_Paul Foster, January 2023

Racing a hartley TS16 in strong winds

In the recent TS16 Nats Vinca 1540 was outsailed over the week by two better boats. I'll leave it up to them to explain how they did it. However, on the first day back sailing after the lay day Vinca put together two much improved performances and came away with consecutive wins in heats 5 & 6.

For the benefit of anyone interested, this is how we did it.

Before we left the bank Russell and I decided it would be better to make a couple of changes to how we sailed the boat given the more windy and choppy conditions.

First, we installed new toe straps for the forward hand to help him get his bum further over the side. As you can see in the photo that at 6 foot plus and 170kg combined we were able to throw a fair bit of beef over the rail. The idea was to have the toe straps long enough that the splash board would fit neatly under our knees when in the hiking position. We were pretty comfortable sailing like this and could then lean back even further in gusts or when trying to make tight crosses.

We also dropped the traveller car back to the centreline and moved the jib sheeting position one hole wider on the transverse track (we had an H configuration for jib tracks). This was so we could steer a lower groove through the chop and keep the slot open when the main was eased in the gusts. Jib sheeting position was measured before launching and was about 1500mm apart which was the same as Uncle Bob but considerably wider than Maybe.

In heat 5 we had a conservative start mid-line and immediately began advancing on the fleet with good straight-line speed, albeit pointing a few degrees lower than most. We avoided pinching or feathering in gusts.

Our response to gusts was 1. hike as hard as possible just before the gust hit; 2. dump mainsheet to keep the boat as flat as possible when the gust hit; 3. pinch as a last resort in the biggest gusts only.

We would also pinch up for brief moments when responding to a lift when in FLAT WATER only to steal back some of the height we lost from steering the low groove.

We pulled all the slack out of the boom vang and applied just a little bit of extra tension. We also used a bit more Cunningham on main and jib than we had been. We also went close to max rig tension on the jib luff wire.

This set-up kept us moving forward nicely through the waves and kept the boat nicely balanced with minimal weather helm as can be evidenced in the screen shot by the tiller looking quite happy down on the centerline.

On the reaches we kept our crew weight forward until the boat started to plane. Rig tension was eased to allow the jib to fill out better. In this pic the vang hasn't been eased quite enough for my liking. Excessive vanging downwind is SLOW.

In this pic you can see the sails are nicely powered up but relaxed. The vang is eased on the main improving air flow and increasing power in the head which helps to drive the bow down.

We paid a lot of attention to mark roundings because they form the foundation of your next leg of the course. The leeward rounding after the square run is critical, particularly if you are in company, because the boat needs to make such a savage change of direction. If done well it can help you climb over boats ahead and gas boats behind. If done poorly you start the next beat in a significantly weaker position. 1. Approach the mark from a wider angle if possible so you can exit the rounding tight on the mark; 2. Take advantage of the long boom and the leverage the leach of the mainsail applies to the rig and balance of the boat by sheeting in the main early and making the boat want to turn up; 3. Encourage the turn to windward by healing the boat away from the mark. Russell and I practiced standing in the boat and putting one foot each on the leeward side of the centercase and stomping down hard in a coordinated fashion to force the roll as I sheeted in the main as fast as possible; 4. After stashing the whisker pole the jib was left to flap in the wind. Any inch of jib that is pulled in ahead of the main acts to fight the turn to windward and will contribute to loading up of the rudder; 5. I relax my grip on the tiller extension and allow the boat to round up as it wants to; 6 Jib comes on last.

Big armfuls of mainsheet being pulled in in a hurry.

Boat rounds within a cigarette paper of the mark on a tight heading. Minimal steering on the rudder required which reduces

This boat rounded the same mark with the jib sheeted on hard well before rounding the mark and well ahead of the main. As a result the skipper has to force the boat to turn up by using max rudder which turns it into a brake. See excessive turbulence off rudder blade.

The opposite applies at the top mark. The jib stays sheeted in tighter while the main is eased first. If going onto the square run (savage turn) you can do worse than simply dropping the mainsheet altogether causing the jib to drag the bow down without resistance from the mainsail. Once again, grip on the tiller is relaxed so the rudder follows the boat through the turn that has been initiated by sail trim. While coming off the breeze avoid the temptation to immediately come in off the rail for a break. Staying on the gunwale just a few moments longer helps hold the boat flat. If the boat is healing away from you the hull will fight the bear-away you are trying to induce with sail trim.

The general idea is to try and get the boat to WANT to turn around the marks for you so you don't have to use that massive TS16 rudder blade to force it around. If you can get the hull trim and sail trim to work together the boat will steer itself. It will then turn much quicker and use less space for the maneuver while also reducing drag on the rudder. This approach has both tactical and strategic benefits.