Champion sailor and Volvo Ocean Race winner Carolijn Brouwer talks to Andy Rice about expert skills for fast sailing downwindCarolijn Brouwer is a top talent, having been to the Olympic Games in three different classes (470, Europe and Tornado catamaran), and more recently raced extensively offshore, there are
\nCarolijn Brouwer is a top level professional sailor who knows a thing or two about downwind sailing
\nfew people better placed to offer their advice on sailing downwind fast.
\nAs a proven talent, Brouwer was an obvious pick for the all-female crew on Amer Sports Too for the 2001\/02 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo 60 was a responsive planing boat that rewarded good instincts at the helm.
\nBrouwer found the Southern Ocean a challenging but fun learning ground for how to handle the wheel of a powerful 60-footer.
\nShe went on to crew in two more round the world races with Team SCA and the winning Dongfeng Race Team. \u201cI think I\u2019d only ever been a couple of nights at sea when I went off to do my [first] Southern Ocean leg,\u201d Brouwer recalls.
\n\u201cI was trimming the main at the time. I remember when we dug the bow into a wave and the boat was basically underwater. When we popped back up again, I got washed to the back and ended up with my head through the spokes of the wheel. At that moment a big turn of the wheel really could have ended quite badly.
\n\u201cThere was so much water gushing over the deck, with so much force, I had to wait for it pass and hope that the helm didn\u2019t change angle too much. Fortunately it ended up okay, I wasn\u2019t hurt, and mostly I enjoyed the Southern Ocean and what it taught me about sailing downwind.\u201d
\nHere are Brouwer\u2019s five best tips for fast and safe sailing downwind:
\nSailing downwind is all about feel
\nDinghy sailors make good offshore helms because they bring that direct feel that you only learn from sitting in a little boat.
\nHowever, the transition from a dinghy to a big boat can be a big step that introduces a lot of new challenges, mostly the communication and team work required to work with a big crew.
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You can\u2019t do everything yourself, the helm is just part of the system. You also have to get used to sailing to the numbers on the back of the mast. But even now I go with what I feel first, and use the instruments as a reference point for what I\u2019m feeling.
\nThe polars should give you a range to steer within, and then I like to let \u2018feel\u2019 determine the final details.<\/p>\n
Use trimbooks
\nWhile \u2018feel\u2019 is important, so are trimbooks. These documents help you replicate the ideal setup from times when you know it\u2019s worked in the past.
\nIn the build up to an important race we test our sails, we test all the different set-ups, and so if we are sailing at a certain angle and we have a disagreement about how the A-sail is set, then instead of getting into a discussion about it we can fall back on our trimbook that will say, \u2018under these conditions, and with this angle, this amount of breeze and these waves, this is what has proven to be fast when we were in training.\u2019
\nWork with the trimmers
\nWhen sailing downwind, the trimmer will feel the changing pressure through the spinnaker sheet before you feel anything in the helm, so it\u2019s important to have constant communication about how much pressure is going through that sheet.
\nSome helms like to receive \u2018head up\u2019 or \u2018bear away\u2019 instructions from the trimmer. Personally I\u2019d rather just get information about the pressure and then decide what I want to do, especially when steering on waves, when you might want to stay down or up a little more because of what you feel and where the boat is on the wave.
\nWork the waves
\nWhen you\u2019re going slightly slower than wave speed, you\u2019re obviously trying to catch that wave; you\u2019re looking for the wave to pick you up so you can keep going with it as long as you can before it rolls underneath you.
\nAnd then you set yourself up for the next one.
\nPhoto: Elio Stichelbaut\/Dongfeng Race Team
\nSteer up a little bit at a higher angle so you increase your speed to catch the wave. But of course whenever you\u2019re sailing VMG downwind you\u2019re also looking to gain depth, to come down as low as possible. So then you bring your bow down again when you\u2019re on the wave, and the trick is that you don\u2019t want to come down too far. Just before you feel like you\u2019re about to cut the back of the wave, you need to steer back up again, to hopefully stay on it.
\nDon\u2019t try to ride one wave as long as possible, use the speed from that wave as the launch pad to get you on to the next wave \u2013 you\u2019re looking for a good average speed.
\nWhen you\u2019re sailing boats that generally travel faster than wave speed, it\u2019s more a case of looking for the path of least resistance through the wave in front of you. Still, the important goal is a high average speed rather than trying to win the competition for highest peak speed.
\nThrottle back
\nWhen sailing downwind is turning into a matter of survival, the first option is to start reducing your sail area. But once you\u2019ve reduced it as much as you can, and you\u2019ve got crew and equipment as far back in the boat as possible, there\u2019s not much more you can do.
\nIt\u2019s inevitable that sometimes you\u2019re going to lose control. Just bear in mind that if you have any choice in the matter the consequences of a Chinese gybe are usually way worse than a broach.
\nWhen the bow digs into the back of a wave, you don\u2019t always have much control through the wheel at that point, but do everything in your power to luff the boat up to avoid a Chinese gybe.
\nA broach is the lesser of two evils.
\nIf you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/p>\n
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The post Sailing downwind: Expert tips to improve your helming appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Champion sailor and Volvo Ocean Race winner Carolijn Brouwer talks to Andy Rice about expert skills for fast sailing downwindCarolijn Brouwer is a top talent, having been to the Olympic Games in three different classes (470, Europe and Tornado catamaran), … <\/p>\n