Not Sinking In Waves
Steve Dunn an RS200 RYA Class Coach talks about sailing an RS200 in waves. Much of the advice applies to other classes. Read on for the full story...
We have all done it sailing along scooping in water over the bow as we cross every wave. Each wave sinks the boat a little more, until you are gunwale deep in water. It is possible to sail in waves and keep the boat dry.
Upwind
This is the most tricky time to keep the boat dry. Indeed there is only one real time when things might get hairy going down-wind and that is the set, which I will mention later. The 200 has fairly narrow bows and no traditional foredeck, a combination that makes for a potentially very wet boat. Any wave that breaks over the bow will spill all the way down into the hull. The water may even stay on the foredeck for a while, holding the bow down, making the chance of another wave over the bow even higher. As soon as you start to get water in the boat a few things happen; you slow down, the self bailer works less efficiently, and therefore you fill even more quickly. You will find that easing the sheets and trying to increase speed is unlikely to make a big difference as the 200 doesnt significantly increase speed, and you need to luff up and pinch over the waves.
There are no special tricks to keeping the boat dry. All you need is a nice smooth rhythm and coordinated movement of helm and crew.
Sailing along close hauled (F3-4, 3-5 foot waves) the first thing you notice is the pitching of the boat (fore/aft and up/down), if you dont do anything other than sail in a straight line you will find that this pitching allows about 1 in 3 waves over the bow. This is where the trouble starts as it soon becomes every wave! Two things reduce the chances of a wave coming over the bow, the first thing is to alter the natural pitching of the boat and second thing is steering.
Altering the Pitching
First I will talk about altering pitching. The helm and crew should sit tightly together, with the crew about 15-20 cm behind the shrouds. Sitting close doesnt reduce pitching but it does mean that it easy to make coordinated movements as you can feel what each other are doing. The crew's main job is to look ahead and search out that 1 in 3 or so wave that looks like trouble and tell the helm it is coming. That alerts everyone to what is happening and helps coordinated movement. As the bow lifts up the wave you should be sitting in a neutral position (for the weather conditions above this means sitting out hard). Then as you get to the crest of the wave you should roll your shoulders forward and this will help force the boat down the wave. You will now see a lovely wall of water heading for the bow, by rolling your shoulders back the bow will lift up out of the water a little. Now relax back to the neutral position. The roll forward should be quite gentle with the roll back being quite rapid.
Steering
Just moving around the boat wont be enough to stop the water from spilling in, you have to steer the waves as well. Taking the same situation as above, when climbing up out of the trough you need to bear off a little. This helps to power the boat up and get it accelerating out of the wave. At the crest start to head up to your normal close hauled course, about the same time you are rolling your shoulders forward. Now you are heading down the back of the wave it is time to start to heading up. It really pays in the 200 to have slight windward heel and be pinching hard when you get into the trough. As you hit this new pinching course you should be just about ready for the quick flick of your shoulders towards the stern. This helps the boat bear off and lifts the bow. The water then slides along the windward gunwale and not up onto the foredeck. As soon as you are out of the trough bear off and let the boat accelerate.
When it is wavy it doesnt seem to pay to try and go really high, a nice smooth zig-zag course works very well. If you find a couple of waves come over the bow, dont worry as you can sail the boat dry. The zig-zag technique works for all sizes of waves all you have to do is adjust the timing. As the waves get shorter then you have to be quicker with helm movements, though they can be less drastic. Also, when the waves are smaller you can reduce the amount of body movement In big lovely long waves you can use slow large movements of the rudder to steer the boat over the waves.
Setting the kite
Setting the kite in waves can be quite tricky, but a couple of things can make life a lot easier. The first thing is try and be prepared for the set, do as much as you can in the last few boat lengths to the top mark. You should ease the out-haul and kicker as you approach the mark, make sure you ease the cunningham. The crew should have brought the spinnaker sheet over and laid it over the thwart for the helm. When you get to the mark bear off onto a very broad reach. You will find that you catch the waves up very quickly and the danger of nose-diving is very high. Speed is of the essence here, the quicker the kite is up and pulling the better you are, hence all your preparation. The crew should start to pull the kite up as soon as the boat has become stable and at the same time the helm pulls in on the sheet. It should take no more than four or five really big pulls on the halyard for the kite to set. When the kite is up the helm eases the sheet and gives it to the crew. Now all you have to do is settle down and enjoy the ride.
Make sure you gybe going flat out and you should be OK. For the drop, give the helm the sheet and pull the kite in as quickly as you can. If you have got a system that allows the crew to drop and set from behind the centerboard case then do these maneuvers from there. Again, for the drop speed is important, so be prepared. As the speed comes off the boat slows down and the nose goes in. Be prepared for this and complete the drop quickly and all should be fine.
Enjoy those windy wavy days,
Steve Dunn - ([email protected]) RS200 RYA Class Coach
Copyright © Steve Dunn - 2002