Thats the problem, its almost impossible to not adjust it either in or out when going from sitting on the hull to the trapeze and the other way around.

While coming in; you should be bearing off and so you NEED to east the kite. The "come in" is just the start of the gybe...

As scooby says - when you come in off the wire ease the kite and bear off. Usually I'll only come in to either gybe or douse. If it's to gybe then ease and bear off, uncleat and ease the main an arm's length while still holding the kite sheet, gybe through a narrow angle and reset the kite on the new side, sheet and cleat the main, hook on and push out - pointing up and sheeting the kite as you go. Simples!

For a douse I'll come in and bear off and blow the kite all in one go, head forward and douse, head aft and ease the main fully ready for either gybing or luffing around the mark and trim accordingly.

Hope this helps.

Good point guys. Your coming in for a reason so make it pay by flowing into the next move. Thanks for the insight. Ed

Sorry to be a doubter but I think the majority of times ( as confirmed by most of the sailors at Datchet )when going directly downwind ( ie windward leeward courses ) we're finding it is quicker to go deep downwind sitting in with the hull well up. It may not be as fast over the water nor feel really cool as when out on the wire but from our racing it is definately quicker to the mark to be sitting in.

The only time it really pays to be out on the wire is if you can't make the mark sitting in and need the extra ballast out. Just a personal thinking on the subject.

I have found the same to be true. When sailing Uni I found it as fast or faster (and much easier) to sit in, fly a hull and run deeper. As Wayne said above, not faster through the water, but faster from A to C, which is what we are trying to do.

I disagree. I find it quicker wiring, as long as I can sail consitantly on one hull and it's not too windy; when I was sailing a lot last year, too windy was about F5; I bet it's dropped to about F4 this year as I've only sailed about 6 times and the firts time there was enough wind wire doen wind was in June!!!!!! (Last time I sailed).

Not to be argumentative here...but:
Take a good look at any of the tuning sailing guides for down wind. There is essentaily a single setting for the sails all across the wind range on all of them. This means going down wind is about stearing and weight placement. heading out on the wire should only be done when there is sufficient wind to justify the added leverage and keep the proper VMG.

From what I have seen this is not until the wind is up to a pretty good clip. Once it is enough to truely justify it, there is not much room for more as the sea state starts to make it risky for those not very experienced and the added gains have to be weighed against swimming.

Once I am wiring up wind ALL THE TIME; it pays to wire down wind.

Opinions differ on this. It pays for me!

It probably depends on your weight. I never felt the need to wire downwind unless I'm trying to go up to catch a mark.

Good point; at "proper race weight" I'm about 68-72kg. John P is similar and swears by wiring down wind.

...and on the platform, mast height and the shape of the sail.
In technical words the ratio of picthing moment resistance and heeling moment resistance. Of course the spi must be flat enough to handle the higher apparent wind speed.

If the boat can handle one person in trapeze and one on the hull, than it certainly can handle one single person on the wire. From a pure spot point analyses, you should be faster. What makes us (including me) slow, is the time we spent in going in and out, the reduced spi trim capability, because one hand is not enough to trim fast and our mind set.
There is certainly a higher risk, since the sheet and the wire pulls the sailor forward, making him wary and slow.

I am certainly faster (vmg) while sitting on the hull and until I don't master going out, it would be stupid to do it.

From the points above the limited trim capability is the strongest contributor in my opinion.

It is summer time on the northern hemisphere and we all have no execuse to not try it.

Cheers,

Klaus

I trim the Spi with one hand most of the time. Sitting in or out. If needed I can put the tiller under my arm and use both hands while wiring or change hands to I steer with forward hand and sheet with aft hand.

The tiller on my boat is too short to cleat it under my arm from the wire and from time to time I need both hands to sheet in/out enough (more than half an arm length). Could be the small thing which make the big difference. I should change it.

Cheers,

Klaus

I used to be around to 90 kg (I'm 85 now) and was fast under spinnaker while hiking out (not trapping out).

Good point indeed.

Wouter

Even though it might not be faster for some, IMHO it is a great boat handling skill to have and for that reason alone it is worth practicing.

Wouter: I just saw that the nationals are this weekend, you competing? Any idea about how many boats will be there?

The answer is no on both accounts. I might drop in to visit the guys at the event but that is pretty tentative.

I'm not near to Zandvoort at this time as during August I'm keeping up residence in Delft. My boat has not left the winter storage this year and it most likely won't for the remainder of the season.

I'm also pretty much in the dark about any details concerning this event. I'm not involved with it in anyway and I haven't heard any news about it for a very long time. That is more a testiment of my own absense then anything else. I haven't been around Zandvoort and the sailing club there for a long time.

You have to ask some others I'm afraid.

Regards,

Wouter

Wouter, how about Frank? Does he still have his Blade and does he come here?

My understanding is that being on the wire isn't so much about holding the boat down from side to side, but primary concern is to keep the nose up. Being that you can't sit on the stern so well, its the only way to accomplish this.

Sometimes when it's blowing hard enough to push one bow under, you might want to use the added lift of having the other bow in the water too, vs. putting the weight of the boat and yourself and the drive of the wind in the sails, all on the one single bow, as when trapping downwind. In light to medium wind I find it faster to fly a hull downwind, but when it really starts blowing I find I need the extra floataion of two bows or I end up diving to the bottom.

The whole thing is a constant trade off, risk vs. reward, so unless I really need to push it, I don't, because swimming is slow.