NORTH SAILS BLOG

The latest iteration of the Swiss technology that first made headlines with Alinghi’s legendary ‘black sails’ at the 2007 America’s Cup brings cutting edge sails within reach of a wider audience. Following its success with 3Di across the grand prix, offshore and superyacht fleets globally, North Sails have launched a new variant tailored specifically for the club racing market. Originally born of development work carried out for Alinghi’s successful defence of the America’s Cup in 2007, in name 3Di may sound like 3DL but is an entirely different technology. 3DL is a lattice of load path fibres laminated between two layers of Mylar (aka ‘string’ sails). 3Di is a composite sail structure, closer in technology terms to carbon boatbuilding, involving the moulding of multiple featherweight ‘tapes’ of spread fibre filaments (from carbon, aramid or Dyneema) preimpregnated with adhesive. The layout of the 3Di tapes in a multiplicity of orientations and layers enables a sail to be engineered with ultra-high precision, but without the weight of the films required for a string sail. The only similarity between 3DL and 3Di is that both achieve their shape through being manufactured on North’s proprietary articulating, three-dimensional moulds, where sails are built with their flying shapes moulded in. The end result is 3Di being capable of creating super-light sails with maximum shape retention, displaying previously unheard of shape stability over a wide wind range…. Read the full article on North Sails 3Di RACE in the December issue of Seahorse, or online at seahorsemagazine.com READ MORE

America’s Cup World Series ends with spectacular grand finale in Fukuoka, Japan Land Rover BAR​ was fast out of the blocks on Day 1 and ultimately stole the show in Fukuoka with regatta and overall series wins on Sunday. They will carry bonus points into the America’s Cup Challenger Series, as well as ORACLE TEAM USA​ who claimed second in the series overall. SoftBank Team Japan​ scored a hometown win in Race 2 under the roar of fans cheering from the beach. Fukuoka, Japan was an excellent host for the World Series final and it was awesome to see such enthusiasm for sailing and hometown pride for the Softbank team. Artemis Racing sailed a fantastic Sunday, winning the first two races of the day and coming second in the regatta under Land Rover BAR. Competitive spirit was alive and well on the course this weekend with tight maneuvers, match-racing tactics, and penalties abundant especially in the final ​day​. Nathan Otteridge’s comment “Makes it easy when everyone else is fighting!” is a good indication of the aggressive approach we saw, especially from Land Rover BAR, this weekend. It is clear the stakes are rising and if you ask me, it’s a preview of what we’ll see in the America’s Cup Challenger Series​!​ When the teams meet again in Bermuda, May 2017, they will be racing America’s Cup Class (ACC) boats. The ACCs are built by each team within a design rule: they are 15 meters long (just over 49 feet) and much higher performance than the boats we have watched in the World Series this year. All of the America’s Cup events this spring, up to the finals, will be sailed in the ACCs: Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs America’s Cup Match The America’s Cup event schedule is updated here: https://www.americascup.com/en/event-schedule.html North Sails’ sister company, Southern Spars, has taken on boat and wing construction for Emirates Team New Zealand. Very cool stuff. You can check out their progress here: http://www.southernspars.com/etnz-sailors-meet-ac50-southern-spars/ READ MORE

North leads the way towards the new Melges 40 When a new high-performance boat comes on the market, the pressure is on to meet the expectations of everyone involved in the project: the designer, builder, class promoters, industry providers, media and – most importantly – the owners and crews. The higher the performance, the greater the expectations and the lower are the acceptable margins for error. New boats of this genre must be fast out of the box with little or no lead time available for testing and refinement: everyone wants one, so the first one built and launched will command great attention and must meet all expectations to provide that Wow factor needed to help launch the class into success. The new Botin-designed Melges 40 is a perfect example of such a high-profile new design, with the global reputation of Melges on the line. Designer Marcelino Botin has said “Melges is a pure sailing legend, and this was an opportunity for us to design something very new and different. The design compliments the Melges brand, and upholds their top-quality ideals. With respect to their philosophy, we proposed a design that adopts and introduces new features and concepts. The Melges 40 creates a new benchmark for performance in the 40-foot range.” Builder Max Waimer at Premier Composite Technologies said “For sure the Melges 40 is a new starting point in the sailing world. We share the same passion as Melges and Botin for creating not only an exceptional boat, but a very new, competitive racing experience. We truly have a common vision. The additional input from customers has made a big difference too. We put all of our production expertise and technology into the Melges 40.” So, with this backdrop in mind, how is North meeting this demand to have the fastest sails ready for this exciting new one design? The answer is in the process North has established to be intimately involved throughout the design development of the boat to gather the details on the rigging, spar set-up, and even the equipment on board to help advise on solutions that will benefit not only designing fast sails but also contribute to achieving the overall goals of the project. Participation in these formative stages helps in ensuring accuracy in not only the detailed sail geometries, but also in anticipating other important aspects of performance that affects the sails, such as crew work and the deck layouts that support their efficiency. With this information the North Design Suite of sophisticated computational tools can be used to replicate the details of how the spar and sails integrate with the boat’s design to produce these expected levels of high performance. These tools have been used successfully and refined repeatedly for the past several years on a wide variety of boats, ranging from small keel boats to Maxis, so the process is well-proven and has led to North’s widespread success in all these classes. Not only does this process help in the accuracy of sail design, but establishing a detailed knowledge base on the ground floor of a new project has other benefits, such as anticipating the content for a tuning guide that is ready to use at the first launch rather than having to wait for the completion of extensive sessions of sail testing. Being a regular sail trimmer on Steve and Heidi Benjamin’s HPR 40 and now their TP 52 called SPOOKIE, North sail designer Chris Williams has a perfect perspective to the development and design process for the new Melges 40. “This boat is truly unique,” he says. “Besides having lots of sail area, the canting keel gives it a righting moment that is 20% greater than an HPR 40, so there is tremendous power and speed potential, and modeling the sails to drive its performance is not just using a variation of any existing designs.” Williams explains more on the particulars: “We started work on this early with Southern Spars to identify the rig parameters so we could set up the sail plan properly using DesMan. On any boat the headstay characteristics are an important driver for jib design since it governs the luff tension, and for the Melges 40 we know there is no hydraulic ram for this adjustment, so we then knew the runner winch would control this for the boat. We then looked in detail at the runner set-up: the winch size and how much power it could generate, and the location of the runners and how efficient they would be in transferring the load to the headstay. We then urged the class design team to move the runners as close as possible to centerline so no moment would cause the spar to twist and throw off the tuning calculations. “Once we recreated the spar’s properties in DesMan, we used Flow and Membrain to model our first test sails on the virtual yacht and start iterating towards greater refinement in the designs. This allows us to give some meaningful feedback to the class managers in which we helped establish some parameters for the One Design class rules and build specs for the yacht. An example of this is knowing the exact placement of the spar doubler: this ensures every yacht’s spars will work with any sail. Modeling the mast bends and jib trims through their ranges of different tunes and jack loads allows us to maximize the size and roach profile of the light air jibs and their batten placement relative to the available space in the foretriangle.” After this crucial first step, the sail designs and their MemBrain modeling data are forwarded to other members in the North design team, who with their individual and collective experiences accumulated over dozens of similar projects can further refine their accuracy. For the Melges 40 these team members include Giovanni Cassinari, who is not only a North Sails sail designer and mainsail trimmer on the SuperSeries 52 Azzurra, but also will be racing on the new Melges 40 Inga; Marchino Capitani, another North Sails designer, coach of Azzurra, and an Inga team member; and Per Anderson, North Sails head of design. “I’m sure the sails will be tweaked slightly with the overall goal of making sure that the first set built follow very closely to the ideas and design concepts of the group as a whole,” says Williams. “There are always many ways to skin a cat here, so the hard part is to make sure the sails are not designed by a committee so much as input and experience is given and shared by a group then correlated into a fast suite of sails.” Finally, another important factor in the project was in working with the Melges 40 class to determine the optimal sail inventories needed for this boat through its range of performance, mindful that the class is interested in minimizing cost through allowing too many sails in the inventory and also being sensible their replacements. For the Melges 40 it was determined that 3 full-sized jibs was the best solution given not only the boat’s performance through the range of conditions but also their intended schedule of races and venues. Part of this discussion is driven by the durability of the sails and their ability retain their performance shape through an acceptable lifespan. For the Melges 40 Williams says 3Di Raw materials will be used in the upwind sails, with a mix of tapes and their composition to be determined when the mold shapes and designs are finalized. He reckons that this brand new boat with its canting keel and massive sail area will have steep learning curves for the sailors, yet the accuracy and efficiency of the North Design Suite process will ensure that the first generation upwind sails and rig tuning guidelines from North will be at 95% of their ultimate level of development…this is highly encouraging news for those first few owners who want to come out of the box with fast results and remain fast as the class grows and develops. READ MORE

North Sails President and ACWS Commentator, Ken Read, forecasts this weekend’s final match up in Fukuoka, Japan This weekend is all about points, and a little momentum. Entering the final event of the series, Land Rover BAR has a 14 point lead and will be tough to beat. The winner of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series trophy is will also receive two points toward the America’s Cup qualifying round robin – each point is a race won. Each team will match up twice in the qualifiers, so to enter the round robin with a two point lead puts them at a considerable advantage toward the big finale – the Luis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs. That aside, momentum is a powerful thing. You don’t want to head into the long winter of testing and training coming off a loss, and each world series team will have their goals heading into the event this weekend. At the end of the day, positive momentum may not be the ultimate prize, but it can be transformative for a team. And of course, we’re going to Japan! I love Japan. I’ve spent a lot of time there and have some great friends and memories. The first World Championship I ever won was in 1985, in the J/24 in Atsumi Bay. Since then I’ve participated in a lot of great sailing there, big boats to small, and taught clinics. The community is enthusiastic, and the food is great, so I’m excited for Fukuoka to host the final event. Promotion of the America’s Cup is really what drives the World Series, which is important. At this point in the build up, I think the teams are ready to officially move on to the next phase of testing and training on their new boats, the America’s Cup Class. The ACCs are what they will sail the Cup in, and they are leaps and bounds from the AC45 platform. As radical and cool looking the 45 footers are – wing sailed, foiling cats – they are drastically slower and lower tech than the ACCs are. These sailors have a unique perspective on performance. That is certain. Fleet racing in the AC45f is a different game than match racing the ACC – night and day. So I think after Fukuoka, the guys will be eager to resume preparation for the big dance (the America’s Cup, that is)! READ MORE

Team Falcon takes on the ultimate open-ocean challenge powered by North Sails 3Di Red Bull’s Flying On Water project debuts with epic adventure from New York to Bermuda. Thirty knot winds and waves up to 25 feet hammered onto the 46-foot F4 foiling catamaran and it’s six crew. Flying on Water is a project in which Team Falcon built the first vessel specifically produced for open ocean flight – a one-design platform that is the definitive prototype for the future of open ocean sailing. North Sails is a proud sponsor of Team Falcon, who sent it to Bermuda with a fresh set of North Sails 3Di ENDURANCE and NPL SPORT gennaker. READ MORE

November 28th-29th As the world’s leading sailmaker, North Sails is proud to be a long term partner in supporting the Yacht Racing Forum. In 2016, a number of North Sails representatives will be in Malta to give presentations, contribute to panel discussions and meet with representatives from across the yacht racing industry. As leaders in a number of fields from engineering and aerodynamics through to sales, sailing and business, the global team from North Sails are available on request for interviews and commentary. Please contact Bridgid Murphy on bridgid.murphy@northsails.com / + 1 617 697 7724 to request access to people and North Sails content. READ MORE

CONGRATULATIONS JR MAXWELL, WINNER OF THE 2016 J/22 MID-ATLANTICS The 2016 J22 Mid-Atlantic Championship was one for the record books. Competitors could not have asked for a better weekend for sailing. Annapolis delivered unbelievably beautiful sailing conditions for a Halloween weekend regatta. Seventeen J/22’s went out on Saturday morning and sailed three spectacular races in a Southerly breeze that came in at about 9-14 kts. Regatta chair Jason Goscha worked with the J/24 fleet to organize a stellar team of volunteers from the Severn Sailing Association who ran absolutely perfect races. The J/24 and J/22 fleets mingled together for the post race festivities which included a daily debrief hosted by Mike Marshall and Zeke Horowitz from North Sails. The Southerly was back in on Sunday morning and while it was a bit lighter than Saturday it hung in there long enough to get three more fantastic races. Boat speed and execution was the name of the game all weekend. The left side of the course seemed to be favored on almost every beat so whoever could start well, go fast, and get left tended to be in top group at the weather mark. JR Maxwell and his crew on “Scooby” put on a speed and execution clinic as they were able to get punched off the line and let their boat speed shine – winning 4 of the 6 races in the series. J/22’s and J/24’s weren’t the only boating enthusiasts enjoying the beautiful weekend though. Dozens of power boats were out on the bay as well and that led to “washing machine” type wave conditions for most of the series. At one point we saw the front of the keel on “Hot Toddy” as Jeff Todd’s team skipped over the wake of a 60 footer down wind! TIP OF THE WEEKEND A very important factor to get through the big chop going upwind is where to put the traveler. On “Uncle Fluffy,” we adjusted the traveler fairly often to make sure it was high enough to allow a slight ease of the main sheet to twist open the main and help accelerate if we had a bad set of chop. Having the traveler in the right place also enables the helmsman to pull on the main sheet and load up the helm a little bit which can help the boat power through some of the nasty chop. Congratulations to J.R. Maxwell for the dominant win and a huge thank you to Jason Goscha and all of the volunteers at SSA for a fabulous weekend of racing. The J/22’s in Annapolis are now on to “Frost Biting” for the rest of the year… Here’s a tip for those that will be competing in their own local “Frost Bite” series: Make sure you have a cup holder in your cockpit big enough for a full thermos of hot chocolate (whiskey optional)!! North-powered boats finished 1,2,3,7,8,9 at the 2016 J/22 Mid-Atlantic Championship. Learn more about North J/22 fast sails. READ MORE

There’s a lot of planning that goes into any long-distance cruise, even if you’re in more well-charted waters than tom partridge and Susie plume on Adina. Tom and Susie recently sent in this list of tips based on the approach they took to planning their passage from Gan, Maldives, to the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. 1: SELECT A ROUTE THAT USES FAVORABLE WINDS Our year started in Thailand with our goal being to reach South Africa by November. The main criteria we use in planning our sailing is to avoid areas of strong wind activity and to sail with winds and seas that will help us to reach our destination in relative comfort. We consult pilot atlases, cruising guides, and blogs from those who have done it before. A pilot atlas is particularly helpful as it provides historical data about the winds and currents that can be expected in various parts of the world at different times. Based on our research we opted to sail in the northern hemisphere for the first part of the year before heading south of the equator when the cyclone seasons switch between hemispheres. 2: MAKE A HIGH LEVEL PLAN For the first part of the year winds favour exploring countries in the northern hemisphere, including Sri Lanka and the Maldives. By May/June the transition season between the cyclone seasons would set in and we would need to be heading south. Transition seasons are tricky and winds can be fickle. Fortunately, below the Maldives at five degrees south is the Chagos Archipelago, or British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) as it is formally known. We aimed to cross from the Maldives to BIOT in mid-May and wait there until the southern hemisphere south-easterlies kicked in before sailing west to experience the many islands of the Seychelles. 3: NEXT, MAKE A PASSAGE PLAN For each passage we take into account factors such as wind, sea state and current. The route from the Maldives to BIOT requires us to cross the strong equatorial counter-current flowing from west to east. We risk missing our destination if we ignore it. Looking at the wind forecasts we think we should sail west away from our rhumb line at the start to make sure we have some westing in reserve if the wind turns unfavorable or even, as is common, stops blowing. Some shallows hint at good fishing and we decide we’ll sail over them with the hope of a bite or two! A hand-written passage plan with details of our route as a contingency helps should our electronics fail us. 4: LAST BUT NOT LEAST, MAKE A PILOTAGE PLAN Our destination in BIOT, the Salomon Atoll, is scattered with large coral heads commonly known as “bommies” which sit just below the surface and can literally ruin your day and much more besides! Paper and electronic nautical charts are both vital and in addition we use satellite images to check for any inaccuracies. We prepare a leg-by-leg pilotage plan that we will use to refresh ourselves just before our arrival. Knowing we will need a good look-out with the sun behind us or just overhead for visibility to spot the coral heads is another factor that we add into our plans: we need to arrive between 9am and 12 noon. 5: GET OUT THERE No matter how many times you do this, no matter how well prepared you are, the nerves still jangle. What will it be like out there? Will we get strong squalls, storms or lightning as is common near the equator? Will the forecast be right? How strong will that current be? Will the sea be rough? We’ve prepared as well as we can and we know all these questions can be answered in one way only – by getting Adina out into the open ocean again. READ MORE

Last week we heard from Nick Gibbens in San Francisco, a client who owns an Express 27 called “Shenanigans” and recently collected the first victory for North’s new 3Di RACE sail. North Sails expert, Seadon Wijsen, reported on Shenanigans’ success with their new #1 genoa at the class National Championship: “Just a quick note to say thanks for helping my client upgrade from a 3DL genoa to a 3Di RACE genoa in time for us to use it in the Express 27 Nationals this past weekend. Overall, the sail did well in lighter wind and chop but looked great when used above its wind range. I’m sure many of you already know this about 3Di RACE, but it was a great opportunity for me to see the product first hand on a type of boat not many of us sail very often. This sail combined with a new Radian main helped us win the regatta. Needless to say, the client and crew liked the sails a lot!” We quickly contacted Nick, for feedback on a sail only introduced in September. Over the past year, designers, salesmen, and test sail recipients have compiled feedback and data on how RACE should behave within its target environment. The entire North development team was curious to see if Nick’s feedback matched our hypothesis. “The things I noticed about this sail, and why I think it works well with the Express 27… This boat isn’t a particularly new design; they only have two jibs. A 155% and a 100%, which in One Design is all that is allowed. It’s a big step down to the #3 if you need to go there, so it helps to have a sail that covers a broad range especially when your options are limited. The RACE sail was very light, I noticed when I picked it up, considerably lighter than the other sail we have. It responded really well in light air to backstay and halyard adjustments, behaving much like an L1 would. As the wind increased and we worked through the range of the sail, it turned into a heavy air sail by adding backstay and halyard adjustments. It was pretty obvious the sail had a lot of range, which is important because, you may or may not know: we hank our jibs on, so any change is done downwind. In San Francisco, you are going to hit the upper limit of the L1 at some point during the day. You often end up starting with the large jib, but by the top mark wishing you didn’t have it up. It needs to be robust enough to handle those situations yet light and shapely enough for the lighter end stuff, and we had all those conditions in our series.” Having confirmed our theory that RACE would carry through a wider range, Nick elaborated on the end-user benefit of carrying a smaller inventory. “You usually sacrifice one thing for another. If you designed the sail a year ago – before you had this technology – you would basically make the sail heavier than you really wanted to just so that it could handle the windy days when you couldn’t make changes quickly. In our area, the winter season always brings lighter conditions, so you’d be carrying around a sail that isn’t a great option for the conditions and may be sailing against someone who sacrificed strength and opted for a lighter range sail. “In my experience, 3Di really holds shape well and is durable. I am looking forward to the next couple years to see how it does.” We consider Nick’s initial feedback a win for the (3Di RACE) books and will continue to follow his progress. To discover how 3Di RACE can transform your inventory, contact your North Sails expert today. To stay in touch with RACE REPORTS subscribe to our newsletter below, and tag your own updates with #builttorace. READ MORE

OCTOBER 22-23, LARCHMONT, NY The J/105 North American Championships wrapped yesterday at Larchmont Yacht Club with seven races total. North-powered teams sailed and finished well among the competitive 40 boat fleet, with Terry McLaughlin on Mandate ultimately stealing the win! As the current Canadian champion, this is the second high-powered win for Mandate this season. Tight racing took place between 2nd and 3rd place with Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault on Good Trade coming out ahead on a tie-break. Not far behind was Adrian Owles on Mad Blue with 51 points, placing 5th overall. An illustrious victory for North teams, and notable participation victory for the J/105 class as a whole! READ MORE

SWAN 45 WORLD CHAMPION ELENA- WINNER’S INTERVIEW In eight races, Christian Plump and his team on Elena Nova posted only one score out of the top two at the Rolex Swan 45 Worlds—so he won his new watch by eleven points. This consistency was especially impressive in the ever-changing conditions found off Porto Cervo, Italy, where seven countries were represented by the sixteen boat fleet. 1. What conditions did you encounter at this event and how prepared were you and your team? We encountered wind from 8-32 kts with substantial shifts. We adapted to the changing wind conditions by adjusting the rig and sail trim accordingly. As our team is racing many years with the same set-up, we have a good routine in boat handling and communication. 2. What was the biggest contributor to your success in winning this regatta? There is not only one contributor to success. Teamwork, sail trim, tactical and navigational decisions, concentrated helming and new North Sails designs were all very important. 3. What was the most important part about your boat set up? Our boat was prepared to adjust for light air and strong winds as we expected both in Porto Cervo. The rig and trim worked well with our new North sails. Also the boat had no breakdowns of sails or mechanics. 4. Can you give us three things that you and your team did during the event to be “in the groove”? Working constantly on boat speed Focusing on crew weight management Using tactically all wind shifts 5. As the skipper, can you tell us how you communicated with your crew during each race? We constantly communicated on the changing environment of wind and waves and adjusted sail trim and heel angle accordingly. 6. What was the most important part of each race? Launching off the start in good position to be first at the windward mark. 7. Which leg of the race did you find you had the best boat speed, boat handling, and tactics? In race number seven, with 30 knots on the downwind course, nailing the jibes. 8. When is the next time you will sail with your team? Our next sailing event will be Palma Vela 2017. 10. If you could choose, where would you have the Swan 45 Worlds next year? We would prefer to have the Worlds in Palma in September/October 2017. 11.What was your favorite moment of the regatta? Passing the finish line in the last race and winning the Worlds. This is the third time we won a World Championship: in 2007 we won the IMS Worlds, in 2010 the ORC Worlds, and now in 2016 the Swan 45 One Design. It is important to us not only to win performance-rated races under ORC but also in One Design. READ MORE

NICOLAS GROUX REJOINT L'ÉQUIPE DE NORTH SAILS SUISSE A l’aube de souffler sa 32ème bougie le 2 novembre prochain, Nicolas a déjà une solide expérience sur de multiples supports (dériveurs, Surprise, J70, IRC, multicoques, Mini-Transat en 2011 et circuit Classique en 8mJI), ainsi qu’en voilerie (Europ’Sails de 2007 à 2012) et en management (administrateur du CER de 2014 à 2016). Avec sa double compétence de marin / maître voilier, Nicolas va accompagner tous types de demandes sur l’eau, sur les pontons ou même en voilerie. Pierre-Yves Jorand, associé chez North Sails Suisse : « L'arrivée de Nicolas au sein de notre équipe comme revendeur exclusif est une formidable nouvelle. Son talent de régatier, ses connaissances du monde de la voilerie, son savoir-faire, sa disponibilité et son écoute vont ravir notre clientèle. Basé à Genève, Nicolas s'occupera principalement des ventes, du service client et du suivi des "mises à bord". Il sera également le lien entre la rive gauche du Lac Léman et notre voilerie basée à Meyrin. Avec Julien Monnier, Michel Vaucher et Nicolas Groux, notre équipe commerciale est implantée au coeur des activités des clubs et des navigateurs des lacs romands. » Pour sa part, Nicolas a souhaité rejoindre l’équipe de North Sails Suisse pour "le mélange de personnes d’expérience et de nouveaux talents". Le côté technologique du groupe l’attire également car il trouve que "la voile actuelle évolue très vite et North Sails est l’une des rares voileries internationales capable de suivre et même d'impulser des tendances". Quand Nicolas se prête au jeu de définir son travail avec des mots simples et en 140 caractères maximum, il répond du tac au tac par : « passion, professionnalisme, écoute, disponibilité, contact, performance, savoir s'adapter, plaisir, humain, rigueur, services, polyvalence ». Enfin, nous le connaissons déjà tous comme une personne dynamique, consciencieuse et pragmatique. A le découvrir un peu plus, nous pouvons aussi lui prêter l’humour, la gourmandise et l’ambition car figurez-vous qu'à court terme il envisage de chambouler la coutume de la forêt noire à la voilerie (nous n’en dirons pas plus mais vive les jeunes qui osent ;). Et d’ici peu, il ambitionne même un contrat d’exclusivité avec Apple pour que les fourres de tous leurs appareils soient fabriquées par North Sails. Aaaaah, c’est beau la jeunesse... A comparer les traits de caractère de Nicolas à ceux de la vision d’entreprise chez North Sails, c’est à se demander pourquoi il n’a pas intégré cette équipe plus tôt ?! Après la récente arrivée de Michel Vaucher au sein de l'équipe de North Sails Suisse, la "famille" se réjouit d’accueillir Nicolas ! Nicolas Groux, pour vous servir : +41 78 736 96 90 nicolas.groux@northsails.com Extrait du parcours de régatier de Nicolas Groux : - 2ème aux championnats suisses d’Optimist (1998) - Participation aux championnats d’Europe d’Optimist (1999) et de 420 (2001) - 3 saisons de multicoques (D35 en 2007 et 2008, M2 en 2009) - 5 participations au Tour de France à la Voile - 14ème de la Mini-Transat Charente Maritime Bahia et record de l’heure établi à 15,1 noeuds de moyenne (2011) - Nombreux podiums en J70 et Surprise de 2011 à 2016 (récent vainqueur du championnat suisse de Surprise) - Circuit de régates Classiques et responsable du 8mJI Carron II READ MORE

Without a properly tuned rig, you won’t be able to control your mast’s behavior over the full range of conditions. Fortunately, rig tuning is a straightforward step by step process for both masthead and fractional rigs. The goals in rig tuning are the following: (1) Eliminate side bend and lean, (2) Set mast rake for proper helm balance, (3) Set pre-bend to match the mainsail design, and (4) Control mast bend and headstay sag. Here are a few definitions and explanations to get us started. READ MORE

In eight races, Christian Plump and his team on Elena Nova posted only one score out of the top two at the Rolex Swan 45 Worlds—so he won his new watch by eleven points. This consistency was especially impressive in the ever-changing conditions found off Porto Cervo, Italy, where seven countries were represented by the sixteen boat fleet. 1. What conditions did you encounter at this event and how prepared were you and your team? We encountered wind from 8-32 kts with substantial shifts. We adapted to the changing wind conditions by adjusting the rig and sail trim accordingly. As our team is racing many years with the same set-up, we have a good routine in boat handling and communication. 2. What was the biggest contributor to your success in winning this regatta? There is not only one contributor to success. Teamwork, sail trim, tactical and navigational decisions, concentrated helming and new North Sails designs were all very important. 3. What was the most important part about your boat set up? Our boat was prepared to adjust for light air and strong winds as we expected both in Porto Cervo. The rig and trim worked well with our new North sails. Also the boat had no breakdowns of sails or mechanics. 4. Can you give us three things that you and your team did during the event to be “in the groove”? Working constantly on boat speed Focusing on crew weight management Using tactically all wind shifts 5. As the skipper, can you tell us how you communicated with your crew during each race? We constantly communicated on the changing environment of wind and waves and adjusted sail trim and heel angle accordingly. 6. What was the most important part of each race? Launching off the start in good position to be first at the windward mark. 7. Which leg of the race did you find you had the best boat speed, boat handling, and tactics? In race number seven, with 30 knots on the downwind course, nailing the jibes. 8. When is the next time you will sail with your team? Our next sailing event will be Palma Vela 2017. 10. If you could choose, where would you have the Swan 45 Worlds next year? We would prefer to have the Worlds in Palma in September/October 2017. 11.What was your favorite moment of the regatta? Passing the finish line in the last race and winning the Worlds. This is the third time we won a World Championship: in 2007 we won the IMS Worlds, in 2010 the ORC Worlds, and now in 2016 the Swan 45 One Design. It is important to us not only to win performance-rated races under ORC but also in One Design. READ MORE

JOEL RONNING AND TEAM CATAPULT WIN THE 2017 J/70 WORLDS Innovation in Design Leads to Success on the Water The team at North Sails One Design is very proud of the results our clients achieved in San Francisco at the 2016 J/70 Alcatel World Championship. Congratulations to Joel Ronning and his team on Catapult for a brilliantly sailed regatta with consistent top 10 results, which proved to be the most critical element in the 12-race series. North Sails is a company that never stops the quest to design and construct better and faster sails and our recently launched XCS-1 Mainsail is another example of that process. The XCS-1 was developed to meet our clients’ requests for a more dynamic and less rig tune critical sail. The results at the Worlds couldn’t be more rewarding to our sail designers and experts. Five of the top 10 teams used theXCS-1 Mainsail, including the winning team. Here’s the top 10 break down: Photos Chris Howell | One Design Association Management READ MORE

J/80 PRODUCT RANGE FOR 2017 Spanish Cup 2016 – Winners Bribon/Movistar racing with the new BTY-15 Jib The 2017 range of products for the J/80 are now ready. Check out all the details below. Our Class Experts are ready and waiting to advise if you need information or have any questions, so please do not hesitate to contact them. J/80 MAXM1 All-Purpose Mainsail The MAXM1 World Championship winning design by Max Skelley is manufactured with a crosscut panel layout using Dimension 260B HTP Dacron. The crosscut layout provides for a forgiving, user-friendly and easy to trim mainsail. J/80 T-6R All-Purpose Mainsail The World Championship winning T-6R Mainsail uses a full radial panel layout, which allows the sail to cope with the loads running through it when sailing. This gives a smoother sail, which holds its shape longer than a more conventional cross cut sail. The T-6R is made from North Sails’ own Radian 6.3oz Dacron. This is the world’s first high performance warp oriented Dacron. J/80 BTY-12-3DL All-Purpose 3DL Jib The BTY-12-3DL All Purpose thermo moulded sail offers a stronger more durable sail with excellent performance and longevity. The BTY-23DL has proved to be an outstanding all round sail around the globe. J/80 BTY-15 All-Purpose Panelled Jib New for 2017 the BTY-15 All Purpose full radial jib has seen an instant success winning its first regattas straight out of the blocks. The sail is manufactured from North Sails’ NLXI14 Aramid, which offers a quick and easy to trim sail throughout all conditions. J/80 MR-5 Spinnaker World and multiple national winning design, the MR-5 is an all purpose sail giving excellent all round performance. It is manufactured using 0.6oz Superkote 60 spinnaker fabric from Contender and comes standard in red, white or blue. READ MORE

B14 INLAND CHAMPIONSHIP North Sails 1,2,3 The B14 Flying Circus headed to Datchet for the last event in the GUL 2016 TT series. The weekend was to be more about ghosting round the course rather than flying, with lots of rain and some sun on Saturday, which did for one of the B14s on the way to the event with trailer light socket failure but 17 B14s still made the journey. Sunday started with mist and eventual sun. Up for grabs, was the GUL TT series overall, GUL B14 Inlands and the top prize from GUL, a weekend at the Watergate Hotel in Watergate Bay with surfing or SUP lesson for the winning team. So all eyes were on the prizes as well as the racing Both days were to be very close with real snakes and ladders. Many teams were to have their turn at the front during Saturday, but the holes (or should we say snakes and ladders) led to several changes in the lead. As the rain/clouds came through, some gusts bounced off the surface with little warning. The one capsize occurred on a leeward mark rounding whist dropping the kite to GBR 724 (Steve Hollingsworth/Elliot Holman) whilst in the lead. A couple of new teams turned up for their first event prior to the assault on the 2017 series. A couple of guest helms (Jasper Barnham (Merlins/2000s) and Ian Horlock (Supernova)) had a run out and had some good results as well. All the way through the fleet there was good competition to be had with a right ding dong over the 4 races at the front between the top 4 with little quarter given or taken. On the day, Team Harken (Nick Craig/Toby Lewis) pulled many rabbits out of the hat to lead overnight from Blue Badge (Mike Bees/Ferrett) Team GUL/North Sails (Mark Barnes/Char Jones) equal second. What could they do the following day to reverse fortunes. Could Team GUL/North Sails crack the settings on the Dacron jib they were running for the weekend or Blue Badge find its parking bay on the start line Saturday evening the fleet disappeared off to Spices for dinner in Datchet village, whilst Nick headed off to go line dancing at a village get together. Unfortunately there is no footage as we’d all love to have seen it. Sunday dawned and we were greeted by mist and fickle wind. After bacon butties, coffee/tea, the sun did its business, a very patchy light breeze kicked in. The day’s star team was to be Team Ullman (Kathy Sherrett/Alex Horlock) achieving 4, 3, 2, 3 so dragging them close to the podium as both Blue Badge and Team GUL/North Sails had an indifferent day finding to many holes and headers, and NA Another Asbo (Crispin Taylor/Guy Harrell) sailing round the front 6 boats on one run and winning a race. Team Harken, Nick was still stepping to the right then left and doing a turn, but the team were still pulling rabbits out of the hat and creeping through in stealth mode. Must be all that time sailing on a pond called Frensham Pond in his youth. So at the end of the day, Team Harken won out from Team GUL/North Sails and Blue Badge just holding on to beat Team Ullman Blue Badge won the TT Series from Team GUL/North Sails and Donkey (Mark Watts/Chris Bishop) Great prizes and tokens from GUL were spread out through the fleet with the youth getting the merit prizes. GUL B14 Inlands Tin rig went to GBR 707 (Ian Horlock/Amir Shamuddin) Then came the big prize. Each team that attended an event, got one entry for every event they attended. This was the one we all wanted to win. So the bag was opened and out came one entry. The team in question had only done 2 TT series events. Team Customised Composites (Carl Raynes/Guy Raynes) were the winners of the biggest rabbit pulled out of the hat all weekend The club ran a great event on the water with quick turnarounds and good courses in very difficult conditions where we saw big wind shifts and pressure changes. Off the water early breakfasts were greatly appreciated and the bar on arrival ashore The next events will be the Seavolution Winter Pursuit Series, with some great prizes, consists of 4 events over the winter. Pre-event indications are that attendances should be good. We’ll see all there Draycote Dash Draycote SC 19-20 November 2016 Datchet Flyer DWSC 10-11 December 2016 Grafham Grand Prix GWSC 2 January 2017 Starcross Steamer Starcross SC 5 February 2017 GUL B14 TT Series 2017 is now online on the B14 Facebook page B14 Sailors and B14 website www.b14.org GUL B14 Inlands 1. Team Harken – Nick Craig/Toby Lewis – Frensham Pond SC 2. Team GUL/North Sails – Mark Barnes/Charlotte Jones – Whitstable YC/Exe SC 3. Blue Badge – Mike Bees/Ferrett – Brightlingsea SC Gull TT Series 2016 Overall Winner 1. Blue Badge – Mike Bees/Ferrett – Brightlingsea SC READ MORE

J30 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP Zephyr Dominates the Event Scott Tonguis and team Zephyr won four of the seven races at the 2016 J/30 North American Championship in Annapolis, MD. We spoke with him shortly after the event. 1. What conditions did you encounter at this event and how prepared were you and your team? We saw winds of 3-20 knots. We were armed with new North Sails designed by Benz Faget. We were the top fundraising team in the nation for the Leukemia Cup Regatta series (we raised $127,000), so the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and North Sails awarded Zephyr a 25% discount, which helped us purchase a great set of sails from Benz. 2. What was the biggest contributor to your success in winning this regatta? Great sails along with proper rig tuning. Having a least seven loaner boat J30 NAs under our belt. Our past experiences have proven that you can take a boat that may not have seen the race course in quite a while and clean the bottom, check the rigging, tune the rig, host some new North Sails, and go give ‘em a hand full. So we were confident that we would be in the hunt. 3. What was the most important part about your boat set up? Making sure the rig tuning was close to optimum so the sails could do their magic. If the rig tune is right, then the sails are working great. If the sails are working great, then the boat is going fast. If the boat is going fast, then the crew can get their heads out of the boat to look around the racecourse for wind shifts and fleet management. If you are going fast, you can keep your lane. If you keep your lane, you can go to the side of the course you think will be favored. 4. Name three things that you and your team did during the races that proved to be fast. Rig tuning Due to the shifty winds, we seemed to sail most of the regatta with our bow down trying to speed across the course to the next shift. Whenever we were fortunate enough to find ourselves on the inside of a lift, we would press the bow down to speed to the next shift. Most of the time it worked out quite well. The J30 does not really like to accelerate, so while sailing downwind you want to make sure you use some of a header to build boat speed before turning a little deeper. Do not get it slow! 5. How long have you been sailing in the J/30 class? I cannot believe it has been this long: 30 years, 3 decades! I was a senior in high school when my family purchased the original Zephyr, which was destroyed in Hurricanes Katrina & Rita. We hope to have a 30 year Zephyr reunion in late Oct. 2017 down in New Orleans, in conjunction with the J30 NA’s on Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans Yacht Club. It is quite humbling to realize the Zephyr program is still very relevant after thirty years. I guess we are doing something right. I have been blessed to meet some wonderful people along the way, many of whom are my best friends and mentors. 6. What were your strengths on the racecourse? Which leg did YOU favor the most? I know the strengths and weaknesses of the boat. I guess that is where thirty years of experience on the boat comes into play. If you are able to keep the boat out of its areas of weakness, you are usually able to avoid a bad situation on the racecourse. 7. What was your most memorable moment of the regatta? I can tell you my least memorable moment, the first start, it was bad! Luckily we were able to tack to port just after the start and rumble over to the right side. Great boat speed along with a little righty got us back in the race. Otherwise, my most memorable moment was catching up with friends! I no longer live in New Orleans, so I do not get a chance to spend too much time with my good friends who just happen to be my crew. Traveling to the NAs is special for us because everyone is away from the distractions of home, work, and family—a four day hall pass to hang with the boys. READ MORE

Scott Tonguis and team Zephyr won four of the seven races at the 2016 J/30 North American Championship in Annapolis, MD. We spoke with him shortly after the event. 1. What conditions did you encounter at this event and how prepared were you and your team? We saw winds of 3-20 knots. We were armed with new North Sails designed by Benz Faget. We were the top fundraising team in the nation for the Leukemia Cup Regatta series (we raised $127,000), so the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and North Sails awarded Zephyr a 25% discount, which helped us purchase a great set of sails from Benz. 2. What was the biggest contributor to your success in winning this regatta? Great sails along with proper rig tuning. Having a least seven loaner boat J30 NAs under our belt. Our past experiences have proven that you can take a boat that may not have seen the race course in quite a while and clean the bottom, check the rigging, tune the rig, host some new North Sails, and go give ‘em a hand full. So we were confident that we would be in the hunt. 3. What was the most important part about your boat set up? Making sure the rig tuning was close to optimum so the sails could do their magic. If the rig tune is right, then the sails are working great. If the sails are working great, then the boat is going fast. If the boat is going fast, then the crew can get their heads out of the boat to look around the racecourse for wind shifts and fleet management. If you are going fast, you can keep your lane. If you keep your lane, you can go to the side of the course you think will be favored. 4. Name three things that you and your team did during the races that proved to be fast. – Rig tuning – Due to the shifty winds, we seemed to sail most of the regatta with our bow down trying to speed across the course to the next shift. Whenever we were fortunate enough to find ourselves on the inside of a lift, we would press the bow down to speed to the next shift. Most of the time it worked out quite well. – The J30 does not really like to accelerate, so while sailing downwind you want to make sure you use some of a header to build boat speed before turning a little deeper. Do not get it slow! 5. How long have you been sailing in the J/30 class? I cannot believe it has been this long: 30 years, 3 decades! I was a senior in high school when my family purchased the original Zephyr, which was destroyed in Hurricanes Katrina & Rita. We hope to have a 30 year Zephyr reunion in late Oct. 2017 down in New Orleans, in conjunction with the J30 NA’s on Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans Yacht Club. It is quite humbling to realize the Zephyr program is still very relevant after thirty years. I guess we are doing something right. I have been blessed to meet some wonderful people along the way, many of whom are my best friends and mentors. 6. What were your strengths on the racecourse? Which leg did YOU favor the most? I know the strengths and weaknesses of the boat. I guess that is where thirty years of experience on the boat comes into play. If you are able to keep the boat out of its areas of weakness, you are usually able to avoid a bad situation on the racecourse. 7. What was your most memorable moment of the regatta? I can tell you my least memorable moment, the first start, it was bad! Luckily we were able to tack to port just after the start and rumble over to the right side. Great boat speed along with a little righty got us back in the race. Otherwise, my most memorable moment was catching up with friends! I no longer live in New Orleans, so I do not get a chance to spend too much time with my good friends who just happen to be my crew. Traveling to the NAs is special for us because everyone is away from the distractions of home, work, and family—a four day hall pass to hang with the boys. READ MORE

The North Sails Group is deeply saddened by the passing of Terry Kohler, owner of North Sails from 1984-2014. North Sails and all of its employees around the world would like to pass their condolences to the family Terry leaves behind, especially his wife Mary. Terry bought North Sails from Lowell North upon North’s retirement in 1984. Terry was passionate about North Sails and helping North maintain it’s position as technology leader within sailmaking. A graduate of internationally renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Terry saw the huge potential in embracing technology. It is under his guidance that North Sails introduced 3D sailmaking and our technologically advanced manufacturing and logistical systems. In 2008 Terry brought North Sails and Southern Spars under the North Technology Group, putting in motion the concept of “The Engine Above The Deck.” North Technology Group has since grown into a diverse family of companies serving marine and manufacturing markets worldwide. Each company was built on the principle of delivering advanced performance through superior technology and a commitment to quality craftsmanship and customer service. Terry’s love of sailing spilled over into the wider sailing community. He was a generous supporter of the sport, in particular women’s sailing. Terry was especially interested in women’s match racing, having worked with the last US Women’s Olympic Team in 2012. Some of his greatest legacies will be the Sail Sheboygan Sailing Center and the non-profit Sailing Education Associate of Sheboygan (SEAS). “Terry’s business acumen and discipline were the perfect fit for North Sails when he bought the company from Lowell,” commented Tom Whidden, CEO of North Technology Group. “He was first passionate about sailing but secondly passionate about making North a more business-like company. He was insistent on using computer technology and communications systems that were very progressive at the time. His aggressive approach to wild ideas is a trait that has been filtered through our entire company culture. Personally, I will miss Terry’s guide, but his passion for North will stay as part of our DNA.” READ MORE

2016 MELGES 20 WORLDS Q&A Interview with Frederico Michetti, Trimmer on Pinta – Winner of the 2016 World Championship Freddy, let’s begin at the end! You are now the only sailor in history to have won all the Melges sportboat design titles having won the M24, M32 and now the M20 Worlds. How does it feel ? FREDDY: For more than 20 years I’ve considered Melges boats to be the best monohull sportboat to race. Capturing the Melges 20 Worlds title with our incredible team makes me really happy and proud. Looking back, I have had incredibly happy moments with all the teams that I raced with. They are always in my heart and this victory is dedicated to them too! The first world title I won was with the Melges 24 “Sabino Express” in La Rochelle back in 2000. Certainly that first title is one I will never forget as I was able to compete side by side with an unforgettable friend who is no longer with us. Our win with the PINTA team is a victory that certainly punctuates my sailing career in the fantastic Melges world. I am very thankful to Michael Illbruck and to the team for making it happen! What can you tell us about the “journey” with the PINTA Team? It is an incredible feat for you guys to manage to win the Worlds right after one racing year… fantastic! FREDDY: I have been following Michael’s sailing adventures since I was a kid. That’s why PINTA represents more than a simple sailing team to me. It represents a real icon and legend in our world which started writing its own history back in 1969 with Michael’s father, Willy. In this first season Melges 20 PINTA was aiming only to be adequately competitive with the goal of being prepared for a run at the 2017 Melges 20 Worlds being held in Newport so we knew already that we had to commit to achieve our goal. The “journey” is a little strategy that we created to focus on what we were doing without being overloaded with stress or, even worse, with high expectations which can do more harm than good. Therefore the “journey” has helped us as we allowed ourselves to concentrate on learning and on sailing empathetically. We were going back onshore after each race or practice satisfied that we had given our best. So, the short story for our preparation was: “Let’s focus on the Journey and not the goal…” At the end we respected the original plan and we worked really hard from the first day we began sailing together. We also teamed up as much as possible onshore increasing our positive and serene attitude. To this extent Micheal is a indeed a very special sailor! These things have helped the team grow together and improve our racing performance without any form of pressure or anxiety. Defeats are painful though! Willy (Michael’s father, one of the most winning owners in the history of sailing) used to say: “You must experience a defeat before you learn how to win!.” We found this to be very true and helpful in our less successful moments. Winning the world title wasn’t in our dreams even as we realized that our performance was improving and we were becoming very competitive race by race. John Kostecki’s expertise of Team PINTA – he has been sailing for the team for the past 22 years! – has indeed been a key factor and essential to winning the championship! You are the “Speed Boss” on board which means you trim the sails, tune the mast, take care of managing the boat handling, etc. Can you give us tips to keep in mind to go fast upwind and downwind ? FREDDY: The Melges 20 is an intriguing, fun-to-sail boat. The three-person team sails with their legs onboard creating totally new dynamics: each team member contributes to tactics, trim and tuning. On PINTA start with a setting which can easily be adapted or changed in case the conditions change. We choose a tune that uses the tracks in their full range. Heeling angle is the key to success – being able to keep a stable and constant angle seems to ensure consistent, successful performances. I reckon that the heeling angle is the key to success in that being able to keep a stable and constant angle seems to ensure consistent, successful performances. In the Melges 20 class there is no crew-weight limit. Some teams sail with three while others opt for four crew. What are your thoughts about crew weight and numbers on the Melges 20? FREDDY: The class does not foresee a weight limit which takes away the stress of compulsory weigh-in and related extreme diets. The fleets swings between 240 – 275 kg (530-605 lbs). I think that 260kg (573 lbs) is the optimum weight. On PINTA our average weight was +270kg (595 lbs) which doesn’t really help in light wind conditions! What sails & codes you would recommend ? Could you define wind-range & sea-state to choose if flying a Runner or a Reacher ? FREDDY: In the last two seasons North Sails has worked really hard to develop an easy to use, all-round inventory. I’m really proud of what we came up with. The results speak for themselves. On PINTA we sail with standard North sails: M-16 mainsail LM Jib (former J-11B) V4-2R and R2 Runner. The V4 has proven to be a great all-round sail and is a must in the lazy planning condition where the heeling angle is the most important factor. The R2 is a great sail in the range of 7 to 11 knots. As President of Melges Europe what can you tell us about the future of this Class and upcoming Melges 20 racing ? FREDDY: The Melges 20 class is experiencing extraordinary momentum, especially considering a perceived downturn in sailing industry worldwide. The world championship in Scarlino had record attendance with the highest number of competitors ever registered for a Melges 20 World Championship. Not only have the attendance figures been encouraging but also the feedback of the owners after the event has been particularly brilliant. It is exciting for me that more and more clients are supporting us and asking for more races with the typical “Melges style” support both on the water and onshore. Never before have I personally experienced such an inviting, addicting and comfortable class. Top teams that compete with Corinthians or family driven teams under the eyes of an always competent and trustful jury. This is what makes the class so special and allows us to enjoy a racing schedule of more than 20 events in venues such as Monte Carlo, Miami, Toronto, The Med and Japan. This is the Melges 20 class heritage! Our commitment at Melges is to offer to our client an attractive and unique sailing experience. Team Melges is working hard to make this happen now and in the future. READ MORE

It has been a beautiful weekend here in Toulon. It was as we had all anticipated – a light air regatta – so there were no surprises there but it is a really interesting fleet when its these sort of conditions. A couple of the players are super competitive in the light air, especially the local heroes on Groupama so it was set up to be a great regatta. I’m not sure I would have much liked to be taking part but it turned out to be nail biting to watch and a really fun event. One of the other things that I was interested in this weekend was – will TEAM USA struggle with Jimmy Spithill being out and them having to use a new helmsman in Tom Slingsby? I think we have seen time and again now that no matter how talented the ‘stand in’ helmsmen is in their own right (and we have had a pretty stellar list in Franceso Bruni, Glenn Ashby and now Tom Slingsby), it is not easy. Oracle Team USA certainly scuffled at this event but it shows that practice really makes perfect. Let’s be honest these guys are superstars in the sport but they have all found it hard to be catapulted into the helmsmen position, it also gives you an idea of the level of talent that is out there, it is incredible. In terms of the racing, it was a ‘streaks’ weekend – the longest streak won the regatta and that was Artemis Racing here. They looked prepared, organised and very calm. The first question I asked Outerridge yesterday, when we talked to him post-race, was whether he thought it was a coincidence that the two teams led by helmsmen who had just competed in the Olympics Games in Rio (Outerridge and Burling) were also the two teams who came out of the blocks hardest and best. He did not think it was coincidence at all. I reckon it shows that racing and testing are two completely different things. Testing in a boat that is actually very different to these boats versus actual racing – hand to hand combat, keeping your mind sharp and making those split second decisions better are just not the same. He felt race ready and super sharp and look where they ended up…. The slight irony is that Artemis have struggled with consistency throughout this series yet it was their performances over the whole weekend that won them this regatta. They have either done really well or really badly but haven’t managed to string together the bits in the middle. The problem with that is you can quickly lose quite a lot of points and see yourself slipping down the leader board. On the flip side of that, if in between the wins you can grind out some middle of the fleet finishes you can keep yourself in contention. I think the other teams that did well showed this to be true – Softbank Team Japan had a lousy streak of races on Saturday but a streak of great races today (Sunday) and they are second overall. It feels like we hardly even talked about them that much this weekend but there they are on the podium. The same thing with Land Rover BAR – shocking first day with two last places on Saturday and then you look at the scoreboard and they came out having extended their overall lead at the end of the regatta. I would say the big surprise of the event was Burling – he came out fast, and they looked great but I am guessing the team will be disappointed in how it finished. You could make a case that he was still celebrating and his mind wasn’t quite fully back into it, I mean a gold medal would make you a little giddy but they said that wasn’t the case, they said they were mentally ready and I think they will feel they under performed in the end. They had a real shot at getting back solidly into the overall standings but they didn’t really do that. They are fighting for a big two points going into the challenger series and right now with all the scuffling and weirdness of this weekend, Land Rover BAR comes out with a reasonable result and a pretty substantial lead to fight for those two points going into the last, Japanese regatta. Looking to Japan, it is going to be really interesting as what we saw here is the ability to make up standings and gains in just a few races. So still the top three are right in the hunt but I think Land Rover BAR might look at Japan a bit differently in terms of strategy. Up to now it has all been about winning the regatta but in Japan it becomes more about winning the ‘war’. You have to forget the battle now and look to the bigger picture – who is second, third etc and make sure you don’t do anything silly and keep the guys behind you in check. So maybe the top three will now be looking at the overall standings rather than just on the individual regatta standings. None of them, across the whole fleet, will give up anything and we have seen how so much can change so quickly so it is going to be all to play for. I love Japan and they have a great sailing fan base and I know lots of people are really excited about the America’s Cup reaching their shores, so I am really looking forward to the final stop in this tour before the countdown to Bermuda. READ MORE

It has been a beautiful weekend here in Toulon. It was as we had all anticipated – a light air regatta – so there were no surprises there but it is a really interesting fleet when its these sort of conditions. A couple of the players are super competitive in the light air, especially the local heroes on Groupama so it was set up to be a great regatta. I’m not sure I would have much liked to be taking part but it turned out to be nail biting to watch and a really fun event. One of the other things that I was interested in this weekend was – will TEAM USA struggle with Jimmy Spithill being out and them having to use a new helmsman in Tom Slingsby? I think we have seen time and again now that no matter how talented the ‘stand in’ helmsmen is in their own right (and we have had a pretty stellar list in Franceso Bruni, Glenn Ashby and now Tom Slingsby), it is not easy. Oracle Team USA certainly scuffled at this event but it shows that practice really makes perfect. Let’s be honest these guys are superstars in the sport but they have all found it hard to be catapulted into the helmsmen position, it also gives you an idea of the level of talent that is out there, it is incredible. In terms of the racing, it was a ‘streaks’ weekend – the longest streak won the regatta and that was Artemis Racing here. They looked prepared, organised and very calm. The first question I asked Outerridge yesterday, when we talked to him post-race, was whether he thought it was a coincidence that the two teams led by helmsmen who had just competed in the Olympics Games in Rio (Outerridge and Burling) were also the two teams who came out of the blocks hardest and best. He did not think it was coincidence at all. I reckon it shows that racing and testing are two completely different things. Testing in a boat that is actually very different to these boats versus actual racing – hand to hand combat, keeping your mind sharp and making those split second decisions better are just not the same. He felt race ready and super sharp and look where they ended up… The slight irony is that Artemis have struggled with consistency throughout this series yet it was their performances over the whole weekend that won them this regatta. They have either done really well or really badly but haven’t managed to string together the bits in the middle. The problem with that is you can quickly lose quite a lot of points and see yourself slipping down the leader board. On the flip side of that, if in between the wins you can grind out some middle of the fleet finishes you can keep yourself in contention. I think the other teams that did well showed this to be true – Softbank Team Japan had a lousy streak of races on Saturday but a streak of great races today (Sunday) and they are second overall. It feels like we hardly even talked about them that much this weekend but there they are on the podium. The same thing with Land Rover BAR – shocking first day with two last places on Saturday and then you look at the scoreboard and they came out having extended their overall lead at the end of the regatta. I would say the big surprise of the event was Burling – he came out fast, and they looked great but I am guessing the team will be disappointed in how it finished. You could make a case that he was still celebrating and his mind wasn’t quite fully back into it, I mean a gold medal would make you a little giddy but they said that wasn’t the case, they said they were mentally ready and I think they will feel they under performed in the end. They had a real shot at getting back solidly into the overall standings but they didn’t really do that. They are fighting for a big two points going into the challenger series and right now with all the scuffling and weirdness of this weekend, Land Rover BAR comes out with a reasonable result and a pretty substantial lead to fight for those two points going into the last, Japanese regatta. Looking to Japan, it is going to be really interesting as what we saw here is the ability to make up standings and gains in just a few races. So still the top three are right in the hunt but I think Land Rover BAR might look at Japan a bit differently in terms of strategy. Up to now it has all been about winning the regatta but in Japan it becomes more about winning the ‘war’. You have to forget the battle now and look to the bigger picture – who is second, third etc and make sure you don’t do anything silly and keep the guys behind you in check. So maybe the top three will now be looking at the overall standings rather than just on the individual regatta standings. None of them, across the whole fleet, will give up anything and we have seen how so much can change so quickly so it is going to be all to play for. I love Japan and they have a great sailing fan base and I know lots of people are really excited about the America’s Cup reaching their shores, so I am really looking forward to the final stop in this tour before the countdown to Bermuda. READ MORE

The 2016 ONE Regatta (Offshore New England Championships) took place in late August out of Marblehead, MA. 13 J/105s competed as a one design fleet, and Dave Nelson’s team on Got Qi won the ten race series by posting only one finish out of the top four. We caught up with Dave after the event. What conditions did you encounter at this event? We saw fairly light conditions on day 1 of the regatta, probably around 5-10 knots. On days 2 and 3 we saw better wind, ranging from 8 – 15 knots. How prepared were you and your team and the boat? The core of the team (myself, owner Matt Pike, Dennis Bell, and Bill Collins) have been sailing the boat every Wednesday night in Hingham for the past eight years. We sail with spinnakers in a very competitive fleet in a challenging venue (lots of current, islands, shifty winds). Over the years, we have been able to perfect our boat handling to the point where we don’t have to think about it. Just prior to the event we hauled the boat to make sure the bottom was clean. We have black bottom paint and it is difficult for the diver to see where he has cleaned. I’m glad we did this because there were a couple of areas that the diver had missed, on the bottom of the keel and the bottom of the rudder (big clumps of grass growing off the keel and rudder). What was the biggest contributor to your success in winning this regatta? We had consistently good starts at or near the favored end. After that, our boat speed kept us in the hunt even when the wind didn’t quite go our way. We had one bad start and rounded the windward mark in twelfth, but were able to claw back to a fourth. Lastly, our team work and boat handling never cost us a place in any race. We heard from your competitors that you were quite quick; can you give us some insight on why you guys were so fast? We purchased a North Light Air Jib and a North spinnaker just prior to the event, and we think this was a big factor in our boat speed. We had used the sails in only one PHRF race before, so we were a little nervous about what to expect. Upwind the light air jib gave us the punch we needed to get through the Marblehead chop. Downwind, the new spinnaker really rotated to windward nicely, allowing us to sail low and fast. Also I think the light air design was the right sail for this regatta. There were other boats with all purpose jibs and I know of at least one competitor that switched from the AP to the light air sail. The J/105 class now allows for each boat to carry two jibs, so picking the right jib for the conditions is becoming a factor in the boat set-up decision making process. Can you let us know how you and your team were setting the boat up? I always check the morning of the first day to make sure the rig is at the tuning guide’s base setting. We adjust from there based on the wind conditions. On days 1 and 2 we sailed at the light air rig setting (0 – 6 knots). On day 2 the wind came up over 6 knots and we talked about tightening to the next setting, but decided against this since we felt fast. On Day 3 we tightened up to 7-12, one below the base, for the last race of the day. I’d say we were usually one setting looser than what the tuning guide called for. Can you give us three things that you and your team would do in making your boat go fast? Because the jib was new to us, we were constantly evaluating the jib car setting and in the end we set it a little further forward than what the tuning guide specified. The crew was constantly adjusting sails, while giving feedback to the skipper and trimmer about our relative speed and point. We were very conscious about where the crew was placed, especially downwind; we made sure the crew was grouped together and forward, heeling the boat to windward once the wind conditions made this feasible. Tell us about your team and their crew positions. All of the team members have college sailing experience and now sail a variety of other one design and PHRF boats. We have a very deep team. Dave Nelson, Skipper Matt Pike (owner), Pit/Jib Trimmer Tom Robinson, Mainsheet/Tactician Ken Delpapa, Spinnaker Trimmer Dennis Bell, Bow Bill Collins, mid bow (halyard jumper/sewer) As the skipper, can you tell us how you interact with the crew during a race? Upwind, I have a fairly constant flow of information with the tactician and the jib trimmer about boat speed and positioning on the race course. Downwind, I am in constant communication with the spinnaker trimmer about speed and pressure. When the boat speed or pressure is up, we sail deeper; when the speed or pressure is less, we head up. Lastly, what are some things you and your team would like to work on for future events? I want to try going wing and wing with the asymmetric spinnaker. We haven’t yet been able to practice this enough to try it in a race. READ MORE

HOW TO HANDLE A SQUALL Anticipate The Worst To Be Prepared A summer storm can hit with stunning suddenness, turning a languid late afternoon into a trial. While often short-lived, a squall’s sudden arrival requires a quick response. Squall Preparation Tips A little preparation goes a long way. Here are some things to do when you first realize a squall’s coming. Don lifejackets and harnesses (if you don’t wear them habitually). Have foul weather gear at hand. Clear loose gear from the deck. Close any open ports, prepare the hatch boards, and secure loose gear below. Plot your position by every means available. Determine where nearby hazards and safe water lie. If time allows, head for port, but beware: The worst place to be when a squall hits is almost in, caught in a constrained space amidst a crowd of boats all dashing for home. Certainly the preferred place to be is secured in your berth or mooring. The next best place is in open water, away from other boats. Prepare to shorten sail. One approach is to take a deep reef in the main at the first hint of strong wind, and then to roll the jib completely with the first gust. Make sure the jib reefing line is ready to go, with clean wraps on the furling drum. When the squall hits, ideally you’ll already be dressed in full foul weather gear and harnessed to the boat, with the boat buttoned up. The boat will hopefully be under reduced sail, with plenty of sea room. Two more squall tips: Practice your squall drill in benign weather to see how quickly you can shorten sail. Watch the weather and scan the horizon regularly, even on sultry summer days, so you won’t be caught off guard. How to Handle a Broach If you are caught with too much sail in a sudden squall, then the boat may broach (be laid over on its side by the wind) before you can shorten sail. It can take many eternal minutes to bring the boat back upright, and how you respond may affect your safety. First, hold on, and take your time. Though there is much sound and fury, there is not as much danger as it might seem—as long as everyone stays aboard. The greatest danger for the crew on deck is falling across dramatically heeling decks. For those below, the dangers are being thrown across the cabin and being pelted with unsecured equipment. To reduce the heel, you will need to ease sheets. The jib sheet may be difficult to get to, as the winch may be awash to leeward. Likewise, the mainsheet will be heavily loaded and difficult to release. Even with the mainsheet eased the boat may not come back upright if the boom hits the water, preventing the sheet from running out. Easing the boom vang will help. As the boat comes upright beware the flogging sheets, which can whip with remarkable force. Once you’ve shortened sail, survey the boat (on deck and below) for any gear that may have fallen or shaken loose. READ MORE

If the angle of the downwind leg requires an immediate jibe, you’ll need to learn how to do a jibe set. Jibe sets are more difficult than bear away sets, because they require carefully coordinated crew work. Also, you must wait until after the jibe to set the pole. Since the pole helps the spinnaker fill by holding it away from the boat and other sails, there are several details critical to a successful jibe set Many crew have two tasks in the process, so practice is vital. To keep it simple, we’ll assume we’re approaching the mark on starboard, bearing away, and jibing to sail the next leg on a port broad reach. Set Up (during final approach) Hook up the spinnaker on the starboard side, as far forward as possible. Set up the pole on the port side of the forestay—since it will be used once you jibe to port—with topping lift, downhaul, and guy in place. Make sure the guy is not fouled. The topping lift can be rigged under the jib sheets. (Alternatively, if it is long enough, it can be rigged outboard of the jib to port.) As you round the mark and bear away, start the hoist. At the same time, pull the sheet (on the starboard side) just far enough to separate the spinnaker clews. Next, jibe. Make sure you jibe the jib and ease out the old (port) jib sheet; then raise the spinnaker pole. Once the pole is up, trim the guy square with the wind. As soon the spinnaker is fully hoisted, trim the sheet and drop the jib. Variations No Pole You can execute a jibe set without rigging a pole. Sometimes it is faster and easier this way, particularly if the decision to jibe set was a late one, and you don’t have time to make sure the pole is hooked up cleanly. In this variation the foredeck crew acts as the pole, hand holding the guy outboard until the mast crew can hook up and set the pole. This is not recommended in heavy air. Tack Set Like jibe sets, tack sets do not allow complete preparation before the set. When tacking right at the mark, the spinnaker pole cannot be set until the tack is complete. Prepare the spinnaker as usual, and hook up the pole but do not raise it. As you round the mark, raise the pole and hoist the spinnaker simultaneously. Have the foredeck crew lift the pole while the guy trimmer tails the topping lift. Tension on the guy will prevent the pole from going up, so do not pull the guy until the pole is set. Meanwhile, the mast crew can jump the halyard while the pit crew tails. Building speed with the main and jib as you hoist the spinnaker is critical to a successful tack set. Proper trim can prevent you being passed by boats carrying a full head of steam into the mark. READ MORE

It happens almost without words. As the puff hits, Heidi and Jeff move off the cabin top to the rail. Tom trims back on the guy and David eases the spinnaker sheet. Jack eases the main. The boat bears off slightly and accelerates. As the puff fades, Heidi and Jeff slide inboard, the pole goes forward, and the spinnaker sheet is trimmed. The main comes in. The boat heads up and carries speed. Ron, at the helm, sits nearly motionless, the wheel moving in his hand as the crew steer the boat with weight and trim. Gradually we pull away from the other 37 footers, lower and faster down the run. You can use crew weight and sail trim to steer any boat downwind. Steering with weight and sails is not just for dinghy sailors; it is fast in big boats too. The less you use the rudder to steer, the faster you will be. Here’s how it works: To Bear Off In moderate winds, we can sail lower in puffs and still keep target speeds. Bearing off will also help us stay in the puff longer. To bear off, move crew weight to windward and rotate the spinnaker to windward. Ease the spinnaker sheet in any puff, because the puff will shift the apparent wind angle aft. Trim back on the guy as the sheet is eased to keep proper spinnaker shape and to rotate the spinnaker to windward. Ease the main to eliminate weather helm. You will need to move some crew weight to windward just to counter the heeling forces of the puff. It will take an additional increment of crew weight to actually help the boat bear off. To Head Up As the puff fades it is best to head up to keep apparent wind speed and to sail the new target angle. As the boat slows down, you will no longer be able to sail as low as you could in the puff. To head up, trim the spinnaker sheet and ease the guy. Trim the main and move crew weight forward and to leeward. The next time you are steering downwind in moderate air, stop steering. Use your crew weight and trim to steer the boat. You’ll steer faster when you are not steering downwind. READ MORE

PERFECT SPINNAKER JIBES Two-time World Champion Will Welles says that no matter how big your boat and crew, the key to perfect jibes is practice, practice, practice. There are two basic jibing techniques: End-for-end jibes for smaller boats and dip-pole jibes for larger boats. Photo Chris Howell Our divide and conquer approach provides a good framework for analyzing jibes. The job of the trim team—driving and trimming through the jibe—changes little from one technique to the other, while the foredeck squad’s job—the mechanics of jibing the pole—changes significantly. The foredeck team often gets the brunt of the blame when problems occur but, more often than not, it is the work of the trim team that makes or breaks a jibe. Regardless of method, practice is a key ingredient to develop the coordinated effort that lies behind any smooth jibe. We’ll look first at the driver’s and trimmers’ functions, and then address the two different techniques on the foredeck. Driving and Trimming through Jibes The driver must pace his turn to the crew work, while the crew must rotate the spinnaker and free fly it as the boat turns. This means trimming the (old) guy and easing the (old) sheet as the boat turns downwind. Here’s how to help make the coordination as smooth as possible. Helm Make a smooth turn from broad reach to broad reach. The turn must match the trim as the spinnaker is rotated around the boat. Do not hold the boat dead downwind. Stay on a broad reach on one jibe, and then turn smoothly to a broad reach on the other jibe as you pull the main across. Avoid centering the main and avoid a dead downwind course. Keep the air flowing across the spinnaker. Trimmer(s) As the boat turns from broad reach on one tack to broad reach on the other, your goal is to rotate the spinnaker around the boat as the boat turns to keep the spinnaker on the downwind side. This means trimming the guy and easing the sheet as the boat turns downwind. It is best to trim too far and over-rotate the spinnaker, then correct your trim. Why does the spinnaker collapse every time? When the spinnaker collapses in the middle of a jibe, it usually means the rotation did not stay ahead of the turn. Either the trimmers trimmed too slow, or the driver turned too fast. It usually depends on who you ask. When the guys in back can’t decide which, they compromise, and both blame the bow crew. Don’t Do This Often you will hear that the helm should “Keep the spinnaker in front of the boat” and “Steer to keep the boat under the spinnaker.” These suggestions are misleading, because you don’t necessarily want the spinnaker in front of the boat; you really want to keep the spinnaker on the downwind side of the boat. The only time the spinnaker should be in front of the boat is when you are dead downwind. Even more dangerous is the common advice to “Hold the boat dead downwind” while you jibe. In a dead downwind position, air circulates behind the main and can cause wraps in the spinnaker. Sailing dead downwind will also induce the boat to roll, making steering and crew work very difficult. In heavy air sailing, steering a course dead downwind can lead to a broach. Jibing Practice Start your practice without the pole, free flying the spinnaker. The goal is to complete the jibe without the sail collapsing. As the driver turns from broad reach to broad reach, the trimmer rotates the spinnaker to keep it flying. Trim both sheet and guy if the sail gets too far away from the boat; ease both if the spinnaker is strapped too tight to fill. Keep the spinnaker downwind of the boat, and keep it full. The key to successful jibes is coordinating the trim and the turn. Once you do that, it matters little what happens on the bow. Don’t forget to over-rotate It bears repeating: To keep the spinnaker full as you jibe, over-rotate the spinnaker to the new leeward side. This lets airflow re-establish luff to leech as the driver turns smoothly to the new broad reach. Jibes with the pole End-for-End Jibes The fastest and easiest jibe for boats without large numbers of crew is the end for end jibe. Once the helm starts to turn the boat downwind, remove the inboard end from the mast and the outboard end from the old sheet. As the mainsail crosses centerline, connect the old inboard end to the new spinnaker sheet and push it outboard until the new inboard end can be connected to the mast. A shout of “made” will alert the helm and trimmer that the pole is hooked up on the new jibe. If you can’t get the inboard end on the mast, ask for the guy to be eased. The trimmer should not square back the guy until you’ve said “made.” This technique depends as much on quickness as it does on strength. With good technique, and a little cooperation from the back of the boat, end for end jibes are pretty straightforward. Twings (used to choke down the spinnaker sheet to a lead block on the midship rail) are often helpful during end for end jibes. The twing is a line with a block on one end. The spinnaker sheet is lead through the block. One twing is rigged to each sheet. The windward twing is choked down to the rail to improve the working angle of the guy. The leeward twing is left free or trimmed down part way to create a proper sheet lead. During jibes, both twings can be snugged down to control the spinnaker and keep the guy within easy reach. Dip Pole Jibes Larger boats with unmanageable spinnaker poles must resort to dip pole jibes. A proper dip pole jibe requires two sets of spinnaker sheets and guys. When sailing under spinnaker the leeward sheet and windward guy are working, while the leeward guy and windward sheet are lazy. The spinnaker pole is rigged with an internal control so the outboard end can be released from the guy by a crew member working at the mast. During a dip pole jibe, the end of the pole attached to the mast remains in place, while the outboard end is “dipped” to clear the forestay as it swings from one side to the other. On the way through, the foredeck crew removes the old guy, inserts the new lazy guy into the pole end, and yells “made,” indicating that the pole can be hoisted to the new side. READ MORE

SETTING THE SPINNAKER How to Accomplish the Perfect Spinnaker Set Nothing takes as much teamwork and practice as spinnaker handling. Here we’ll cover the skills and techniques needed to handle and control conventional spinnakers, set from poles. Throughout the discussion the ‘Divide and Conquer’ approach to boat handling will be central: one team sails the boat as fast as possible with the sails you’ve got, while the other team handles the mechanics of the set, jibe, or douse. Spinnaker Sheets High tech line is so strong and light that the limiting factor is the ability to grip the stuff. For boats with double sheets and guys, attach both lines to a single shackle. The guy is so light you won’t have to concern yourself with dropping it off in light air, and you’ll save the weight of a second shackle. (The guy should have an eye splice in the end. Cow hitch it on to the shackle. And don’t fret about what to do with the money you save buying only one set of shackles rather than two. The high tech line will absorb all the extraneous funds.) Spinnaker Sets A trouble-free spinnaker set starts with careful packing and proper hook up. Most spinnakers can be packed by running the luff tapes to make sure the sail is not twisted as it is packed into the turtle. Large spinnakers and heavy air spinnakers can be set in stops that keep the spinnaker from filling before it is fully hoisted. Regardless of how the spinnaker is packed, the head and two clews should be secured at the top of the turtle. Before each hoist check and recheck to make sure the halyard and sheets are not twisted or fouled. Make sure sure your tack line is on top of the spinnaker sheets, for inside jibes. Tack goes under the sheets for an outside jibe, or blow-through jibe. These are most common on grand prix style boats. Bear Away Set A bear away set is the simplest style of spinnaker set. You raise the pole as you approach the mark close-hauled, bear away to a reach, and hoist. For asymmetrical boats, pre-feed the tack line. You can tack at the mark for a bear away set, or simply bear away when you are at the mark. On most boats the sail can be hoisted from the forward hatch. Alternately the sail can be set from the leeward rail, forward of the shrouds, or from the companionway. Do not hoist from the bow; that moves too much crew and equipment weight forward. Setting from the forward hatch has several advantages. First, the sheet and guy can be hooked up prior to the race, leaving only the halyard to set just before hoisting. Second, in rough weather a sail attached to the leeward rail might wash out of the bag. If you prefer to hoist from the bag even in rough weather, hook the bag in the middle of the foredeck rather than on the rail. Pre-Rig (Before Racing) Plan your first set prior to the start of the race. Position the spinnaker sheets and halyard to the appropriate side for the hoist, and attach the sheet and guy if you plan to hoist from the hatch. For a hatch hoist hook the guy to the tack, and attach the sheet shackle to both the clew and the head. Yep. (We’ll explain why in a moment.) To pre-rig the pole, attach the guy, topping lift, and downhaul/foreguy to the outboard end. The inboard end can be attached to the mast track if the track runs all the way to the deck (so it doesn’t interfere with the jib in tacks). Otherwise, attach the pole to the shrouds. Pre-rigging the guy simply means setting the guy through the pole jaw, making sure it is not twisted or macraméd through the lifelines. Pre-rig the downhaul with a preset amount of slack so that when you set the pole, it will be at a good height for the hoist. Attach the topping lift to the pole and then pull it back against the rig, to keep it clear of the jib during tacks. Secure the line through the jaw at the inboard end of the pole. If there is no inboard jaw (as on a dip pole rig), you’ll have to fashion another way to hold the topping lift aft. A shackle, velcro strap, or sail tie can work fine. Avoid hooks, which may grab things other than the topping lift. Set Up (just before spinnaker set) Hatch Hoist The final spinnaker set up should be carried out with a minimum of disruption. If you pre-rigged for a hatch hoist, then all you’ll need to attach the spinnaker halyard. Here’s how to do it. On your penultimate tack, ask the pit crew to bring the halyard tail to the rail so it can be eased as needed with a minimum of crew movement. The foredeck crew then attaches the halyard to the head of the sail. But wait, how do you quickly reach the head of the sail if it’s down the forward hatch? Remember how you pre-rigged the sheet by hooking the head and clew to the sheet shackle? Now you can retrieve the head by pulling up the sheet. Hook the halyard to the head, and then open and refasten the sheet shackle on just the clew. Be careful not to mix them up or twist them around each other. When you tack, the genoa may foul the spinnaker halyard. To prevent this, pull lots of slack in the halyard and hold it tight prior to the tack, to keep it from fouling on the spreaders. As you tack, ease out the slack again so the halyard can sag out to leeward, clear of the genoa. Leeward Rail Set Bring the spinnaker on deck, hook the turtle to the rail, and hook up the sheet, guy, and halyard. Your spinnaker gear should be pre-rigged to minimize crew disruption. If you need to ask the driver or trimmers to ease the spinnaker gear, then change the way you pre-rig. Hook up the spinnaker sheets and halyard while to windward. (Usually this means while on the final port tack for a starboard tack set.) When you tack, the genoa may foul the spinnaker halyard and pull it out of the bag. To prevent this, pull lots of slack in the halyard and hold it tight prior to the tack, to keep it from fouling on the spreaders. As you tack, ease out the slack again so the halyard can sag out to leeward, clear of the genoa. If it’s windy and wavy enough that the sail may wash out of the bag on a long approach to the mark, try securing the spinnaker bag to the middle of the foredeck or at the mast base, and tie the bag securely shut after the hook up. Open the bag as you bear off to hoist. Pole Up When you tack on the layline, do not immediately set the pole. If time allows, hike out (or lie still) until the boat is up to full speed. Once you are up to speed (and sure you will fetch), the foredeck crew can go forward and lift the pole into place. The pit crew, working from the rail with the topping lift tail in hand, pulls the slack out of the topping lift. There is no need to get off the rail to tail the topping lift if you bring it with you on the last tack and tail from the rail. Once the pole is up and topping lift is cleated, open the hatch and pull the three corners of the spinnaker onto the foredeck. If there’s time before the set, it is a good idea to review who will do what on the hoist, just to be sure. Also make sure the jib halyard is cleared, flaked, and ready to drop. The Hoist Be ready to hoist at the mark. Unless the tactician has called for a delay, hoist as the sails are eased and the boat stands up. Until then, hike as needed to maintain speed coming into the mark. Don’t stand “at the ready,” waiting to hoist. Except in heavy air, pre-set the guy as you approach the mark. On the hoist, the guy must be pulled to the pole to prevent twists in the sail. Take the slack out of the sheet, but do not trim enough to fill the spinnaker until the halyard is at full hoist. As you near full hoist, trim the guy off the headstay to a position perpendicular to the wind. During the hoist the main and jib must be eased to maintain proper trim and speed. Once the chute is up, drop the jib. In light to moderate air the genoa can be on its way down as the spinnaker hoist tops out. In heavy air, ease the jib sheet and wait until the boat settles with the spinnaker. When the boat is under control, go forward to douse the jib, or leave it flying as a staysail if it adds speed! Don’t forget to close the hatch. If there is a delay with the spinnaker hoist, keep sailing as fast as possible with the main and jib to minimize the loss. READ MORE

If you want to drive the boat, trim the sails, watch the instruments, read the compass, track the fleet, and call tactics—then race singlehanded. If you want to race with a crew, a careful division of responsibilities is the only way to succeed against other well-balanced teams. There are three basic building blocks of a successful race pyramid: boathandling, boat speed, and tactics. Your crew must be organized so each block gets the attention required. A crew boss is needed to orchestrate boat handling. Sail trimmers and a driver are needed to focus on boat speed, and a tactician is needed to manage the course. As soon as you have more than one person on the boat it is time to divide up the chores. On championship two-person boats, the driver drives and the crew does tactics. On a three-person crew, the forward crew and driver focus on trim, while the middle crew handles tactics. Crew assignments should be based on the number, skill, experience, and interest of your crew. Each crew position should have clearly defined responsibilities during each maneuver, and maneuvers should be executed the same way each time. Principles of Crew Assignments Divide and Conquer During each boathandling maneuver, divide the crew into two teams: one to sail fast with the sails you’ve got, the other to get sails up and down. No one should serve on both teams. Define Crew Positions Each crew position has a specific responsibility during each evolution or maneuver. First, figure out the correct number of crew, define each position, and then sail with a full complement of crew every time you race. Once positions are defined, you can plug new people into a specific position that has clearly defined responsibilities. Writing out and diagramming your standard maneuvers will help during routine maneuvers, and also during the inevitable ad lib. Create Crew Pairs Ideally, you would have the same people in the same position for every race (yea, right—if pigs could fly). Since you can’t expect that, work toward a nucleus you can count on, and then pair new (or less experienced) crew with a regular crew member. For example, a new mast crew can be paired with an experienced foredeck, or an experienced trimmer can watch over a new grinder. Do Your Job If one person is having trouble completing a task, that can create a problem. When the next person tries to help out, and leaves part of her job undone, the problem grows. Pretty soon the entire crew is out of place—each trying to help another—and you have a huge mess. Unless it’s a flat-out emergency, stick to doing your assigned job. Practice The key to developing good crew work is practice. It is simply impossible to train crew during a race. There is not enough time to teach and learn, and there is too much to do. You must practice to win. There is no other way. Practice Drills As you plan your maneuvers, keep the Divide and Conquer principle in mind. Always keep part of the crew focused on going fast, even when the rest are attending to a boat handling maneuver. Try a simple walk through on the dock, or at least with no sails, to figure out the rough details and positioning. Once on the water, go through maneuvers one at a time: tacks, jibes, sets, douses, reefs, sail changes, plus straight line trim and speed. Detail each person’s responsibility during each maneuver. Once you can run through each evolution smoothly in open water, try it around a closed course of buoys to add the element of timing. Another excellent drill is to perform maneuvers in total silence. A single word from the helmsman (or crew boss) is all that is needed to initiate the maneuver. In silence you learn to watch and work with your crew mates. Learning to work quietly keeps the airwaves open for the unexpected. Another effective practice tool is rotating crew positions. If the pit and foredeck, for example, switch places, each will understand better what is going on and can anticipate the other’s needs during a race. Similarly, trimmers and drivers who trade places will better understand how they impact each other. Find a Tuning Partner Once your crew work is smooth, find another boat to practice with. Sail parallel courses to work on boat speed. Use cat-and-mouse drills to improve boat handling. Try short match races to add competitive fervor. When you are confident of your boat handling and speed, then you are ready to race. The difficulty of boat handling increases with the wind, so keep practicing until you are confident in all conditions. Try to refine your techniques to reduce crew movement. Pay attention to weight placement all the time. Figure out ways to keep weight properly placed as much as possible. Your crew organization and crew assignments are dictated, in part, by your boat’s layout. If you find one crew member is overburdened during a particular maneuver, look into reorganizing the crew—and perhaps changing your layout, to redistribute the load. READ MORE

Sport boat asymmetric spinnakers (also known as “kites”) trim differently from conventional spinnakers. And due to their extended, fixed position bow sprit, they differ from a cruising asymmetric flown from the stem. Aside from the sheet and halyard, the only other control over spinnaker shape is the tack line, which runs from the end of the sprit to the spinnaker tack. Some boats also have twings to choke down the sheet. Reach Up to Go Downwind Asymmetrics don’t go downwind, at least not dead downwind. The fastest way to reach a downwind destination is to reach up and sail fast. The extra speed more than makes up for the extra distance. The optimum sailing angle is as much as 40 degrees above dead downwind – nearly as wide an angle as we sail upwind. Sailing at these high angles increases the apparent wind, which increases boat speed. The trick is to build speed at an aggressive apparent wind angle, and then to push down to a lower course, with the boat speed holding the apparent wind forward. The driver and trimmer must coordinate efforts. As load builds in the sheet, either from aggressive sailing angles or a puff, the trimmer should ask the driver to bear off, while easing the spinnaker sheet to unload the helm. As the load in the sheet drops, trim the sheet and head up to rebuild power and speed. Get speed, then carry it down. Work up to rebuild, and drive down again. You should always feel the breeze blowing across the boat – not over the stern. When you lose apparent wind flow across the boat, head up, rebuild speed and apparent wind, and slide down again. For best broad reaching performance the sheet must be eased to allow the sail to roll out to windward. As the boat bears off, ease the sheet to take pressure off the helm. As you head up, trim the sail to add helm and bring the boat up. Ease, Ease, Ease the Sheet We asked one expert trimmer for advice on sailing deep with a sprit boat, and he said: “Remember these three things: Ease, ease, and ease. Ease to a curl, pause and the curl disappears. Ease again. Carry a curl, and keep easing. Ease some more. Usually the sail stalls from being over trimmed. Ease.” At times on a broad reach it may also pay to ease the tackline a foot or two as well. This will allow the entire sail to rotate further out to weather. There are a couple of things to guide you in how far you ease the tackline: Does the sail rotate out to weather? Can you sail lower or faster? If the sail sags to leeward instead of rolling out to weather, then pull the tack line back down to the sprit. Likewise, if you lose control with the tackline eased, snug it down. Note: With refinements in design and A-sails purpose-built for VMG sailing, there is less need to ease the tack line. Marginal Planing Conditions As the true wind builds to around fifteen knots, you may be able to plane. Even for a downwind course, it will pay to reach way up to get on a plane and then carry the plane down. Your planing speed will overwhelm the extra distance sailed to get on a plane, and crush the competition. On the other hand, if you can’t plane, you will waste plenty of energy going the wrong way… only practice and experience will teach you the best angles for your boat in a given condition. Ease and trim Regardless of the point of sail, the basic principles apply: Ease to a luff and trim. Given the rapid acceleration of sport boats, the apparent wind angle is changing all the time. Aggressive trimming is required to keep up as the boat builds speed, and an equally aggressive ease is needed to prevent a stall as the boat slows. Overtrimmed is slow. On a close reach, trim to telltales, or keep a small curl. On a beam reach, the asymmetric is much faster than a symmetric spinnaker. On a broader reach force the sail out to a bigger curl. You will be surprised how far out it can go. Tack Line On a close reach snug the tack to the pole for a gennaker shape. On a broader reach, add power and allow rotation out from behind the main by easing the tack line a couple feet. There are a couple of clues to indicate how far to ease the tack line: The tack should pull to windward as the tackline is eased. If the tack sags to leeward, keep the tackline down. Easing the tack line adds power, so in light air you may want to ease it a little even on a beam reach. Broad reaching in a big blow, you probably will want to keep it tighter than you would in lighter air. Another valuable guide is the spinnaker telltales. Add telltales 1.5 to 2 feet aft from the luff at 1/3 and 2/3 height. When your tackline is set at the proper height, the telltales should behave similarly high and low. Let’s Go Fast Truth is, there is more to it than point and trim. Often you can use techniques similar to those described for upwind VMG sailing to improve speed on a reach. Here’s how: Rather than simply point and trim, head up slightly to build speed and apparent wind. As speed builds the apparent wind will build and move forward. As the apparent wind angle goes forward you can drive off, carrying the extra apparent wind speed and boat speed at a lower angle. When performance cycles down, heat it up (head up) again. Rebuild speed, and drive off. The trimmers and driver must coordinate efforts to optimize performance. If the helm loads up, it will be difficult to drive off. As speed builds the trimmers will need to ease to allow the boat to drive down without loading up the helm. Similarly, trim the sails to help head the boat up, rather than steering too much with the rudder. READ MORE

Mainsail Reefing Setup There are a number of effective reefing arrangements, but all have two common elements. The first is ease of use; the reef should be easy to set and shake. Second, the reefed sail must have a shape appropriate for the conditions, which means flat. The reefing system must pull the clew out along the boom, like an outhaul, as well as pulling down. When reefed, all the load should be on the reef tack and reef clew. The reef points along the belly of the sail are used only to tie up the loose body of the sail; they should not carry any load. Single or double line systems can be set up to allow you to reef without leaving the cockpit. Otherwise you will have to go forward to set the reef tack and/or adjust the main halyard. Regardless of the particulars, it is important that your system work well, so you are not reluctant to use it. When in doubt, reef. If you’re underpowered, shake the reef. Here are the basic steps to reef your mainsail: Assume a close-hauled or close reaching course. Set the autopilot to maintain your course under jib alone, or heave-to. Release the mainsheet and vang. Lower the main halyard. Pull slack out of the reef line so it won’t tangle. Secure the reef tack. Re-tension the halyard. Tension the reef line. It should be very tight, pulling down and out to flatten the reefed sail. Snug the vang and trim the mainsheet. Additional reefing tips: Mark the main halyard line relative to the mast, so you will know how far you need to lower it the next time you reef. If you expect to be reefed for a while, tie the reef clew down to the boom with a sail tie, to take the load should the reef line fail. READ MORE

When your destination is downwind on the opposite tack, then a jibe is called for. A jibe has three steps: Starting from a broad reach, initiate the jibe with the command “Prepare to jibe.” Release the preventer and turn slowly downwind. When the wind is dead astern, the jib will jibe itself. This is the signal to hold a steady course, pull the mainsail amidships, and then ease it all the way out on the new tack with the hail “Jibe Ho.” After the sails are across, continue the turn to your new course. Tips for Jibing Safely The jib is the clue to a successful jibe. Once the jib comes across on its own, trim the new jib sheet and hold a steady course while bringing the mainsail across by hand. Use a slow turn Keep control of the mainsail so the boom will not fly across. A slow turn allows time to trim and control the main. Ease the main quickly As the main jibes, ease the mainsheet all the way out—just let it run. Watch your course In stronger breeze, as the main jibes it will load the helm and try to turn the boat quickly up into the wind. Watch your course, and correct the helm to keep the boat from rounding up. In light air as the jib jibes, grab all the parts of the mainsheet and fling the main across to the new jibe. Don’t be shy about jibing In all but the breeziest conditions, a well executed jibe is a safe and effective way to change tacks. Prevent an Accidental Jibe If the jib jibes itself unexpectedly, it is a signal that the main may soon follow. To prevent an uncontrolled jibe, head up immediately. Straighten out once the jib returns to its normal position. As a precaution, always keep your head down when you see the jib cross the boat, and use a preventer to secure the boom. Gennaker Jibes There are a couple of ways to jibe a Gennaker. One method is to snuff the spinnaker, re-lead the spinnaker sheet to the new leeward side, and redeploy after the boat and mainsail have been jibed. The Snuffer and Gennaker go around the outside of the forestay on a jibe. The disadvantage of this jibing technique is that you must go forward to pass the Snuffer around the headstay. (Only if the Gennaker is flown from a jib halyard beneath the forestay would you take the Gennaker inside the forestay on a jibe.) The Gennaker can also be jibed while still flying. Square down to a very broad reach, tension the windward Gennaker sheet, and haul hard as you release the working sheet. Pull and pull and pull until the sail collapses, inverts, and starts to trim back on the new jibe; then finish the turn and jibe the main. The trick is to have the turn follow the trim – trim the Gennaker most of the way through the jibe before jibing the boat. If the turn is too fast (or trim too slow), and the boat is jibed before the sail is trimmed, then the spinnaker can blow through behind the forestay, or it can wrap on itself, or around the forestay. Spinnaker Jibes Short handed jibes are a challenge. The easiest technique is to snuff the sail, drop the outboard end of the pole to the deck, and pull the snuffed spinnaker around the bow with the sheets. Then jibe the main, reset the pole, and redeploy the spinnaker. You can also use a “dip pole” technique, but this requires at least one designated foredeck person as well as someone on the helm. For more, read Perfect Spinnaker Jibes READ MORE

Poor speed If boatspeed seems poor, you may need to add power. Try deeper sail shapes, and bear off a couple degrees. You can also be slow from being overpowered, in which case you’ll also have too much heel and lots of weather helm. Reduce power and balance the helm to restore speed. A fouled bottom can also have a big impact on speed. Poor pointing If your boatspeed is good, but the boat is pointing poorly, try sheeting harder. Trim the jib until you get a hint of backwinding in the main, and trim the main to the verge of stalling the top leech telltale. Too much weather helm Reduce heel to reduce weather helm. Try flatter sails, and more twist. Also, feather up to reduce angle of attack. Weather helm may also be solved by better balance between main and jib: too much power in the main, and not enough in the jib. Add power to the jib, and/or ease the main. If weather helm is a constant problem, try tuning your rig with less rake. Jib telltales hard to read If both inside and outside jib telltales are constantly dancing, create a wider entry angle and more forgiving steering groove by easing the sheet and/or tightening the halyard. With the draft properly positioned, the telltales will settle down. Too little weather helm If you have no feel in the helm, add power. Try deeper sails, and bear off a few degrees. Also try moving weight to leeward to increase heel. In light air, a lifeless helm may be a sign of being overtrimmed. Ease both sheets, and bear off to add power and speed. If a lack of helm is a consistent problem, consider retuning your rig with more rake. Pounding and pitching in waves Sailing into waves requires power to punch through the waves. If the boat is pounding, then foot (fall off) slightly and add twist to keep from being overpowered. Also, moving weight (like anchors) off the bow and out of the forepeak can significantly reduce pitching. Overworked Autopilot If your autopilot is constantly searching, and can’t seem to settle on course, and your boat is upright and underpowered one moment, and overpowered the next… add twist. Twist creates a more gradual onset and release of power. If your autopilot is working too hard, retrim for better balance. Add twist to smooth out the transition from overpowered to underpowered. Also, if you have the option, set your autopilot to sail to the apparent wind angle when sailing upwind, rather than your compass course. Overpowered A small jib and reefed main provide a balanced rig for best performance in heavy air conditions. For more details, read Heavy Weather Sailing Techniques. READ MORE

LESSONS FROM KINGSTON A conversation between J/22 World Champ Mike Marshall and class newcomer Zeke Horowitz What a pleasure it was to be a part of the J/22 World Championship in Kingston last week. As a newcomer to the class, it took no time at all to realize what an awesome group of people sail in this class, and how deep the talent pool is. I had a lot to learn about making the boat go fast and improving my boat handling so I was extremely grateful for the daily debriefs where the top performers of the day shared lots of tips. My team and I had a tremendous amount of fun, we learned a lot and made many new friends – all of whom I look forward to seeing at the next J/22 regatta! As a first time helmsman in the J/22, I had lots of opportunities to try different techniques and learn what worked best for me but I was very interested to compare what I thought was working to what the new World Champion, Mike Marshall, was doing to keep his boat speed up. Mike was kind enough to listen to my thoughts and help clear it all up for me in the interview below: ZEKE: This was a pretty “breeze on” event with most of the races sailed in 16 to 20+. Early on, one thing I learned from all the experts in this class was that once the breeze is into the teens, it is fast to center the traveler and forget about it. This leaves you with the mainsheet and backstay to play along with the jib sheet. I found that I liked the main set so it was just about to the point of inverting. I noticed lots of the fast boats were maxing out the backstay to the point where the main was totally “washed out” and appeared to be luffing with big wrinkles pointing from the mast down towards the clew. I found it faster to get the main to this point, but then ease the backstay just a couple of inches to get rid of those inversion wrinkles. Though I don’t think my pointing ability was particularly special…Tell me your thoughts on this and, in particular, how hard should I have been trimming my mainsheet to match this “inverted” main look with the backstay maxed out? MIKE: Interestingly, I was trimming the main in Kingston a bit differently than I would trim it for most other venues. Because the waves were pretty square, it was important to keep the boat moving at all times. So, while there are conditions when inverting the main is fast (big breeze and flatter water), these weren’t the Kingston conditions. In Kingston, we found that the backstay had to be much looser than we normally would have it. I think the reason was that we needed the power and return in the leech of the main to keep the bow up and pointing and to keep the boat powered up. I generally consider the backstay a coarse adjustment for the boat’s heel. Once we had that set properly, I’d trim the mainsheet so that the main’s top telltale was stalled at max 50% of the time. Stalled more, the boat would stop in the waves; any less stalled, and we’d be giving up height. I think that may have been the reason we had a slight edge with pointing over some teams so, while it can work to “wash out” the main we tried hard to make sure we had some “kick” in the leech of the main. ZEKE: Well, that’s the first thing we maybe weren’t quite doing right and that makes a lot of sense as to why we didn’t feel all that special in the pointing department. So, on our boat, we had a lot of discussions about jib lead positioning. We found that when the breeze was in the mid-teens, we liked the jib car 2 holes back from “base” because it would flatten the sail up top, but left a little bit of “punch” in the bottom of the jib to power through the waves. But once the breeze was up in the 20’s, we felt better moving the car back to 4 or 5 holes back from “base.” What visuals can I use to know that my jib car is in the right place, and how much is based on the feel of the helm or “return” on the main? MIKE: My easiest visual guideline for the jib car position is how the front of the jib’s foot sits on the deck. I look for the “Big Foot” sticker area of the jib to be on or just inside the toe rail when the jib is trimmed correctly for the condition, the heel of the boat, and how much the main is eased. Our goal in trimming the jib was that it be in as tight as possible as long as the top jib telltale wasn’t stalling and the main wasn’t luffing when it was eased. If we eased the main to keep the boat upright, we’d ease the jib to match. When all of this is correct, the foot of the jib in the area around the “Big Foot” sticker should be on or just inside the toe rail. If it was trending outside the toe rail, we’d move the car back. If it was trending well inside the toe rail, we’d move the car forward. This is a pretty good rule of thumb for the jib car position in almost any condition. In addition, I also use the feel of the helm. If the boat wants to turn up and I want to trim the jib tighter to balance it out but the top jib leech telltale is stalling, I’ll move the jib car back to be able to trim the sail tighter without the top telltale stalling. I try to sail with a pretty neutral helm in all conditions. ZEKE: That’s a great tip and one I can easily remember. As you know, and as predicted, CORK gave us big wind and big waves. At times, we were sailing in 3-4 foot waves that were fairly square and close together. In other boats I race regularly, I would be steering aggressively through this type of wave condition to try to minimize the slamming of the bow and keep the boat moving through the water as smoothly as possible. But in the J/22, I found that when I moved the tiller too much, it was quite difficult to maintain a steady level of heel and a balanced helm. And isn’t that what it’s all about? Tell me how you find the balance between maintaining steady heel and helm, and steering the boat through the waves as smoothly as possible. MIKE: You are certainly right about the sailing conditions at CORK. It was breezy and wavy, so having a solid game plan for those conditions really helped our team. I was lucky enough to have Todd Hiller do the bow for me. As anyone who has sailed in the J/22 class the past 20+ years knows, Todd is an extraordinary sailor. His main job going upwind was to call the breeze and waves. He was spot on for the whole event and this was a game-changing asset for almost everything I had to do. When I heard there was a puff or a lull coming, I could preemptively adjust the controls to be set for it and keep the heel of the boat constant. Even more importantly, when Todd called the waves, he was descriptive, calling flat spots, waves, chop, and big waves. When I heard flat spot and I could see it in my field of view, I’d pinch to keep the boat flat. When I heard waves, I knew I had to drive normally to keep the boat at full speed. When I heard chop or big waves, I’d wait until I could see them and then make a split-second decision to either put the bow down and power through them or try to steer around them, working the sails in conjunction. If the waves looked organized, I’d try to steer around them, which at times required a lot of tiller movement to stop from slamming (remember: up the front, down the back). I’d also trim the main pretty aggressively to keep the heel constant. If the waves looked disorganized, I’d ease the main and jib a little to keep the heel constant and simply power through the waves. Of course, there’s a lot going on in the back of the boat, and everything isn’t going to be perfect all the time. The ultimate goal is to keep the boat flat and up to speed. For that, I mostly use a combination of tiller and main trim because I have only two hands. ZEKE: That is a great point about how important teamwork and communication are in being successful in sailboat racing. It makes a lot of sense that having great information from your bow person (who is a top flight skipper in his own right) helps you keep the boat going fast. Certainly an important aspect for any team to work on is communication and it sounds like it really helped make your job a little bit easier. So my next thoughts are on overall game plans and how you guys worked through your strategies. I think the fleet was very fortunate to have a top quality race management team, led by David Sprague, and they did an absolutely stellar job setting a course and a starting line totally square to the breeze. On such a long course with a very long starting line, it is very difficult to decide on the game plan for the first beat. My team was always focused on picking the side of the course where we thought had the most pressure and then starting at the end that would get us to that side of the course the fastest. We did NOT want to go in the middle, though we ended up there more often than we wanted. How did your team decide which side of the course you wanted to go to and where to start? Did you ever change your game plan based on the start you ended up with? MIKE: I don’t think our overall process was much different from yours. Generally the decision of where to go rested on the shoulders of my trimmer, Luke Lawrence, and wow, did he impress! Luke really was dialed into what was going on around us which allowed me to focus on spending my time and energy making the boat go fast. Luke was correct about the side to go to almost every time, which really made the rest of the jobs easier. That said, it sounds like our strategy was very similar to yours. We’d look up the course at 4-5 minutes before the start and decide which side had more pressure. If we weren’t expecting a shift, we’d plan to head that way. Knowing that it was important to stay out of the middle, we went to our chosen side as fast as we could for almost every one of our races. We were a bit less conservative at the start than you were depending on how confident we were about the side. If we were very confident, our goal was to win the same side of the line as the side of the course that we wanted to head to. If we were less confident, we’d start near the boat so that the option to tack was still open if we didn’t like how things were unfolding. I also have to reiterate what you said about the fantastic job that David Sprague and the Race Committee did. It was one of the best jobs I’ve seen in quite a while. They set very square lines, moved marks when needed, and had almost no downtime between races. There’s not much more you can ask for. ZEKE: As important as it was to stay out of the middle of the beats, it seemed it was even more important to stay out of the middle on the downwind legs. My team learned that it was easy to get into trouble by doing an early jibe around the offset because you end up in the “cone of death.” With the fleet so tight at the weather mark, how did your team decide your exit strategy from the offset to set yourself up for success on the downwind? MIKE: Downwind is pretty exciting for me because it’s one of the few times that I’m actually allowed to look around! We’d always have a decision on whether we were gybing after the offset mark before we got halfway down the offset leg. From there, it became my job to execute the plan. If we were rounding and going straight, my job was to keep us in a clear lane while Todd and Luke had their heads in the boat. If we were gybing, my job was to jibe and keep the boat going fast as we sailed through the upwind boats. The only time we jibed in the “cone of death” was when we were already on layline to the next mark. Even if there were only 400 yards of starboard on the downwind, we’d sail them first to extend away from the cone of no wind under the mark. Otherwise, our strategy, much like yours, was to stay out of the middle on the downwind because there was always more breeze on the edges. Air doesn’t like to flow between objects where there’s lots of resistance, so when you go downwind with a large mass of boats, the air tends to flow around that mass, not through it. This is why the best wind is on the edges. ZEKE: Speaking of going downwind…. That was certainly exciting! I learned a lot about sailing downwind in big breeze and big waves and the biggest lesson was – do whatever you can to keep surfing! When the boat is surfing, the sails are much more unloaded which makes them easier to trim, and the boat is less likely to get “wobbly.” I found myself using a lot of rudder to try to steer the boat down the waves while surfing, and to prevent it from crashing into the next wave in front of us. I know it is slow to use lots of rudder. Tell me the secret to helping the boat stay on the waves downwind without using too much rudder. MIKE: Yes, in big breeze, the J/22 can be quite a handful downwind, but you can use a few tricks to keep everything under control a bit better. I think that the time when things get the most “sketchy” is when you try to go too low or get caught in a bad wave and the boat heels to windward. But the J/22 is just an overgrown dinghy, so if Luke gave the sheet a quick pump when we heeled to windward and I gave the main a sharp pump, the boat would settle back out. Both pumps help to make the bow turn up, which aids in keeping the hull under the top of the mast and the boat from falling over. Beyond using the sails, Todd was always on his feet downwind, moving from side to side to keep the boat flat. Because he was facing aft already while calling the wind, he could just look at the end of the tiller, and whichever way it was pointing was the direction that I needed him to move. As far as the amount of rudder is concerned, you’re going to have to move the tiller, but less is better as long as you accomplish the goal of keeping the hull under the top of the mast. ZEKE: So it sounds like at least we were doing that right! You mentioned pumping the main and spinnaker to help steer the boat. It had been a while since I’d raced a boat that was so rewarding to pump downwind. The boat seemed very responsive to a pump of the mainsheet to promote surfing. We thought that pumping the spinnaker sheet and the guy together was OK too, but I wasn’t sure it was totally necessary. With so much load on the spinnaker, do you really need to pump it downwind when there is that much breeze? Or is a pump of the mainsheet enough? Maybe you can help me decide where that line is. Can you tell me how you decide when it is time to pump? MIKE: Yes, the boat is very lively downwind and reacts very well to pumping. We’ve tried a lot of different ways to pump the kite, but we’ve found that the fastest is just to pump the kite sheet. Since you’re already sailing such a low angle, trimming the guy further back seems only to pull the boat sideways and not down the wave. I think that in the bigger breeze conditions a pump of the mainsheet might be all that’s needed but a kite pump too certainly doesn’t seem to hurt. As it gets lighter, pumping the kite gets more and more important because there is less power in the main alone to get the boat on the wave. It seems that as long as you can pump and initiate a surf on a wave, it’s important to be pumping. If the waves are small enough that you’re not steering to be surfing on them, then pumping isn’t needed. ZEKE: Mike, thanks and congratulations again on being the 2016 J/22 World Champion. MIKE: Thanks Zeke and congratulations to you and your team on a great regatta. Considering this was your 1st J/22 event ever, I think we are going to have to work even harder to keep you behind us at the next event! Lastly, before we wrap, I’d like to thank my team of Luke and Todd for all their skill and hard work as well as the PRO and Race Committee again for doing such an excellent job. Thanks are due as well to the entire staff in Kingston for putting on a wonderful event: the regatta chair and regatta team, the measurement team, and everyone else involved. Finally, I need to say once again how much fun and what a pleasure it is to sail in the J/22 class. Although I really love sailing these boats, it’s the terrific people in the class who make the racing experience so awesome! NORTH NOTES: North-powered boats finished 1,2,3,5,6,8,9,10 at the 2016 J/22 Worlds. Both Mike Marshall and Zeke Horowitz are members of the North Sails One Design team. Mike is a sail designer based in Newport, RI and can be reached at (401) 965-0057 or by e-mail mike.marshall@northsails.com. Zeke is based in Annapolis and services the Mid-Atlantic region. He can be reached at (410) 269-5662 or zeke.horowitz@northsails.com. Photos © Chris Howell / One Design Association Management READ MORE

B14 UK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP After a great close event, the B14 National Champions for 2016 are Team Harken with Team GUL/North Sails 2nd and Troublegum/North Sails 3rd. For daily reports and full results please see here. North Sails Results 1. Nick Craig & Toby Lews 2. Mark Barnes & Charlotte Jones 3. Alan Davis & Rich Bell 4. Peter Knight & Jane Reeves 6. Stephen Hollingsworth & Elliot Holman * 7. Kathy Sherratt & Dec Clamp * 9. Alex Horlock & Jim Pearce * 10. Henry Metcalfe & Jasmine Husband *Denotes partial inventory READ MORE

Olympians Return For The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Toulon I think for all of these programs, having a home regatta is really important for two reasons: one, is to gain notoriety in your home country for the team, the sport of sailing and the America’s Cup in general; and secondly, for many teams it is about fundraising – bringing new corporations and publicity to your team and the event. Knowing that Groupama Team France was late to the party with regard to organizing their program, I have a sneaking suspicion that this event is as important to them as any of the other events have been for the home teams. On the competitive side of things, Groupama Team France is also showing signs of life, especially in lighter air. On the first day of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth I believe they were ahead at the end of every single leeward mark before getting a first and second place finish, which is a massive improvement for them. Now with that said, they have been struggling in foiling conditions. When it’s lighter air, displacement mode, Franck Cammas and his team seem very comfortable. Once they get back into foiling mode, it was back to the drawing board, especially on Day 2 of the Portsmouth event. I know they have been doing a lot of sailing on GC32s, which are foiling catamarans, and hopefully a bit of practice on their AC45 prior to going to Toulon. The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Toulon will also be known as the event where all the A-Team sailors show back up again. Fresh from a Gold medal in Rio in the 49er Class come Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to jump back into the Skipper and Trimmer roles on Emirates Team New Zealand. Also back fresh from the Olympics with a Silver medal, losing to the Kiwis, are Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. On the one hand I’m sure they were bummed not to win a Gold medal but, on the other hand, they made a last minute push to go from Bronze to Silver on the final day so they have got to be really pleased with that. Then, of course, there is a Gold medal for Giles Scott in the Finn Class, with a totally dominant performance. He will be back after a fairly lengthy lay-off with Land Rover BAR as their tactician. And then finally, Jason Waterhouse returns with a Silver Medal from the Nacra 17 Class in Rio to race with SoftBank Team Japan. I say “A-Team” with some trepidation because when your B-Team includes Glen Ashby, who might just be the most heralded multihull sailor on the planet, it’s not exactly a low-end B-Team! But there’s no doubt that getting everyone back in position, which includes Ashby as Wing Trimmer on Emirates Team New Zealand, has to be not only more effective for these Louis Vuitton World Series events, but also better training for their long term solution once they move up to the AC50s. So I’m sure everyone will be very excited to see all the top teams back together in one piece. And finally, we’ve had a bit of a shake up at the top of the leaderboard. Emirates Team New Zealand, for the first time since the beginning of this Series, is not leading overall going into Toulon. So let’s see where the learning curve is with some of the teams that have struggled at times and let’s see how quickly the big boys respond to get their A-Teams back together and up to the top of the leaderboard. READ MORE

HEAVY WEATHER SAILING TECHNIQUES How to Sail Well in Strong Winds We covered the Basics of Heavy Weather Sailing already; now it’s time to look at techniques to help you sail well in strong winds, which will increase your range and confidence. Harnessing the power of the wind and battling the waves while maintaining control can be exhilarating; some consider it the ultimate sailing experience. How to Depower The challenge in heavy weather is to depower enough to keep control, but not too much to fight the waves that come with heavy winds—and to maintain sufficient speed. The slower you go, the longer it will take you to get to your destination. Depowering techniques include flattening sails, increasing twist, and reducing angle of attack; these are the first steps in dealing with increasing winds. When these methods are not sufficient, stronger measures are called for. The waves that accompany strong winds can be as big a problem as the wind itself. Waves make depowering tricky, as sailing underpowered in waves can leave you at their mercy. The challenge is to keep enough power to handle the waves, while still maintaining control. And pounding upwind against building seas can be more than unpleasant; it can be dangerous, as the motion batters the crew and equipment. There are several ways to reduce pounding. First, add twist to your trim for a wider steering groove. This will allow you to steer around the biggest waves. Next, change speeds. Sometimes sailing faster will smooth out the ride, as you power through the waves. Ease sails a bit, and bear off a couple degrees. Another option is to slow down. If the boat is leaping off the waves, then shorten sail and slow down to keep the boat in the water. You can also improve the boat’s motion through the waves by moving weight out of the bow and concentrating it amidships—as low as possible. Before going out in big seas, consider moving the anchor and rode off the bow and stowing them below, perhaps in a couple of big canvas bags. Another option to consider is picking a new destination. Do you really need to go upwind in these big waves? Let’s reach off and go somewhere else! Adjust Your Speed As mentioned above, sometimes slowing down a little can dramatically improve the motion and comfort of the boat. At other times, adding power and speed to help you steer around the biggest waves can improve the ride. Often adding twist by easing sheets just a couple of inches will help the boat find a wider steering groove which will, in turn, help you find a smoother path through waves. If the motion is bad, then experiment to improve it. Shorten Sail: Smaller Jib First If depowering the sailplan is not enough, it’s time to shorten sail. In heavy winds, a well-trimmed reefed boat can provide much better speed, control, and comfort than an over-canvased boat. And the first step in reducing sail area is to reduce your jib size. Generally, less sail area in the jib with a full-sized main means better speed, higher pointing, and more control in waves or gusts. Depending on your set up, you can reduce jib size either by changing to a smaller sail or by roller reefing your genoa. Roller Reefing Roller reefing genoas make it possible to shorten sail without changing jibs, a nice convenience especially when short-handed. Foam or rope luffs and other refinements have vastly improved reefed sail performance, but the shape of a reefed genoa will still not be as good as an unreefed one. And to protect the life of your sail, be sure to leave a portion of the tack patch exposed to handle the loads along the foot. As the genoa is rolled, adjust the jib lead to maintain proper sail shape. To remove the guess work from heavy air lead position, make marks on the foot of the genoa for your first and second increments of rolling—after perhaps 3 and 6 rolls on the headstay—and then mark the jib track at a position that makes the telltales break evenly top to bottom for each setting. Two Jib Inventory A sail inventory that includes a full sized genoa and a smaller working jib can provide a great boost in performance, control, and comfort in heavy air. Of course it means buying an extra sail, which will require the room to stow whichever sail is not rigged— and it means an occasional sail change. But the shape of a smaller jib will provide better performance and control than a rolled up genoa. Change Early Whatever your setup, make the change to a smaller jib early – as soon as the thought occurs to you – and while it is still relatively easy to do so. If you anticipate a breezy day, a smaller jib makes it possible to change while still at the dock or at anchor. And while it is only a small compromise in performance in moderate winds, it keeps sailing comfortable and fun in heavy air. Reef the Main Still overpowered with the smaller jib? The next step is to reef the main. Tacking and Jibing in Heavy Air The waves that come with big winds can make basic maneuvers challenging. When tacking, look for a relatively smooth spot, and start your turn as the bow climbs a wave. Push the helm over so that the next wave will push the bow down onto the new tack. In extreme seas you may not be able to tack at all. In that case, you will need to wear ship or jibe. Of course, jibing in heavy air is no picnic. Often the best way to handle the jib is to roll it up. A heavy air jibe is best accomplished at speed. As the boats surfs down a wave, loads on the sails are reduced. Use extra hands to jibe the main, and ease it quickly once it crosses centerline. Watch your course and steer to control the boat as it tries to round up coming out of the jibe. Once under control, unroll the jib again. Use a winch to control the roller furling line while easing it out, as the load will be too great to handle barehanded. Another Alternative: Motor Sailing Perish the thought! This is a sailboat! Well yes, but we’re not racing! If you’re sailing under reefed main and rolled genoa and you are still overpowered, stow the jib and crank up the “iron genny.” Motor sailing into wind and waves under main alone provides a much better ride than motoring with no sails. (Save that for days with no wind.) Motor sailing lets you point high, making better progress to windward, without the violent pitching of motoring into seas with no sails set. Trim the main, head up high enough to control your angle of heel, set the autopilot, and keep a lookout. What to Watch Out for When Motor Sailing Make sure cooling water is pumping through the engine. On some boats, the water intake will lift out of the water when heeled. Violent pitching can also allow air into fuel line, which can stall the engine, and may require a bleed to get it going again. The pitching motion may also stir sediments off the bottom of the fuel tank, which may then clog the fuel lines or fuel filter. Motoring with no sails set will probably not work in big seas. Sails are needed—at least a reefed main—to provide some stability and extra power. Also to be avoided is motoring across a beam sea, as that can lead to violent rolling, or even a broach. READ MORE

Your course and speed are factors. In a moderate 12 knot true wind, a boat sailing close-hauled at a speed of 7 knots is really in a fresh wind of about 17 knots. READ MORE

HOW TO TRIM A GENOA Three Sources Of Power There are three sources of genoa power: angle of attack, sail depth, and twist. Our goal is first to get the correct total power and, second, to achieve the correct mix of power from each source to suit the conditions. Angle of Attack Trim the sail in, and you increase power by increasing the angle of attack. Ease the sail out and you reduce power. Once the sail is sheeted in, then the primary control of angle of attack is the helm. Bear off to add power, and head up to reduce power. Depth Deep sails generate more power, while flat sail shapes generate less power (and less drag). Genoa depth can be adjusted through a variety of controls, including headstay sag, lead position, and sheet trim. Twist A closed leech generates more power. A twisted or open leech spills power. Genoa twist is controlled through lead position and sheet trim. Genoa controls Your jib will have some or all or the following controls to help achieve the desired amount and mix of power: Halyard Set the halyard to hold the shape of the sail in its designed position. Tension the halyard to remove wrinkles from the luff. If the luff is stretched, ease the halyard. In light air, an over-tight halyard hurts performance. As the wind builds, increase halyard tension to keep the luff firm. When rolling up the sail after sailing in strong winds, ease the halyard to relieve luff tension. Genoa (or Jib) Sheet Trimming the sheet adds power by increasing angle of attack and by reducing twist. Initially, the sheet’s primary impact is on angle of attack as it pulls in the sail. As the sail nears full trim, the sheet pulls the clew down (more than in), and the primary impact of trim is to reduce twist. For proper close hauled trim, the middle leech should be parallel to the boat’s centerline. The foot should be a little rounder than the foot of the main, but otherwise the overall shape should match the main. (LINK TO mainsail trim) As you trim in the jib, you will be able to point higher (sail closer to the wind) without luffing. When additional trim no longer improves pointing, the sheet is overtrimmed. Ease slightly to optimize jib sheet trim. Headstay Sag The amount of sag in the headstay can be controlled with an adjustable backstay. A tighter headstay flattens the sail, while extra sag adds power. In light air, set the headstay just firm enough to keep it from flopping in chop. Add tension as the wind builds. In strong breeze tighten the headstay as much as you can. Genoa Leads Moving the genoa lead fore and aft changes sheeting angle. As an initial setting, adjust the lead so the sail luffs along its entire height as you pinch up above close hauled. From this initial setting, the lead position can be fine-tuned to the conditions. You may want to move the lead forward to add shape to the foot of the sail, which will reduce twist and therefore increase power. This lead-forward shape is best for light air or choppy conditions. Moving the lead aft reduces power for better performance in stronger winds. An aft lead position flattens the foot of the jib by letting the clew rise. (Think of it like tightening the outhaul on the main.) Moving the lead aft also increases twist, spilling power from the upper part of the sail. For heavy air sailing, we want the top of the sail to luff before the lower section. Leech Cord The leech cord does not control sail shape. It is intended to prevent leech flutter, which can damage the leech of a jib. Tension the leech cord just enough to stop flutter, and no more. If your sail has a foot cord, the same principle applies. Do you need a genoa? Large overlapping genoas are difficult to handle, hard to tack, easy to damage, and impossible to see around. A smaller jib is much easier to handle. On boats with large mainsails, a genoa is an unnecessary burden. In all but the lightest conditions, a working jib provides comparable performance (hey, we’re not racing!), and in moderate to heavy air the jib performs better. READ MORE

The following tips are taken from the North U Cruising and Seminar Course book written by John Rousmaniere, author of the Annapolis Book of Seamanship. These tips are meant to be helpful reminders and reference for the cruising sailor. All subjects are covered in greater detail in the North U seminars and course materials. Wing and Wing A good breeze behind you makes covering long distances a pleasure. A common and safe cruising setup is to sail wing and wing under jib and main, with the jib poled out and the boom secured by a preventer. Sailing in strong winds requires strong gear. You need a spinnaker pole (not a whisker pole) supported by a topping lift (or spare halyard) and secured by an after guy and foreguy. The genoa sheet should run through the end of the pole; don’t attach it directly to the clew of the sail. The mainsail preventer is separate from the boom vang (which is there to control twist). The preventer runs forward, holding the boom out. In rough weather the preventer should run from the end of the boom through a block on the foredeck, and then aft to the cockpit for easier control. A preventer-vang combination attached to the toerail can cause problems, particularly as seas build and the boat rolls. If the boom dips into a big wave, the pressure of the water against the preventer can bend or break the boom, or it might cause the boat to spin out of control. One danger of a preventer is the false sense of security it can provide. As you wander on deck, do not assume that the preventer will stop the boom from jibing. Always keep your head low. Spinnaker Sailing Under spinnaker in heavy air – are you crazy? It’s true that if not properly trimmed in heavy winds, a spinnaker can overpower the boat. As you learn better trim, you can raise the wind speed at which you can carry the sail and still maintain control. In heavy air, if the spinnaker rolls out to weather, then it will probably roll the boat to weather too. In more moderate conditions it can work well to square the pole aft, to get the spinnaker out from behind the main. In heavy air, this same trim creates problems. Likewise, if the spinnaker flies too high or too far in front of the boat, then it will wander from side to side. As the spinnaker swings, the boat rolls, making steering difficult and control tenuous. To keep control of the boat, you need to control the spinnaker. Choke it down directly in front of the boat by lowering the pole and over trimming the sheet. This “short leash” prevents the spinnaker from wandering and pulling the boat out of control. Gennaker Sailing Sailing under Gennaker in fresh breeze and following seas requires careful attention to trim and steering. Ease the tack line and Gennaker sheet to allow the Gennaker to roll out from behind the mainsail, and steer actively to keep the bow pointed “downhill.” To prevent a broach in gusts, ease the Gennaker sheet. If things get out of control, snuff and stow the Gennaker and switch to a jib. Learn More North Sails Cruising Sail Types North U READ MORE

There are a number of guidelines to help you steer effectively upwind. There is also information you can learn from the feel of the helm that will help you find the correct trim and apparent wind angle for the conditions. Steering Upwind Depending on conditions, a good driver will consider some or all of the following when steering upwind: Jib Telltales (Are the jib telltales flowing, luffing, or stalled?) Balance of the Helm (Is the helm balanced, with just a slight weather helm, or are you wrestling to hold the boat on course?) Angle of Heel (Is the boat sailing at a comfortable angle of heel? Is it overpowered and heeled too much, or underpowered and too upright?) Boat Speed (Is the speed steady, rising, or falling?) Apparent Wind Angle (Is the boat pointing well?) “Feel” of the boat (Does the boat feel lively or sluggish? Is the boat pitching in the waves, or punching through the chop?) Steering to Telltales For starters, try to steer the boat with the telltales flowing. With the jib trimmed for a close hauled course, use the lower jib telltales as a steering guide. Steer so the telltales are streaming aft. Head up just short of the point when the inside telltales luff. The range of angle you can steer through with the telltales flowing—a few degrees—is the steering groove. By paying attention to the feel of the boat’s power, and the boat speed, you’ll be able to tell how far up in the steering groove you can point while maintaining power and speed. If you head up too high, the inside telltales will luff, and soon thereafter the sail will start to luff as well. Aim to steer as high as you can while still maintaining full power. If you bear off too far, the outside telltales will stall, and you will lose power and speed (and of course pointing ability). When overpowered the boat will be heeling too much and hard to steer. Head up slightly, and let the inside telltales dance; the narrower angle of attack will reduce power and the boat should feel more balanced. Longer term, you can reduce power by lowering the traveler, tightening backstay, outhaul and halyards, and/or by moving the jib lead aft. If the telltales are flowing, but the helm has no feel and the boat seems sluggish, try adding power by bearing off a couple of degrees. You can also raise the traveler, ease backstay, outhaul, and halyards, and/or move the jib lead forward. In big chop, add power by bearing off a couple of degrees until the outside telltales dance. (Be careful not to bear off too far; the outside telltales will stall and performance will suffer.) If it is difficult to keep the boat in the steering groove, the jib may be over-trimmed – ease it a couple of inches. Once the telltales are flowing again, check your other guides. Helm and Heel Weather helm and angle of heel are key guides to upwind performance. If you are battling the helm, or the rail is in the water, reduce power. Flatten your sails, or head up to reduce angle of attack. In moderate to heavy winds, you can use the angle of heel as your primary guide; steer to maintain a consistent angle of heel. As you heel over in puffs, feather up (head up slightly); in the lulls, foot off a few degrees to maintain full power. Battling Chop If you are pitching excessively when steering through waves, bear off a few degrees to add more punch. If you are overpowered when you bear off, increase twist by easing sheets or moving the jib lead aft. The extra twist will spill some power, and it will also increase the size of your steering groove by giving you more consistent power as you pitch, roll, yaw, and steer through the waves. Chop can stop you dead in your tracks if you feather up in fresh breeze. Adding twist will spill power so you can keep the bow down. Trimming for an Auto Pilot Before you turn the steering over to an autopilot, you may need to adjust the sails to reduce load on the system. Self-steering works best with a well-balanced boat and a wide steering groove. Set the boat up with slight weather helm, and trim your sails with a little extra twist to provide more steering latitude. Tacking When coming about or tacking, think not about how quickly you can get the boat onto the new tack. Think instead about carrying as much momentum as possible with you through the change in course. Too fast a turn—which is common—will reduce momentum. Too slow a turn, and you’ll lose all your speed. “Ready About” Although we say “hard-a-lee,” “soft-alee” might be more apt. Prepare to tack by checking that the working jib sheet is flaked and ready to run. Remove any slack from the lazy jib sheet and load it on the winch with two full turns. Steering Through the Tack Start with a slow smooth turn into the wind. This initial turn will help maintain speed, and it will also carry you briefly at nearly full speed toward your upwind destination. As the sails begin to luff, turn more quickly to pass the bow through the wind. Once the bow crosses head to wind, slow the rate of turn again, and bring the helm back to centerline before you are down to the new close hauled course; the boat’s angular momentum will finish the turn for you. Position yourself well to windward (or to leeward in very light air) so you can see and steer to the jib as it is trimmed. Come out of the tack just a few degrees below your regular close hauled angle, and then head up to course as the boat accelerates to full speed. For best performance, it also helps to ease the mainsail a few inches to accelerate out of the tack. Trim in again as you reach full speed. Handling the Jib While you may want to take excess wraps off the winch, be sure to keep the working sheet fully trimmed until the jib luffs half way across the foredeck. As the jib luffs, ease a full arm’s length of jib sheet to reduce load, then spin the rest of the sheet off the winch and make sure it runs. On the trim side, keep the lazy sheet taut. As soon as the jib clew passes the mast, pull in full armloads as fast as you can. When the sheet load is too great to pull, add wraps and grind the sail in the rest of the way. Stand up over the winch to grind, and use two hands. Tacking in Waves If time allows, look for a relatively smooth spot in which to tack, rather than tacking in the middle of a big set of waves. Use a quicker turn than in smooth water, as the waves will quickly slow the boat’s momentum. Time your turn to start as you run up the face of a wave, and turn quickly enough to get the bow around so the next wave pushes you down onto the new tack. Since big waves are generally accompanied by big wind, use the following heavy air tips to guide you in finishing your tack. Heavy Air When coming out of a heavy air tack, you can make it easier to trim the jib by slowing your turn. Turn just far enough to get the jib past the mast and shrouds, and then hold course with the jib luffing over the side deck. Don’t bear off to fill the sail until it is nearly sheeted home. READ MORE

MICHEL VAUCHER: "NORTH SAILS POUR NOUVEAU CHALLENGE" C’est désormais officiel, Michel Vaucher rejoint l’équipe de North Sails Suisse en ce début de septembre 2016 ! Après 29 ans chez Voiles Gautier, Michel souhaite « rejoindre North Sails pour sa technologie » et y voit l’opportunité d’un « nouveau challenge ». Celui que l’on décrit comme généreux et humain revêt désormais chaque matin la tenue au logo bleu et blanc surmonté des deux lettres « NS ». Pierre-Yves Jorand, associé chez North Sails Suisse : « Il est dans le métier depuis plus de 25 ans, ses qualités sont multiples. Michel est tout d’abord un excellent navigateur et régatier reconnu en Suisse et à l’étranger. Il a également l’avantage d’avoir su transposer son expérience pour devenir un parfait technicien et designer et ainsi proposer des voiles qui ont conquis les podiums durant de longues années. En intégrant notre équipe au 1er septembre, Michel sera au plus près de nos clients et vient renforcer la dynamique d’animation et de promotion de nos voiles dans plusieurs séries monotypes suisses, ainsi qu’une présence sur les lacs romands ». A la question « à part les voileries, quelles sont tes autres passions ? », Michel répond « naviguer » ! Il complète tout de même par « skier quand je trouve le temps d’y aller et faire de la moto ». Il décrit ses nouvelles missions North comme « multiples et transversales sur le terrain ». Au niveau du design et de par son expérience, il collaborera avec les designers pour le développement des produits lémaniques. Enfin, quand Michel se prête au jeu de définir son job avec des mots simples et en 140 caractères, il conclut par : « contact, collaboration, service, disponibilité, technique, vente, eau, vent, sourire et efficience ». Un bon programme en perspective ! Extrait du parcours de régatier de Michel Vaucher : Michel débute la voile en Optimist à l'âge de 7 ans et tire ses premiers bords en compétition à 10 ans. Puis il navigue en Laser dès 14 ans jusqu'à ses 19 ans. Il croise ensuite le chemin de nombreuses séries monotypes en monocoque (Surprise, Toucan, 5.5JI, 6 et 8m JI, Esse 850, Star etc) et en multicoque (F18, F20, D35, M2). Michel a dans son escarcelle une AG2R (transat en double) et plusieurs Tours de France à la voile. Il est aussi équipier sur des circuits internationaux, à l’image de l’America’s Cup (1999-2000) et du championnat du monde de match racing (2000-2005). Depuis quelques années, Michel a décidé de mettre ses prétentions sportives de côté pour se consacrer au métier de voilier et prendre soin de sa clientèle. Il n’en reste pas moins actif en M2 et complète régulièrement des équipages sur les régates des lacs suisses. Du côté du plancher de Meyrin, toute l’équipe de North Sails Suisse se réjouit d’accueillir Michel et d’agrandir la famille North Sails. Michel Vaucher (+41) 78 898 20 24 michel.vaucher@northsails.com READ MORE

North Sails 3Di RACE takes patented technology tested by the most competitive sailing programs in the world and translates them into your everyday race solution. 3Di RACE is engineered and designed specifically for boats up to 40’. Proven performance, durability, and value packed into a single sail. Call a sales representative today. Go North. Go Beyond. Why is 3Di RACE different? RACE is attainable performance. With a unique, specialized layout, 3Di RACE sails will deliver optimized performance through wide wind ranges. Without surface tapes, RACE boasts an impressive strength to weight ratio – offering you a lightweight sail that has the capacity to perform, and the flexibly for you to trim, handle, fill, and flake it with confidence. RACE takes our celebrated 3Di technology, tested by the most competitive sailing programs in the world, and translates them into an everyday race solution. Proven performance, durability and value packed into a single sail. – Ken Read, President, North Sails In a general sense these sails are extremely adjustable and are able to power up and de-power through the range, thus their shape holding and performance through the range is tremendous. – JB Braun, Aero Design, North Sails Sail Scans show the impressive shape holding ability of 3Di RACE, especially as wind pressure increases. In 7 knots of wind a 3Di RACE sail will look similar to a comparable string sail. When the wind picks up and put some load on the sail structure (10-12 knots) you will see a significant difference between a “string” sail and a 3Di Race sail structure. You will easily see a delta in cord depth by up to 2% and up 5% in draft location with the 3Di Race sail holding its sail shape over a wider range. – Per Andersson, Head of Design, North Sails Gone are the days of throwaway plastic sails that break down far too quickly. 3Di RACE will substantially outlast any string sail and will give racers much more time on the water with optimized performance. The dedicated RACE tape layout makes this sail user-friendly, lighter, low-stretch and more forgiving to trim and tune. As the segment leader for Club Race, I’m confident introducing 3Di RACE is a big step in changing customers’ perception that 3Di technology is out of reach for everyday sailors. – Sam Richmond, Club Race Segment Leader, North Sails Go North, Go Beyond. Read our Quick Guide, or contact an Expert today. You better hurry – our first sets have already hit the water running. READ MORE

A 46 year old trimaran wins the 2016 Bayview-Mackinac Race with a new custom sail package. On July 17, 2016, Adagio won her class in the Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac Race—thanks to her latest upgrades and a new set of North Sails. “Old Adagio has taken on a new life,” said designer and builder Meade Gougeon. The 35 foot trimaran, built in 1970, was the first to be constructed entirely with WEST SYSTEM epoxy, which Meade and his brother Jan developed. Adagio won her first Bayview-Mac in 1999. In 2000, she celebrated her thirtieth birthday by winning the race again—and then also took both line honors and first overall in that year’s race from Chicago to Mackinac Island. The crew was Meade and Jan Gougeon, Butch Babcock and JR Watson. “In 2000 the crew was at the peak of their sailing wisdom and in excellent physical condition,” reported project manager and 2016 Bayview-Mac crew member Matt Scharl. “Adagio was also at the peak of technology for that era.” Adagio was again the first multihull to finish both races to Mackinac Island in 2006. But despite several upgrades to appendages and rigging, she couldn’t produce another race win. “In recent years she had gone downhill,” Meade Gougeon explained, “with both the boat and crew aging out. This year we decided to tackle the problem.” Toward the end of the 2015 sailing season, Meade asked Matt Scharl to oversee the upgrades needed to bring the boat back up to race-winning speed before the 2016 race. Matt grew up sailing locally on his grandfather’s Tartan 41 Naiad, and to him the project felt like “coming back home.” “We only got one opportunity to sail Adagio before it came out of the water ,” Matt explained, “but that sail was telling.” The boat’s sails, which were only a year old, made it so difficult to stay in the groove that only Meade, with his forty-five years of experience driving the boat, could keep things rolling. “The sails weren’t right for the boat at all,” Matt said, adding that the genoa’s entry was too fine. The spinnaker was “simply what I describe as a beach ball—too deep to promote any flow across the sail.” In contrast, the mainsail was so flat it was hard to trim properly. The result was very little overlap between sails, and very little forgiveness on any point of sail. “The old suit had very definitive wind and angle ranges,” Matt continued. “It was hard to obtain and maintain optimal trim. Getting the boat up and running was achievable, but keeping it there was very finicky.” So in addition to helping his race teammates, brothers-in-law Ben Gougeon and Alan Gurski, with their ongoing modernization of Adagio, Matt brought in North Sails designer Magnus Doole to work up a new sail inventory. “Matt agreed to help us do a makeover of Adagio,” Meade explained, “but only if we included Magnus to consult on the rig, and design a new set of sails.” “The Gougeon organization could not be happier with the North Sails effort, which has helped our beloved Adagio to carry on a competitive effort for more years to come.” And those designs, Matt says, were “spot on.” Magnus came up to Bay City from New Zealand to help Matt accurately measure the boat. Then the sailmaker created a 3D model from the measurements using Desman, which is part of the North Design Suite. Back home again, Magnus designed a sail package that would maximize crossover and make the boat easier to sail fast. The sails included a North Sails 3Di ENDURANCE mainsail, solent genoa and trinquette staysail, a North Panel Laminate (NPL) code zero and North Paneled Cloth (NPC) yellow gennaker. They were built at two separate North facilities according to strict manufacturing standards, and then shipped directly to Michigan. Meade Gougeon was impressed with both the seamless process and North’s attention to detail. “The sails were delivered on time and fit like a glove, due to the careful job of measuring. The collaboration between Matt and Magnus was like magic, and Magnus went beyond the call of just being a sail designer, engaging with both Matt and us on any number of related sail handling issues.” As for performance, Matt noticed one key difference as soon as they raised the new sails: a wider groove. “The boat was lively, responsive and accelerated fast.” Adagio’s crew for the 2016 Bayview-Mac (Matt, Ben, and Alan) wasn’t able to practice as much as they would’ve liked before the start, so it wasn’t until they had already started the 259-mile course that they realized just how much range each of the new sails had. “The race started out as a one-sided beat on starboard,” Matt said, “so we started with the genoa, with great boat speed on the other boats. When we got lifted we switched to the Code 0, an hour late.” They were still learning the crossovers for the new sails. When the wind lifted them even more, they switched to the spinnaker—”again an hour too late,” Matt said. “Clearly the new sails had larger ranges than we had expected.” The thirty-five footer was able to keep pace with the Santa Cruz 70s, though until Adagio rounded the Cove Island mark, they lost some distance to the multihulls behind them that were sailing in better breeze. “After rounding,” Matt explained, “we sailed with the genoa and jib on a beam reach.” It was here that the boat (with Ben Gougeon on the helm) reached her top speed of the race, which Matt described as “17-ish” knots. He believes it was on this leg of the course where the team gained enough distance on the boats behind to secure the class win. “I’ve never sailed a small trimaran that is able to hold apparent wind so well.” “We were passing lots of the Santa Cruz 70s along the way,” Alan Gurski added, “so we had a good feeling that we were near the front of the fleet.” Adagio won the multihull division with an elapsed time of 28:46:04. “It was a hoot!” said Alan afterward. Having sails that were easy to trim and fast to sail also made it easier for the three man team to gel so quickly. Alan and Ben had sailed Adagio with Meade for the past five years, but this was Matt’s first season on board. “We all can do every job on the boat,” Matt said, “so roles are interchangeable.” As for sleep, “we all got about two hours.” This winter, Adagio has one more major upgrade scheduled. And then, Matt says, “she is good to go for the next fifty years, we think.” Meade Gougeon agrees. “The Gougeon organization could not be happier with the North Sails effort, which has helped our beloved Adagio to carry on a competitive effort for more years to come.” READ MORE

FRANK REEG AND JONATHAN PRINS WIN 2016 MC NATIONALS Top Nine Teams Powered by North Sails! Imagine this 101 MC Scows, championship racing and Crystal Lake, Michigan one of the world’s nicest lakes. That was our setup for this year’s MC National Championship. This regatta was almost three years in the making with preparations by Regatta Chair – Kelly Winter and her team of over half of the yacht clubs family membership joining in to help get ready for and to run the championship. The efforts simply put were incredible. Every single detail you could think of was handled with servant volunteers at every turn this past week on the water and off the water. More about that in a bit further down in the article. Let’s get right to some results. I will break this down into results right away. Then conditions for the races. Some key learnings for the races. Also, Race highlights , Social Activities and Future Class News. RESULTS Incredible line-up of sailors. Average age is falling in our class which is great for our future as we see a large younger group of sailors joining our class. For full results go to www.2016mcnationals.com RACE WINNERS – Powered by North Sails! Race 1 – Cam McNeil Race 2 – Frank Reeg Race 3 – Scott Harestad Race 4 – Frank Reeg RAce 5 – Andy McDonald Race 6 – Scott Slocum Race 7 – Eric Hood DIVISION WINNERS – Powered by North Sails! Top Youth – Frank Reeg Top Woman – Emily Oltrogge Top Master – Scott Harestad Top Grand Master – Matt Fisher Top Mega Master – Mike Keenan Top Old Salt – Ed Schindler TOP TEAMS POWERED BY NORTH SAILS 1. Frank Reeg Spring Lake, MI 30pts 2. Cam McNeil White Lake, MI 43 pts 3. Scott Harestad Spring Lake , MI 53pts 4. Ted Keller Torch Lake, MI 61pts 5. Brian McMurray White Lake , MI 70 pts 6. Eddie Cox White Bear YC, MN 72 pts 7. Tony Pugh Crystal Lake, MI 74 pts 9. Daniel Guidinger White Bear YC, MN 88 pts READ MORE

North Sails partners with Warrior Sailing Program Competitive Team for the J/22 Worlds in Kingston, Ontario Since 2013 the Warrior Sailing Program has introduced 165 wounded veterans and active military athletes to the sport of sailing. Continuing to surpass all of the original expectations, the program is expanding to provide it’s training camp graduates with opportunities beyond just ‘learning how to sail’. An option for graduates is to earn a spot on the competitive race team. Other options include sailing certifications, big boat racing, small boat racing, and regional sailing. This year the Warrior Sailing team made a decision to compete in the J/22 world championship in Kingston, Ontario. With the tremendous support of the USMMA Sailing Foundation and partnerships with companies like North Sails, we are ready to take on the WORLD. Competing in the event on the WS team is Scott Ford (Navy), Sammy Lugo (Army) and team head coach Ed Norton (sailor not actor!). Additional team members, David Caras (Coast Guard) and Josh Agripino (Marine), made the trip up to learn from this experience on a spectator boat. A new suite of J22 sails will help enhance boatspeed. Program director Ben Poucher says, “Without the support of North Sails, our team was going to start out at a disadvantage on the World stage. The J/22 sails North provided on short notice has helped our team generate positive results and pushed our team to be more competitive during each race. Thank you North One Design!” The Warrior Sailing competitive team is looking to continue in the J22 class and also expand its horizons to provide more spots on the competitive team in the near future. We are always seeking ‘ready to race’ boat donations and monetary support to offset event costs. The support of the donation allows us to use the boat for our team for 3 years, and then sell the boat to help fund new and promising initiatives. Learn more about the program READ MORE

Accomplished One Design sailors Phil and Wendy Lotz have embarked on a new project: a liveaboard multhull. We caught up with them after their first two regattas on their new Gunboat 60 Arethusa. The Fort Lauderdale-Key West Race is considered a feeder race for Key West Race Week, and in 2016 it was also the shakedown event for the Gunboat 60 Arethusa and her owners Phil and Wendy Lotz. According to Phil, the 160-mile sprint down the Keys was a great way to figure out their new offshore catamaran. “We got a chance to put the boat through its paces, on all points of sail and in varying wind conditions.” Once they arrived in Key West, they made the transition to day racing, even though “it is not really a ‘round the buoys’ boat.” And that was actually a nice plus in a location where housing costs are typically a large part of the team budget: “We lived on her at Key West and plan on doing so at all our race events.” Arethusa raced with 8-10 crew (though only six stayed aboard), and they’re still settling into an exact number for the team. “We think 8 to 9 (depending on skill set) is needed for day racing with any frequency of turning marks or sail changes.” Transferring racing skills from offshore one design monohulls like the Swan 42 class, where Phil and Wendy were national and KWRW champions, required several adjustments. “The rig is very powerful, so we are getting used to the rig and the sails and how to handle them.” And then there’s the high speed. “That takes a little getting used to, especially approaching maneuvers and sail changes.” The couple’s favorite sail is the A4, which is launched from a snuffer. “it is a very large chute so the snuffer helps control the sail. Plus it would be very hard to pack as the sail is bigger than the working space onboard.” And during the weeklong race series, “we used almost everything—we really think the inventory is great and found a real need for every sail.” Arethusa is equipped with North Sails 3Di ENDURANCETM working sails (Main, J1, J2), North Sails NPL DOWNWINDTM R1 and R3, and an NPC DOWNWINDTM A4. The original plan was to head from Key West to the Caribbean for the racing season there, but instead Phil and Wendy have decided to spend the winter/spring in Fort Lauderdale, to “get the boat perfect.” Phil added, “We look forward to finishing up the work list early to mid-March and conducting some sea trials off Lauderdale.” After that, the racer-cruiser benefits of their new boat will again be a plus. “We want to do some cruising in the Bahamas in late April before returning back to Newport late May.” Summer racing plans include Annapolis-Newport, NYYC Race Week, the NYYC Cruise, and the Vineyard Race. So by next year’s Lauderdale-Key West Race, the new Arethusa will definitely be a racing veteran. READ MORE

In late 2015, childhood friends Vincent Moeyersoms, Olivier Moeyersoms, and Marc Vander Stricht bought the 53’ aluminum, French-designed exploration sailboat, Alioth. Why? Because these Belgian cruising sailors share a love of extreme latitudes—now they have the vessel to get them there. Built in 2009, Alioth is fully kitted-out with a lifting keel, water ballast, twin rudders, and crash bulkheads in the bow and stern. She is an ocean-goer with some miles in her wake, having completed a circumnavigation with her previous owners. Alioth came with sails that Vincent describes as “old” since they have 50,000 miles on them and her year-old North Sails spinnaker is a “keeper.” Next month she will receive North Sails NPL TOUR heavy-duty cruising sails. For Vincent and crew, expedition sails might be a better term. For 2-3 months out of the year, Alioth will serve as home for Vincent, Olivier, and Marc. Within five years they hope to lap the Americas on a zig-zag route reaching far North, and far South. In May, the crew delivered Alioth from Belgium to Norway. Over the next few months they will make their way from the Lofoten Islands, down the coast of Norway, and start ticking the boxes on the Atlantic. “Next summer we should be coming up the coast of the US to Maine, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland,” Vincent said. “If the conditions are right, we could then attempt the Northwest Passage. If not, we will delay a year.” Completing the Northwest Passage would leave them in Alaska. From there, the planned route would deliver them down the coast of Canada, across the Pacific to New Zealand, across the South Pacific to Chile, then onto Antarctica, South Georgia, and back up to Europe “I sailed professionally years ago and I took part in the Round the Word Race and raced maxi boats,” Vincent said. “Later I ran a few campaigns in the Maxi class and America’s Cup. In 1992, I managed the winning America’s Cup team America3.” Five years aboard Alioth is the next challenge. Alioth’s name signifies the brightest star in the Big Dipper. “We decided to keep the name,” Vincent said. This decision is a nod to the crew’s shared ambition to add a greater purpose to their exploration. “We would love to adopt an environmental aspect of the journey, to contribute toward trying to find a solution to the ocean’s plastic pollution problem we’ve seen growing for so many years. In 40 years spent on the water, we have seen trash accumulating on the ocean, and we want to be part of the solution.” READ MORE

Looking to take your team to the next level? Off the back of J/111 Worlds, North Sails catches up with Martin Dent on how he and the team on North-powered JElvis played their strengths to secure a world-class win in this highly competitive class. Narrowing it down, Dent shares 5 tips to up your game and approach the next regatta ready to win. IT ALL STARTS WITH A GREAT TEAM Most of us have now raced together since the 2014 Winter Series, add in some practice, and then finally some good fortune. We were especially lucky with the windy conditions, which played to our strengths. Last year my wife and youngest daughter sailed on the boat in Newport, this year my elder daughter and 16 year old son did the bow and pit respectively. No Worlds places are guaranteed for family members (!) but these two both did the full training during July and earnt their spots. My wife did an amazing job this year, catering for the whole team in our house in Cowes and also being out on the rib for each race. MASTER THE FAR ENDS OF “SAILABLE CONDITIONS” We started training with the Round the Island Race on July 2nd. This was the windiest conditions that we’d sailed the J/111, and it is hard to imagine deliberately going out for a practice session in 25 to 35 knots. So when we found ourselves round the back of the island, wiping out on every other gybe, the process started to develop techniques that would ultimately pay for us in the Worlds one month later. Then in mid July, North Sails organized a training weekend. As it turned out we were lucky that during this training it was also blowing 20+ knots: again, the exact same conditions we were to face in the Worlds. BRING YOUR A-GAME It was noticeable, as with previous Worlds, that everybody raises their game. Whether it’s new sails, A-teams, a bit of practice, or just the general focus and concentration that everyone puts in, every team was sailing well. You get boats and teams from all over the world coming together at the warning signal and the true one design of the J/111 makes the racing so tight. KNOW YOUR COMPETITION Peter Wagner’s team, Skeleton Key, from San Francisco, were a hot ship. They always seemed to be in the right place going fast, and they were very competitive tactically: the tacking duels started on Day 1. Going into the final day, we were hanging on to a 2-point lead but we were carrying a much higher discard (15) than Skeleton who had only discarded a 5. So we knew that they would try to sail us down the fleet, it was just a question of whether they would do the damage in Race 1 or 2… Whilst we ate our pancakes at breakfast, Ruairidh, Annabel and I were drawing sketches of the various boat-on-boat scenarios that might develop… Sure enough Skeleton came at us in the pre-start on the first race. We went into a match racing dial-up, which then turned into a dial down. Somehow we got out of there ok and got a reasonable start, so going into the final race it was back to fleet racing. KEEP YOUR LID ON The final race was underway and we needed a top 5 finish, yet we had to work our way through the fleet having struggled to hold our lane off the start. We’d worked our way to 3rd at the leeward mark, only to get a bonner in the jib and let 3 boats through. After all that work it was a basic boat-handling mistake under pressure! So we’d have to work our way back up through the fleet a second time, which was no easy task as everyone was fighting for places. In the end we fought back to a second place finish, granting us the overall win with four points to spare. Want more tips? Check out our full-length interview with Martin on OffshoreOneDesign.com READ MORE