There are a lot of theories of why we need sail twist. They are mainly disputable, but the fact is that boats go better with twist. That’s all we need to know to understand the importance of this factor of sail trim. For us its simple to prove - when the tell tales are flying, and most importantly at the head the leech tell tales,
The mysteries of sails are often best unravelled by thinking of them as simple and logical tools. We can go into details of flow, turbulence and aspect ratio, but it doesn’t really make the boat that we are trying to tune any faster. This blog is about understanding the goals of tuning masts and sails, and hopefully will give you some ideas on how to go faster.
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 →
Every week we write about technical, tactical or occasionally political matters of interest. This week we thought we’d share some philosophies and beliefs, and real action of Toplevel Sailing... In 2012 we looked at the Olympic Games in Weymouth, and realised that the gulf in non-funding resources between the established successful nations and the “Emerging... Continue Reading →
The evolution of skiffs and foils have generated the necessity for the evolution of the skills of pressure hunting.
Successful Sailing Club Coaching Whether or not we are engaged in sailing clubs, we all need to recognize the amazing value a sailing club brings to our sport, and the diversity which often exists within their activities. Clubs are thought of as places where people who sail congregate to share their mutual enjoyment of our... Continue Reading →
Wind We have all encountered this question in the past “What is wind?”. As coaches we have also encountered many different answers to this, but usually the initial response is far from the very simple answer that wind is air movement from high pressure to low pressure. That would lead to a further question; how... Continue Reading →
Speed and DRAG Boats are designed to go through the water, and over the past 70 years have been designed to ride ON the water. Over the past 10 years plus they’ve also been designed to fly over the water. These hull designs are termed as displacement (through the water), planing (riding on the water)... Continue Reading →
Gybing a Laser Most sailors will gybe an average of 3-4 times per race, so the toll a bad gybe might take on your overall result is usually minor to an overall performance, however there are gains to be made by performing a good gybe. What are the reasons for gybing? In a laser heading... Continue Reading →
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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