Learn to sail in Gordons Bay

Trim Your Dinghy For Speed – There are three requirements that you need to achieve, if you want to win a race. Firstly, you need to ensure that you start and finish the race, secondly, you need to sail consistently faster than all the other boats and thirdly, you need to make less mistakes than your competitors, all the way round the race course.

Sailing The Windward Beat Fast – Speed is very important on the first beat because your competitors are all so close together. By going fast, you can get your nose in front of the boats around you, and this will give you clear air plus a chance to play the shifts.

When you come off the starting line, you must settle quickly into a speed groove. Try not to get distracted by the boats nearby, and look for the sail trim and feel you had during your pre-start tune-up. Also, try to set a good tone for the rest of the race by focusing on speed, working hard to go fast and communicating with your crew. Here are some more tips.

Perfecting your Dinghy Sailing Starts – A good start in dinghy sailing can be crucial to a good result and whilst races are not won on the startline, they can certainly be lost. During the first 30 seconds of the first beat every meter translates to more positions gained or lost than at any other time during the race!

Why Race a Dinghy – As I prepare for this weekends Race Training clinic, I was reminded what an awesome sport dinghy racing is. Regattas are run in an amazing environment, often in iconic sailing waters, while we as sailors take up the challenge of the wind and water, stretching our physical and mental abilities at all levels – there is no other sport like it!

Racing With A Gennaker – Modern racing dinghies all use asymmetric spinnakers or gennakers providing thrilling high speed reach-to-reach racing on the downwind leg using the apparent wind. Unlike symetrical spinnakers, the gennaker has its clew attached to a continuous sheet while the tack is attached to a pole that is pulled out from the bow when the gennaker is hoisted & retracted when the gennaker is dropped.

Top Tips For Racing Downwind – My sailors have heard me say that you can win a race at the start, by the same token, you can loose a race on the downwind leg as it is often the boats behind that have a tactical advantage. Racing downwind on a run and getting to the leeward mark as quickly as you can is dependent on three related factors, boat speed, strategy & tactics.