I have been looking at my GPS tracks from the last couple of races and am noticing a oversteer "hook" at the end of my tacks that are costing me some time. Looks like it happens every time I tack to port. Any comments on this? Its happening in both light and mid winds.

I'd suggest you are making slightly different moves when you tack from P->S and S->P.

Look over your shoulder and watch the tell tales as you tack, when they start flowing, stop turning. That's advice I need to follow as well.

But which tacks are quicker?

You are losing a bit of ground to windward with the kinked exit, but you're probably also accelerating quicker.

Remember it may not be a case of steering to leeward either, it could be a greater loss of speed through the tack that means your leeway angle increases. In which case it is probably a slow tack.

Measure time between identically spaced ladder rungs (one to leeward before tack, one to windward after tack) to determine which tack is better.

To confuse it even more, there could also be tidal influences. Ignore unless you know there is a significant affect. You could also be jamming the mainsheet back on too quickly.

Is your GPS unit mounted on a fixed mount at the center of the boat?

GPS is a SpeedPuck mounted on the spin pole.

I measure total time on the tack - from just before I reduce speed to where I get back to roughly the same speed. Then I measure the actual time the boat is tacking (just the turn portion).

Subtracting the boat tacking time from the total time on tack, I get a metric on time spent decelerating/accelerating. By far, most of the time is on the accleration end. Many times the point just before deceleration is at the same time as the tack begins, so all the time is on acceleration.

"Turn times" are slightly slower going to port, but decelerate/accelerate times are 30% slower. So I looked at the track and sure enough, there's the hook on the end of each port tack. I analyzed the other race and sure enough, its there too.

I don't know if anyone else measures this stuff, but tacks, jibes and mark roundings are consistently 19% of my total time during the race. I'm picking that figure apart to see if I can find where the improvements can be made.

By the way, here is a picture of the hooked tack and the non-hooked.

I don't know why I didn't see this before, but posting this stuff is showing me what is going on. I measured tacks in both directions and the hooked tacks are roughly 1/2 the distance across compared to the non-hooked. I'm tacking too sharp and slamming on the brakes. I don't know why its just in one direction, but I can fix it. Same thing, but to a lesser degree on jibes.

I have found that we can stay pretty close to most people in straight line speed. The good teams though will gain a boat length or so on us in the tacks and jibes, and several boat lengths with their mark roundings.

Good SMOOTH boat handling skills can not be over stated.

If you are comparing tracks, make sure to note the conditions. You will seldome have a wave pattern that lines up with the wind, so 1 tack will ususally be right into the waves and the other not. It is a lot harder to maintain good boat speed when tacking into chop and waves, especialy if the wind is very strong or very light. If you lose boat speed in the tack you will need to over stear some to get it back sooner. If you can keep up good boat speed with a smooth turn, then it is possible to run through a tack with almost no loss in velocity and no hook.

M

Yeah, it looks like you are really turning it hard when you tack to port. Was there was some type of wave patern that was hurting you more when you went to port, and slowing you down more, so you had to bear off more (the hooked part) to get it back up to speed?

Good stuff! I initially thought that you were just talking about a little past close hauled but you are going around 150 degrees instead of 100. Sure does seem like a technique issue.
When you tack, do you wait to cross under the boom until after the main has filled on the new side? And centering the rudders before you go?

Your analysis of time utilization is astounding. 1 minute of boat maneuvers for every 4 of good vmg type stuff. Are the courses that small? Are you tacking on every 2 degree shift?
I will have to look at that myself. If a tack is taking you 30 seconds to get back up to speed, that suggests you are on the tack for another 2 minutes. Interesting.

Not real big waves on the inland lakes I am sailing on, but I will check it out. This happened at two different regattas on different lakes at different wind speeds so I am thinking its not a wave pattern.

At my weight, I have found that going to stern in lighter winds slams on the brakes and now I've discovered this hook thing is really slowing me down. So smooth tiller work and timing my visits to the stern are what I'll work on for now.

I'm waiting for the battens to pop, but I don't think I am centering the rudders and I just keep going around. I am obviously more conscience of carving the starbord tacks.

The courses are set up to be 45-50 minute races. Tell me more about tacking every 2 degrees.

A good way to get into the grove is do some timed runs

1, ON LAND work out what you do, and try and work out what workds well and what is slowing you down.

2, go out and do 10-20 tacks upwind and then STOP AND THINK. Focus on making GOOD tacks, smooth, not hippo's on the boat; DO not worry about SPEED! SMOOTH is key to start with. What was good, what was bad. what % were good tacks

3, Sail back down and do it again, try and apply what you have learned and improve the % good tacks.

Once you can do 20 (or more if you have room) good tacks on TWO runs, it's time to go faster!

You can also do the same for gybes. Again, start ON LAND.

Once you can nail both tacks and gybes at will, start the clock...

If you have a countdown alarm on your starting watch, set it to 30 seconds repeat. Tack on the first beep; you have 30 seconds to be max speed on the other tack.

As you get faster, reduce the time for the countdown.

When I was training last year, I had the countdown at 15 seconds and got just enough time to get flat trapping and main trimmed before it was time to tack again. Hell knows what it will be this year, I've only sailed 3 times and no training!!!

I guess I was using exaggeration a bit. I was trying to suggest that perhaps you are tacking too often as in the course is too small or you were focused on tacking on every header instead of good boat speed.
I am interested in your findings. I rarely have other boats near me to highlight my gains/losses during boat maneuvers as Matt detailed above. I started out using the classic Cat tactics of "banging the corners of the course". The fewer tacks the better. To the extreme of starting on port to make the first leg a one tacker. I have started using the GPS as a digital compass and am tacking more often now. Currently, I am using around 7.5 degrees as my tolerance. If my course is varying by less than that I hold the tack. But as I said, I don't get much feedback on boatlength type gains/losses.

All that could be changing this year. Another Blade has joined my club and he is already showing surprising speed to windward in the lighter stuff.

On one of the lakes, its a bowling ally so lots of tacks. On the other lake, one side of the course was faster, so more tacks on that side as well.

I actually broke all tacks/jibes/roundings into 24 metrics to help pinpoint my problems. Pretty geeky, I know, but I do it for a living, why not apply it to sailing. Anyway, I am zeroing in on not just tacking faster but on port tacks and what I need to do to tack faster. That's worth a couple of hours on a spreadsheet.

I printed out scooby's reply and intend to apply this in my training. I have a week of vacation coming up and intend to sail every day if the winds allow.

Something is asymmetric. Your movement or your boat.
If you have a small video camera like the GoPro Wide, you can screw it on the end of the boom pointing forward. One time left side, one time right side. You can analyse your moves afterwards.
Check your boat. Rudder alignment, is the tiller extension in the middle of the crossbar, is the main sheet really centred or slight offset, points the mast to the left or right, are your boards symmetric, the hulls, diamond wires, and so on?

Cheers,

Klaus

This is what Robbie told me when I was on the Viper, at the time it seemed like it wasn't enough until I did it, and that is that end of the tiller arm shouldn't go out past the edge of the hull. The time turning is longer, but you stay moving, and don't have to accelerate as much to get back up to speed.

Also smoothness on the tiller is super important. Every time you turn the rudders you are slamming on the brakes. Pin the tiller extension against the hull when not tacking and use both hands, (one on the extension, one on the crossbar) when flopping the stick over to the new side. Robbie had us tacking the boat with the rudders up, which I had know clue was even possible.


edit- I'd be surprised if anyone, except a very few elite, would have a mirrored image of your illistration for both directions of a tack or gybe. We're naturaly prone to doing things differently with one side of our bodies than the other.

Got to add smoothness with steering is key. Recently i have jumped on a foiling moth so only have centerboard and rudder in the water, so being smooth is extremely critical. Any movement in the rudder bleeds off speed immediately. Something like 10% straight away, more if movement is severe. So going back onto the A-Cat i was amazed how much quicker I was just because my steering had improved and that was all down to being smoother.

Please, do tell more about this Karl !

Wouter