. Find out more about the wind, waves, and current patterns that normally occur during a June afternoon. Benj’s Secrets Multi-time Etchells World Champion Steve Benjamin shares pretty much everything about his Etchells program – tuning numbers, sails, crew and boat setup, the team and their role in the game. The Tactician Role World Champion Michael Menninger shares his insights from the Etchells tactician seat. Managing starts, strategy decisions, planning downwind legs, and other important decisions on the boat. Fine Tune with North Find your groove. Get your numbers. Be confident in all wind conditions. After countless hours of sailing, sail testing, and competing in the Etchells, our championship-winning sails will get you up to speed quickly. Get Up To Speed Pulling all the pieces together can be challenging. The North Etchells Speed Guide will help you leverage our expertise to make the most of your Etchells sailing. Our Etchells sails deliver great results for our clients. Contact your North Etchells expert and join us at the front of the pack. READ MORE

If you do everything you can to reduce sail power with the sails you’ve got up, and you are still overpowered, it’s time to reduce sail area. READ MORE

ACHIEVING BALANCE IN YOUR SAILPLAN North Expert Skip Dieball Offers Three Ways To Improve Helm Balance From Sails And Foils, And Increase Your Speed Upwind Racing dinghies and keelboats alike, a key to speed is maintaining a balanced helm upwind. All sailboats have a different feel when you steer them. Some have a naturally heavy windward helm, and some have very neutral or sometimes even leeward helm. All things being equal, your goal is to sail with little windward helm, which makes the boat more enjoyable to sail and, more importantly faster, through the water. To achieve that balanced state, you have a lot of tools above the rails that you can use. Most popular one-design boats have a North Sails tuning guide for your particular design. These guides help you get the boat set up correctly to achieve a nice helm balance. Tuning guides give great suggestions on shroud tension, forestay length, mast-butt position, etc. All play into getting the boat in the ballpark for good performance. To go the next step, let’s explore three key factors: Your mast rake (and centerboard position if you have one); Your sail trim and angle of heel; Your sailing angle of attack relative to the wind direction. On any sailboat, when the center of effort in the sails (CE) aligns with the center of lateral resistance (CR) of the boat and foils, the helm will balance. If the CE moves aft, windward helm will develop and if it moves forward, leeward helm will be felt. Balance Mast Rake & Board Position First, let’s establish what causes helm—the tendency of the rudder to turn toward the wind (weather helm) or away from it (leeward helm). When perfectly balanced, your boat’s Center of Effort (center of the sail plan lift) would be closely aligned with the Center of Resistance (center of the appendage lift). The further the CoE and CoR are from one another, the more helm your boat will naturally have). As you can see in the illustration, if you have the ability to move the CR or CE, you can get your boat closer to perfect balance. In fact, a little mast rake can go a long way. For example, we’ll lengthen or shorten the forestay on the Etchells as little as 1/4” and the resulting movement aft of the CE will get the boat into a noticeably more balanced helm state. We adjust this for race conditions each day, and make sure we are happy with the adjustment is important before we get to the starting line. In centerboard boats like the Lightning, Interlake and Finn, you have the ability to adjust your CR through small changes in centerboard position. Generally, you’ll want the centerboard all the way down in light to moderate conditions. This induces necessary helm for the lighter conditions. When you start to get loaded up and have to hike harder to keep the boat tracking, you may consider pulling up the board a little at a time to move the CR more inline with CE, thus reducing the helm. Be sure to create marks or visual indicators of the board position for each condition. BALANCE TIP #1: Set up your rig to your tuning guide, then create a tuning journal to document settings and correlate to boat feel. Of these two Etchells, the boat on the left has a firmer main trim, which is causing more heel and thus more helm and creating a tighter angle of attack. The boat on the right has a more twisted look to its sails that yields a flatter boat and less point. 📸 Bill Goldsberry Sail Trim and Heel Angle Rig and centerboard adjustments have a big effect on the helm, but if you are stubborn, like me, you’ll want to do everything else you can first. As I prepare for a race, my team and I will sail upwind and focus in on how the boat is set up and going through the water. We’ll talk about helm and boat set-up, but what I like to discuss as well is how the sails are set up and whether we feel we can hike the boat down. Sail trim has such a huge effect on how the boat feels, and we want to be sure that we have a good range of trim as we go upwind through gusts and lulls. Markings on the spreader, sheets, deck, etc. all give us a quick reference points and let us get the sails set in the ballpark. If the boat is too powered up, I’ll look to make some adjustments to the sheets to see if easing gives the boat a nice feel, or if in easing, the boat becomes too inefficient going upwind (I.e. if the sheets are too eased and we’re not pointing well enough). If we have to ease too much to get the boat tracking, we’ll depower through backstay, boom vang, traveler or other controls to flatten out the sails. Knowing the range of these controls and trim is super important. BALANCE TIP #2: Learn the controls to depower and balance the helm—but don’t forget to hike hard first! Minimizing heel angle is critical to maintaining helm balance, as extra heel increases windward helm, and one thing that rarely fails in getting the boat to track with good helm is hiking. Believe me, I’ve searched for ways to sail fast while not hiking hard—it doesn’t work! Make sure when you are setting your boat up that you and your team give the boat all the force you can in terms of hiking. That, for me, adds to the range of sail trim and control. Refine Your Angle of Attack The angle of attack is the angle you sail the boat upwind. As we all know, there’s a range in this angle of attack. It is also referred to as the “groove”. Some boats have a wide groove, meaning that you can steer a wider course upwind to achieve the same helm or feel. Some boats have a very narrow groove. Ideally, you’ll want a groove that will be forgiving enough to steer around big waves, while sailing a little tighter and higher for short stretches. How you attack the breeze and the edges of this groove will affect the helm greatly. The lower you sail (fat), the more the boat will likely heel and the more helm you’ll have. The higher you sail (pinchy) the less helm you will have and ultimately you’ll slow down and lose flow over both the sail plan and the keel/centerboard/rudder. Your goal should be to rein in the range of the angle of attack so that you have a nice groove and sail efficiently upwind at a consistent angle of heel. If the helm/trim are causing you to steer too pinched up, then adjustments have to be made to get you into a part of the groove that is more efficient. BALANCE TIP #3: Practice early in the season to get a handle on your angle of attack while sailing. Connect with Skip Dieball for further information. READ MORE

J/70 LIGHT-AIR HEADSTAY SAG & JIB TRIM What do we look for in headstay sag to optimize jib trim for a variety of light-air conditions? One Design expert Tim Healy explains. 1. The boat at top has a tighter headstay, which gives the jib a finer entry, less power and less drag. 2) The boat below has a sagged headstay, which gives the jib more depth and power. 3) Watch for a “knuckle” in the front of the sail if the headstay sags too much, which can make it hard to point. 4) The jib leech is tighter on this boat; too much headstay sag will close the slot between jib and main. A couple of years ago, I sailed the Bayview One Design Regatta (BOD) in Detroit with Skip Dieball, the Etchells World champion that year. Skip knows a thing or two about making sailboats go fast and it was fun to interact with him and get his input and feedback on the J/70. I wrote an earlier version of this article after that regatta, and then reread the story last summer while we were preparing for the J/70 Worlds in Marblehead. The Worlds turned out to be windy, but we sailed two light-air regattas in Newport, RI, beforehand, and this reinforced and refined some of my ideas. I hope some of these notes can help you understand your J/70 setup better and help you go faster. The regatta conditions that year in Detroit were largely light with occasional moderate chop, so rig tension, headstay sag, and jib trim were especially important factors in setting up the boat. Skip and I regularly discussed the synergy between these three variables to answer the question what should we look for in headstay sag on the J/70 to optimize jib trim through a variety of conditions? Afterwards, I gathered my thoughts on how one affects the other and how to tune and trim for maximum performance with a focus on light air, and I have augmented those with insights gained during 2018 summer racing. How J/70 headstay sag improves pointing: The shrouds should be tensioned so that we have 2-4 inches of headstay sag at the mid-stripe of the jib and 1/2 to 3/4 inch of mid-mast side sag. The basic idea is that headstay sag adds depth to the jib. Adequate headstay sag in light to moderate wind reduces the need for weather sheeting the jib. Sagging the headstay powers up the middle of sail, but fine tuning the lower section is important. Tension the weather sheet so that the clew is just above the edge of the cabinhouse to 2” off the cabinhouse. In flat water, you can trim 1” inside the cabin house edge, maximum. The mast side sag is an indicator that the mast is free to move/flex with little restriction by the lowers. This will allow the mast to be more flexible and dynamic in light air and increase headstay sag. The middle of the jib luff sags not only aft but also to leeward, which changes your angle of attack to the wind. At the same time, the mid-leech “rotates” slightly to weather, reducing the need for windward sheeting referred to above. The net result of the headstay sag is that the boat can point higher. So how do we get there consistently? Light Air & Flat Water In light air and flat water, it is important to create the power in the sail plan that the J/70 wants, while keeping flow across the sails. In lighter conditions and flat water, the jib needs depth for added power and sagging the headstay is the easiest and most direct method to create depth in the jib. When the headstay sags, it not only sags to leeward but also sags aft, towards the jib tracks, which puts the luff closer to the leech, thereby adding depth to the jib. What we find is at the middle section of the jib, when it is sagging 4-6″, the luff of the jib is actually falling off to leeward slightly and the leech, by default, “rotates” to windward just a bit. This creates a scenario where the middle of the jib luff has a better angle of attack to the wind and, because of this better angle of attack, you will be able to point slightly higher without luffing or losing flow over the front of the jib. In this scenario, when the mid -leech “rotates” to windward, the effect reduces the need to windward sheet as aggressively because the leech has, effectively, moved inboard already because of the sag. When you have this setup correctly, it is still important to make sure the jib leech tell tales are flowing 90%-100% of the time so that the airflow stays attached to the jib, and the sailplan does not have any “breaks” or “stalls” in the airflow. That said, it is OK (and actually encouraged) to test to make certain you are at maximum trim by sheeting in periodically until you see the jib leech telltales stall slightly, then ease out till they are full streaming. This is your jib sheet trim range which may be as little as 1” of sheet. It is important to stay on top of your rig tensions in these conditions and find the settings that work best for your rig and driving style. In general, rig tensions that are loose enough to create 4″ of sag are good for light air and flat water. As you can see in the tuning guide, the “base” setting is 16/10 minus 2 turns on the lowers for 10 knots so when the breeze is quite light (0-6 knots), I will loosen 1-2 turns on the uppers and between 1-2 turns on the lowers. This gets my uppers closer to 14 and the lowers are very loose (they do not register on the gauge). The mast side sag at the spreaders should be about a 1/2 inch when the lowers are loose enough. This side sag is also a signal that the mast is free to bend forward as well as off to the side. This forward bend is good in light air to create a flatter main that can be sheeted tighter without stalling the leech. This will also help pointing ability. Light Air & Choppy Water When chop is introduced into the picture, a loose rig is still good, but you may find that the rig will pump too much in heavy chop. This is normal, but in order to temporarily stabilize the rig, pull on enough backstay to take the deflection out of the backstay flicker at the top of the mast and put a small amount of tension to pull back on the mast. This should minimize the pumping of the rig and headstay and keep a more consistent sail shape through the chop. As soon as the patch of chop is over, release the backstay to get slightly more sag back in the headstay. Final Thoughts The J/70 is one of the few boats where weather sheeting is effective, but it has to be done with an eye on the headstay sag. With a saggy headstay, you will tend to use less weather sheet. With a tight headstay, in general, you can use more weather sheet. Keep in mind that the angle of attack and leech position will change with the headstay sag, and adjust your weather sheet accordingly. These are tips that can make a big difference in light air speed. Feel free to contact Tim Healy or any member of the North Sails One Design Team if you have other questions on how to make your J/70 boat GO BEYOND. For more on this subject, read “Why is Headstay Sag Fast Upwind?” For more on the J/70, read “J/70 Speed Guide.” READ MORE

ETCHELLS SPEEDY TIPS Quick Tips That Make All The Difference Whether you are preparing for the Worlds, a local regatta, your country’s nationals or your club’s summer series, we have compiled a series of speedy tips from North Sails Etchells experts that will help you step up your results. Don’t forget the jib trim setup. We spend a lot of our time focusing on the mainsail when the headsail is usually 67% of the total drive force. Light Air Jib Setup Under 8 knots Use the soft full length batten. Add forestay sag by easing the backstay. Add prebend in the mast by easing the mast lever or reducing mast blocks. Trim the sheet to have the upper leech tell tale flying 90 to 100% of the time. Jib Trim Use the tuning guide’s spreader marks as your trim guide for consistency. Battens For Light Air Use the soft full length top batten combined with the shorter length lower leech battens. They make a big difference. Getting A Good Start Is Critical The more you can practice starting, the better. Work on your line sights before each start and work to get a “movie” line sight for the bow person, watching to leeward as you approach the line so they can be calling accurate distance to the line as you approach. That, plus a good clear call on time is invaluable. Straight Starting The Etchells is a heavy keelboat with the rudder attached to the skeg and does not turn that well. Try not to bear off too much on starboard in the last 45 seconds to the start. Keep the jib trimmed in, or luffing about halfway if necessary, to help the helmsperson find the right angle to build speed in the last 15 seconds or so. Watch The Layline Unless you are in the top 3-5 boats at the first windward mark, NEVER EVER get to the layline more than 10 lengths from the mark because you’ll spend too much time in bad air from the boats ahead. Instead, find a clear lane back to the middle, and then work to get up to the layline inside ten lengths from the mark. Bad things happen to good people who get to the layline too early! Do Your Homework Arrive a few days before each event to get reacquainted with the boat and your teamwork. A day or so of practice really helps shake the cobwebs, and, if you are working with a coach, is a chance for some good analysis of setup and general trim. Having a good training partner helps a bunch, especially if both teams are keen to learn and share. Never Stop Practicing Time/Distance Drills for Starting Good starts typically yield good finishes. In the uber-competitive Etchells fleet, getting off the line is essential as the fleet thins out very fast and lanes are at a premium. Try to get proper line sights (safe ones!) and practice accelerating and decelerating as you approach the line. The goals are always the same: cross the starting line as close as you can, on your best exit angle, and at top speed! Don’t Wait Too Long To Take Down The Spinnaker The Etchells will keep its momentum into the bottom mark and any loss you think you give up with an early drop is overshadowed by a clean rounding in a good lane with speed and everyone hiking. Speaking of hiking, it works every time, so don’t take long breaks in the breeze. The Etchells responds nicely to a hard hiking crew, even though it hurts! Tuning Evolution It is amazing to see how this great boat continues to evolve. The addition of the mast lever and intricate in-haul systems have really helped make the boat so much more adjustable from the rail. You can adjust your sailing mode to the racing situation: maybe a high mode to live in a lane, or a more open bow-down mode to capitalize on a shift. I have been sailing these boats since the 1980s and I am still learning every time I race them. Smooth Versus Bumpy Water Set Up I have found that fast settings for smooth water often do not work as well in bumpy water and vice versa. Bumpy water versus a big sea swell also changes what set up works best. In general terms, fuller sails with more twist seem to work well when the water is rough, while flatter sails with harder sheeted leeches seem to be better when the water is flat. Spreader Angle and its Effect on Mainsail Luff Curve Each Etchells mast is a little different in bending characteristics. The mast ram can have a big effect on getting the mast to match the sail’s luff curve, but spreader angle also has a part to play here. A more forward or straight-out spreader angle makes the mast stiffer. A more aft-sweep spreader angle lets the mast bend more easily, particularly in the middle section. A fair curve that matches the sail best is the ticket. In Miami, Consistency Pays Miami continues to be venue where consistency pays. Taking chances usually produces a high scoring race. I try to be conservative on the line, starting in the middle third. From there, I work my way to the favored side as I progress up the first leg. New Sails are Better Than Old Sails! We used unbuttoned sails for the first 3 winter series events to save our buttoned sails for the Midwinters, a sanctioned event. Fresh sails do make a difference, especially with jibs. Flat Water Tuning Biscayne Bay is very specific with its flat water conditions. Most other venues tend to have more chop or swell, so you’ll have to revert back to settings with a little less rake and slight fuller flying shapes. Find A Clear Lane Find a clear lane free from boats too close to leeward, so you can put the bow down and reach max speed. Put The Keel To Work It often takes as long as a minute to reach max speed with the bow down. After you do, you start to sail higher as the keel begins to work. Crowded Leeward Mark At the leeward mark, if you are in a group of boats with only a marginal chance of gaining an inside overlap, hold back and round behind to allow a high lane exit. This allows you to sail to the side for longer. Tacking back into the middle too soon after rounding is usually a loser. READ MORE

ROAD TO THE J/111 WORLDS: ESTABLISH THE PLAN Preparing For The Season In the first article in a three-part series, North Sails expert Allan Terhune describes what Team Velocity will work on over the course of the season to peak at the J/111 Worlds in August. Based in Annapolis, Md., Marty Roesch’s J/111 Velocity has been an active and successful class competitor since the class got underway half a dozen years ago. In 2018, the team scored a first-place finish at the Annapolis NOOD and in 2017, the Chicago YC Race to Mackinac and Chicago NOOD. Although Velocity has regularly competed at the class world championships, podium finishes have eluded us (I joined the team last season). Our goal for 2019 is to stand on the podium at the end of the Worlds, which will be in Chicago, August 19-23. We’d like to win, but in my experience, if you sail well enough to get onto the podium, you have a chance to win if things break your way. The goal is always to have a chance to win with a race or two to go and then let the chips fall where they may. What are the team’s priorities? First priority is to get squared away on our tuning and sail set-up. The class has recently shifted away from using jibs that are tacked to a roller furler, and now they are tacked on the deck. This is the first year for that in the U.S., so we’re installing a new headstay and setting up new jibs to this configuration. Learning how the sails trim and what tuning changes are needed are priority #1. Without speed, it will be impossible to place well at any event. The class has recently shifted away from using jibs that are tacked to a roller furler, and now they are tacked on the deck. Learning how the sails trim and what tuning changes are needed are priority #1. Next priority is to work out how to maximize sailing time for the whole crew and lay out a schedule so we peak at the right time. Rather than focus on results at each event, we’ll set goals for each regatta and measure ourselves against them. Again, it’s a season-long build-up to the Worlds. The final priority is to consistently evaluate performance to identify weaknesses. We need to plan how each event will be a chance to work on correcting some of these weaknesses. What do you focus on first? Establish a schedule that the entire crew could agree on! That was our top priority, and as of late March, that’s done. We leaned toward one-design regattas where possible and are pacing ourselves so we don’t peak too soon or burn out. Our whole team lives locally, and we’ve begun having regular crew meetings, looking at the goals for each event, and giving each crew a chance to own their area of the boat, as well as the team’s goals. May – Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta (Annapolis, Md.) June/July – Chesapeake Bay Racing August – Pre-World Tuneup (Verve Cup) August – World Championship (Chicago) What are your goals for the Annapolis NOOD? We expect to have eight J/111s at this regatta. We have a good local fleet and should be able to sail a couple Wednesday night races and a day of practice beforehand. Our goal is to get our tuning right with the new headstay, learn how our jibs should be flown and trimmed, and identify boat handling weaknesses in all maneuvers including starting and steering. Of course, we want to do our best, but we will be focusing on long-term goals as well as short-term regatta results. As a foundation for this, we’ll do debriefs every day. To get better as a team, it’s important everyone has a voice and provides input on what they’re seeing. The debrief is paramount to learning as a team and taking steps forward after each day. What are your goals in June and July? In the J/111 Class, we have only three sail buttons for new sail purchases, and new jibs are required for the new headstay. The new sails are North’s 3Di, they will last longer than our competitors. This will give us a leg up on being able to sail with the sails a little more and get our settings in a place where we are comfortable with them. Our June races are in mixed fleets so we won’t be doing closed-course one-design racing and it will be nothing like the Worlds, which will have 25 or more boats on the racecourse. However, the racing will be a great opportunity to perfect our ability to get around the corners. At the Worlds, great boat handling is an absolute must. The new sails are North’s 3Di, they will last longer than our competitors. This will give us a leg up on being able to sail with the sails a little more and get our settings in a place where we are comfortable with them. This is also when we’re pacing ourselves and not overdoing it. Early in the season, everyone is enthusiastic but if we push too hard we risk burn-out. One good regatta a month, or a couple of one-day races in June, with a practice or two sprinkled in, should be about right. What are your plans for the Pre-Worlds and Worlds? The Pre-Worlds Regatta, part of the Verve Cup Offshore Regatta is right before the Worlds, so our plan is to treat it just like the Worlds and go as hard as we can, developing our game plan. Our goal is to podium for the event and leave it feeling good with all our sails and mechanics ready for the Worlds. How do you build team connections throughout the season? We have a team group on the chat app WhatsApp. Our discussions are not always sailing related, and I view that as a good bonding thing for us. I know we also stay together as a group after Wed night racing and other events. We also started talking about our team weights and where we need to be for the event. It is better to know the goals now with 4 months to go versus trying to do it last minute. The goal is to be on weight, strong and ready for the event, and not have this be a stress point. Learn more about North’s products for the J/111 Class. READ MORE

VX ONE TUNING GUIDE RELEASE Get The Most Out Of Your VX One North Sails is proud to release a complete Tuning Guide for the VX One class. The new guide was based on six months of tuning and practice, leading up to and including the 2018 North Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. North VX One experts John Bowden, Jackson Benvenutti, and sail designer Mike Marshall worked together to develop the guide. The base rig tensions and turns for each step have been adjusted as well to keep the mast bend better aligned with the sails. Language has been added to the guide to clarify the way that sails should be trimmed and the boat should be sailed in all conditions. “The new base numbers in the tuning guide were the ones that our team used to win the VX North Americans in Charleston. They help to better depower the boat in heavy air and power it up in light air.” – John Bowden. While we can’t guarantee you immediate victory on the race course by following this guide, we can assure you that you’ll be taking a big step in the right direction! Open Tuning Guide READ MORE

North Sails is never satisfied and always seeking to build sails that help our clients to win. Our victory list is here to prove it. READ MORE