Tag: Laser Standard

Finding Gears

Anyone who has sailed against top sailors will know that many times you can be approaching half way up the first beat, and either in front of or in touch with some of the regatta favourites - often alongside them. A minute later the top sailor will have climbed on you, hit a gust of wind that you can’t reach, and gone from high mode to extremely fast forward compared to yourself, and from feeling great, being in touch or ahead of the good guys, you’re suddenly a hundred metres and forty boats behind them within around 90 seconds. This blog is about beginning to understand how they do that, so you can start to do it too!

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Preparing for Success

Nobody tells you when you're growing up that "winning" and "success" come at a cost.  At world level the cost is many times that which anyone outside top sport can imagine.  It involves the sacrifice of dedication, not for a month or a year, but four years plus to reach anywhere near potential.  The cost... Continue Reading →

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Downwind – Flat or Kite?

An important skill in downwind sailing is prioritizing weather to sail the boat flat or healed to windward by the lee referred to as kiting, Sailing by the lee means that the air is flowing into the sail from the leech towards the mast as opposed to normal sailing when the air is flowing from the mast towards the leech of the sail

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Trim For Speed and Height

There is a considered observation that we either have high mode or low mode sailors at the top of any fleet. Sailing high or low mode has individual advantages in different conditions, so we have to look carefully at what we mean by high or low mode. The purpose of this blog is to discuss sailing styles and blow some setup myths apart.

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Aggression Pays, Sometimes

We have all read copious amounts of wisdom about sailing being a matter of coaxing the boat through various conditions, listening to what she wants to do and then using some kind of gentle psychic powers to magically steam ahead of all the opposition and win.   This blog is about the brutal truth.  Understanding... Continue Reading →

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Why Core?

Muscles were never really considered too vital in sailing until around 2000. There were of course people who believed that Lasers and Windsurfers needed to be fit, but generally this was not carried over to other classes. Now we see fit sailors winning, and less fit sailors rarely doing so. There is a systematic approach that can be taken to physical training, and this begins with the core.

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Inclusivity Blog

At Toplevel Sailing we believe we have enjoyed a progressive period in sailing, where a greater cross section and a growing demographic of people have had access to sailing, people of all abilities, all races and cultures are able to compete in our great sport

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Making the Weight

Ideal Weight and Dynamic Sailing Sailing crew weight is seemingly  best dealt with by most major sailing federations by making it clear that if the sailor is outside the ideal weight, they must get as close as possible to ideal before even being considered for National Sailing Teams. What we find inconsistent about this attitude... Continue Reading →

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