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 →
A major source of beginning to understand tactics is dealt with by Toplevel sailing as tactics for the first half of the beat (when the boats are diverging into a wider area, as against tactics when the boats are converging into the tiny area around the mark.
In order to sail the beat as quickly as we can we need to keep the best average VMG that we can. In this blog we will discuss the influence of shifts on our VMG and the use of a compass to improve our tactical decision making
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 →
Tacking a Laser Many sailors struggle with the concept of a good tack, in this blog we will try to shed some light as to the right and wrongs when tacking. Firstly, let us discuss the reasons for tacking. The legend Paul Elvstrom once said, "don't tack without a great reason to tack". By that... Continue Reading →
I was coached by Toplevel Sailing for over a year both in Laser Radial and 49erFX. In that time both Eshed and Pete helped me as an athlete and as a person in many ways. I improved a lot every time I went to train with them and would really push my boundaries in training,... Continue Reading →
Making it look easy... When it comes to setting up the sailing boat for any given condition the initial step is to make sure that the power setup is right; that we are not over powered or under powered, of course there are adjustments to be made that are immediate, but the general setting is... Continue Reading →
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