Conference unifix::sailing

    Dean, good idea for a note.  Ofcourse I remember the race you are
    talking about.  Can't claim we knew for certain the lift would come
    when it did, but we had been timing the lifts and headers and expected
    it to return.  I'd recommend the Ockam instruments class usually
    held sometime in the winter at some hotel near major sailing centers
    (Boston, NYC, Annapolis, Houston, San Francisco etc.).  The tactics
    are excellent and will really put a damper on some widely held rules
    for racing like "up in the puffs, down in the lulls" when going
    upwind.  Great way to spend a Saturday.  They will not try to sell
    you a system either.  At the class we went to the Northeast regional
    sales manager for Brookes and Gatehouse attended.
    
    My goal is to get hints on how to sail a fractional rig.  Never
    done it and it looks like that's the directon we'll be going and
    I'd like not to lose the rig the first weekend.  So any suggestions
    would be welcomed.
    
    My advice on night racing?  Don't.  There are much better ways to
    spend a night.  Cruising at night is wonderful.  Night passages
    are among my finest memories in sailing.  Can't come up with one single
    pleasant memory surrounding night racing.                       
             
    One piece of advice that paid off for us in spades is start on next
    year's crew list NOW.  Any crew you don't want to lose keep in contact
    with and be sure to include on you Xmas list.  Post bulletins in
    the boathouses of the local college racing teams to attract potential
    new hot crew.  I am sold on that concept.  They are much harder
    working than us old guys and are so damned good!  Also not afraid
    of anything.  They are worthless on distance racing, though, because
    they need too much sleep.
    
    Think about sails now.  February is too late.  Also your local
    sailmaker will love for it and reflect it in his price.
    
    Oh, one little hint.  We generally practice the "5 minute rule"
    which simply means that when the first person mentions that it is
    time to change headsails we always wait 5 minutes before making
    the final decision.  Eighty percent of the time the conditions change
    back to original and you've avoided the commotion and attention
    destroying process of having a guy on the foredeck.  Sounds stupid,
    but it works.
    
    Also, save your cotter and clevis pins in a bag to toss onto the
    competitions cockpit just before the start. :^)
    
    Dave
    

    RE .1
    
    Dave, remember you DO have an open invitation to come sailing on WAGS.
    If it's tips on sailing a fractional you're looking for, come on out
    with us early in the season next year and we'll tell you what works for
    us and let you play with the mast bend a little to get a feel for the
    difference.  We should be in the water early next season, as most of the 
    prep work is already done.
    
    Wagner and I are also looking into the Ockam class (as well as some
    instruments).  Some of the crew are also looking into the North U.
    course.
    
    I think night racing is a GREAT way to spend the night.  With the
    exception of the Chapman Bowl, which was a real drifter, these were
    some of my best times last season.  Of course, there are SOME skippers
    who think you should be able to do a 240-mile, 36-hour race without
    catching any sleep.  That makes the race a little less memorable, as
    your memory is the first to go ... :^) 
    
    I agree that keeping the crew intact in the off season is important. 
    We've scheduled several "events" this winter that are intended to get
    the crew together and keep us psyched for next pseason.  Besides the
    classes, we've scheduled an end-of-the-season party (did you get your
    invitation yet?), a couple of ski trips to Vermont, and the classes I
    mentioned previously.  I've made up a crew list with everybody's name,
    address, and phone # so the crew can keep in touch with each other
    during the winter (makes sending Christmas cards easier too).
    
    And I also agree with the bit about thinking about sails now.  Looks
    like Wagner and I will be visiting Doyle Sails pretty soon.  I'm fairly
    impressed with the collection of Doyle sails on BODACIOUS, and think I
    have convinced Wagner to stay local this time.  The Shore sails we got
    the last time were awful, and the Shore rep would NOT travel to Beverly
    to take a look at the mess they sold us.  We should be putting in our
    order for a new main within the next month or so.
    
    I like that 5 minute rule.  If we'd used that in the Last Race we'd
    have probably gone home with some hardware.  Instead we ended up
    having to cut a sail away, giving the fleet a 2-minute head start, and
    still ended up using the sail we started to take down.  Now all I have
    to do is remember this rule next season.
    
    Ah yes, the old cotter pin routine ... remember young Shan McAdoo?  He
    tries so hard to bring his dinghy racing tactics to the world of yacht
    racing.  Most racers I know simply don't fall for this trick anymore
    (thank heavens).  If they're inexperienced enough to fall for this one,
    chances are they're no threat to the rest of the fleet anyway.
    
    Now, the thing I REALLY have to remember from season to season is how
    to put the damn vang back on the boom.  We must have one of the most
    complicated vangs in existence.  What I need to remember is to replace
    it with one of those spring-loaded ones next year.
    
    ... Bob

    A frac?  A big frac?  Dynamo, the boat I campaigned
    in '80 and '81, was one of the bigger fracs around -- DuBois 48.
    That rig had a good 5 to 6 feet of adjustable rake.  Needless to
    say, running backs were important.  Dynamo had a pair on
    each side (actually one runner and a jack-stay) to control 
    the lower and upper section.  The mainsail
    is everything on a frac, and you will find that you'll play
    every adjustment to get the most out of it.  There's a pretty
    big learning curve (too ;)).  Also, you loose windward performance
    when compared to masthead boats of the same length, but you 
    tend to make it up in reaching conditions.  As the wind pipes
    up, the accepted philosophy (at least back then) was to shorten
    headsail -- leave a full main up until you have to change
    down to a 4.  If you're talking about a 42 to 46 foot frac,
    the main will be huge.  We had a coffee-grinder on Dynamo,
    and it was still exhausting to round a downwind mark.  
    
    That Occam class sounds like fun.  I might check it out.
    When's the next class in these parts?  Dave, why did they
    "put the lie" on the notion of heading up or down in the
    puff/lulls?  
    
    On the night-sailing topic, I've had some marvelous
    experiences and some lousy ones -- like everything else.
    But as to trimming sails at night, the best method is
    to use your ears.
    
    I can vouch for Doyle sails -- they are every bit as good
    as any other sails out there.  Agaist other J35s, we have
    speed to match the very best.  Now we just need to apply it
    a bit more aggressively... 
    

    The Ockam class maintains the gospel of target speed.  For example,
    when the wind puffs up you fight every temptation to head up a few
    degrees until you have reached your new target speed that matches
    the new wind.  Even harder to do, and paying off more is when there
    is a "velocity header", in other words you sail into a lull and
    the apparent wind tells you to fall off.  Do not fall off, even
    if this means heeling to weather, until you have burned off enough
    speed to come down to your new target speed.  This can pay off in
    spades as you spend more time going toward the mark.
    
    The easiest benefit to gain is when taking another boat's stern.
    Using these same principles, you can lose virtually nothing in ducking
    properly.  First you decide early to duck.  No last minute stuff
    here.  Start bearing off and ease the sails, picking up speed well
    above your target upwind speed for that windspeed.  As soon as you
    take his stern, head up higher than close hauled by 5 degrees until
    you have burned off the excess speed and return to target speed.
    Then come back down to close hauled.  Simple vector analysis will
    bear this out to be effectively the same as sailing in a straight
    line at target speed.  I HATE to give this secret away, because
    we delight in using it even in situations where we are on starboard
    and decide to duck a boat on port that is going to the side of the
    course we want them to go.  We act like real gentlemen and indicate
    that we will let them pass and not tempt them to tack with us.
    
    The converse is true on downwind.  Do not fall off in puffs until
    you have come up to the new target speed for that wind.  Don't come
    up in lulls until you fall to the new target.  Obviously, you need
    pretty good instrumentation to do this and very close work between
    the cockpit team and the helmsman.  Drivers will fight this because
    they are giving up a large share of the control and it goes against
    instinct.
    
    Also, Ockam maintains you should finish with the boat head to wind
    and your headsail on its way down or down.  Shooting the line is
    nothing new, but they take it to an extreme.  How many times has
    the corrected time between you and the next highest boat been several
    seconds?  These tactics can give you a good minute on a twenty mile
    course.
    
    Go to the course.  Very well spent money.
    
    We're going the frac One Ton route probably.  We are fully prepared
    to go back to the cellar next year while we learn to sail all over
    again.  Our current main trimmer is trying to get an Olympic committee
    Finn next summer, and that would be a real drag.  He's pretty damn
    good.
    
    I still maintain that night racing is basically a crapshoot and
    not fun enough to make it worth it.  Besides, who wants to spend
    the night on a One Tonner? ;^)
    
    Dave

    Ok, I know where you're coming from.  Use target speed
    to buffer course adjustments.  I'd only add that when
    beating at maximum speed, follow your natural
    inclination.  I find it much easier to use targets 
    when sailing on the breeze.  Downwind I have a
    greater tendency to wander.  (Remember to get Jon
    to update the polars and get them into our system.  ;)

    A well executed duck can often GAIN ground, but I
    especially like that strategy of ducking a port tacker.  
    Nice finesse.  
    
    If you aren't enamored of night racing/sailing, you have yet
    to surf the big rollers to Bermuda:  The moon painting lace 
    accross the mountainous seascape, curtains of phospheresence 
    swooshing past to trail fireflies in your wake, fleece-lined
    breakers scudding by, clouds furrowed in threatening grays yet finely 
    outlined in white, the impassive Milky Way, and the wind beckoning
    like a Siren.  A "peace" of heaven on earth.  

    "What others think about sailors" notwiithstanding.  ;)
    
    You won't have to learn ALL over again.  There will be at
    least an 85% transfer, but you might well be amazed
    at all the places your boatspeed can hide.  Seemingly 
    insignificant rig adjustments can mean 2 or 3 tenths either way.
    Finding the correct combination for each condidition is a task.
    Where a traveler adjustent used to do the trick, you might
    find you need to play the runners, etc.  It's not necessarily 
    that a frac is more difficult, but it is different.
    
    All for now.  
    

    A bendy rig fractional one-tonner will keep definetely keep the
    string pullers in your crew happy.  Lots of them to pull.  And to
    get the max out the boat, they'll have to get pulled often.  I'm
    a fractional fanatic to the point where a straight stick looks
    unnatural.  The sail shaping opportunities are extensive but many
    data points have to get assimilated to find the things that work.
    
    The design of the E-22 hasn't changed in 20 years but almost every
    newsletter has something new on how to tune and trim to get another
    tenth of knot out of it.  The reasons for the constant evolution
    are the subltlety of the interaction between main and jib and the
    inadequacy of the sailing vocabulary for describing sail shape.
    I'm frustrated by my inability to describe to others what I mean
    by the "right" shape.  It's equally frustrating to try to achieve
    a sail shape that some one else wants.  The comment I get most often
    from new crew when they're making a minute sail adjustment is "wow,
    that's critical".  A keen eye and attention to detail are important.
    
    On a soft rig changing the setting on one sail will induce a needed
    change in the other.  This happens on any boat but the interaction
    on a fractional is more pronounced.  Trimming the jib sheet will
    usually induce changes in every other trim control.  Teamwork is
    a must.  
    
    Pointing can be pretty good in a fractional and in some conditions
    can be superior.  In light air, maybe not so good.  In a breeze,
    better.  I remember the J30 fleet sailing though the 40 class boats
    at Block Island in 25 knots of wind.  Aggressive use of the backstay,
    mainsheet, and flattner can really blade out a main.  On a reach,
    kiss those mastheads goodbye.
    
    
    On my list of things to remember for next season:
    
      Better to be over early than late at the start.  If I get called,
    I'm no worse than if I'm late.
    
      Trim or steer but not both.  
    
      Apply duct tape to mouth before leaving mooring.
    
    - gene

    re: .6
    
    
    Gene -
    
    Having now sailed/raced with you..... were your last two comments
    put in at the request of your wife :>)  ??
    
    
    From-John-who-is-still-nursing-a-sore-elbow-from-his-first-time-racing
    
    

    Can't wait!  Only six months until this stupidity starts over again.
    Assuming that frac is the way we go (strong possibility) I am torm
    as to whether we should go right for the tonner, or get an Etchells
    or two to play with for the season first.  Given the current market,
    two E22's may be more expensive!
    
    Yet another pearl from Ockam.  Throw your VMG card away.  They sell
    them by popular demand, but if you really sail to it you will go
    very slow and very crooked.  For example you can, over a very small
    time segment maximize your VMG by simply pointing the boat into
    the wind.  In othger words go to the class to learn how target boat
    speeds take all this stuff into consideration.  
    
    Also every boat needs what I call its "labrador retriever puppy".
    That is the crew member who may not have much natural talent, but
    is always happy to do any job under the most unpleasant of
    circumstances.  This guy lives to pump out the bilge, band the prop
    in May or October and thinks flaking sails is the most fun you can
    have with your clothes on.  This may sound insensitive, and perhaps
    it is, but that's how I got started in serious racing.  These guys
    (and all you really need or want is one per boat) are usually getting
    an education in exchange for their hard work.  After a season, or
    maybe two if they're young, they graduate up to the core crew and
    are among the most loyal and will speak of their apprenticeship
    with fondness for years.  Anyway, get one on board.  Start looking
    now!
    
    BTW, what does any one know about Dimension sail cloth.  Got a great
    demo from the Sobstad maker in New Orleans and it interests me a
    great deal.  If it really can do what they say you eliminate a lot
    of the labor in building a sail.  I like Spectra but it is still
    a conventional cloth that needs to be constructed into a sail in
    a very complicated way to keep the loads lined up porperly.  This
    is labor intensive and heavy.  Apparently J-35s use it a lot. Was
    it in evidence at NOOD?  Could be a real weight saver on a big frac
    main.
    
    Dave

    
    Well John, er, ahh, yes - she and about twenty other people.  And
    you were with us on a good day. ;^)
    
    re VMG.  Ah yesss.  In a former life I had a Signet 2000 on a CC
    which displayed VMG.  This was a new concept and to us it was GOD.
    Spent three months luffing upwind.  We were so high on the course
    we were called the Voyager space cadets.  Things didn't get better
    til I accidentally put my kneecap through the display screen.  Luckily
    the company was out in California so it stayed broke til next season.
    
    Is the Dimension cloth the new 6 degree oriented kevlar stuff? 
    Looks like it might save a few oriented panels.  But I suspect any
    labor savings will be offset by higher cloth costs.
    
    A few years back radial panels were the rage in the E22 class. 
    Then they discovered that gust response was poor because the sail
    shape was too static.  So they got rid of the radial head.  Better.
    Then they got rid of the redial clew.  Better yet.  Finally, they
    got rid of the yarn tempered dacron and went to good ole soft dacron.
    Voila!!  The fastest E22 sails ever.  I just got my North catalog.
    Guess whats they have for next season?  ***RADIAL FOOTED MAINS***
    
    - Gene

    re. starting early -- "twist on the theme..."
    Failing a perfect start, I'd rather start late with clean air.  
    You'll still be WAY ahead of the guy who turns back...
    
    Remember to:  Sail trimming in wind shear conditions
    
    Over the course of the summer, we sailed several races in varying 
    degrees of wind shear -- both velocity and direction discrepancies 
    between the top and bottom of the rig.  We experimented with lots 
    of different trimming techniques, but I can't say we had conclusive 
    results.  In general terms, here's what we tried (for the genoa):
    
    Trimming for wind shear amounts to powering up one part of a sail 
    while leaving another part relatively flat -- sort of reach/beating.  
    How you accomplish this depends on which part of the sail is doing 
    the reaching, and which the beating.  At the same time, you have to 
    maintain an appropriate entry for the velocity.  A tricky formula 
    to work out -- the balance between entry and twist.
    
    I can't pretend to know the answer.  We tended to bias the 
    entry control towards whatever suited the bottom of the sail, ie 
    moderate wind = moderately firm halyard tension -- this only because 
    obviously the bottom of the sail provides more power.  However, if 
    the top of the sail was doing the "reaching," we needed to compensate
    for both the wind angle and the halyard tension.  This required
    adding some twist up top by moving the tack aft -- as if de-powering 
    the sail because you'd reached the extreme end of its velocity range -- but
    also, we allowed a little extra slack in the headstay (not something 
    you'd do to de-power).  Various conditions lead to various permutations 
    of adjustments, but you have an idea of the balance we sought.  
    The mainsail is another story, although the same principles apply.

    At any rate, does anyone else have any other experience/suggestions on 
    this subject, or questions about what we tried?  Also, what thoughts 
    do you have concerning how wind shear influences the "favored" tack?
    I'd definitely like to catalogue some things to remember and/or try, 
    as sailing in this type of condition can be a painful 
    re-learning experience...

    ;)
    Dean

    Dean, this was definitely the summer of the wind shear!  Remember
    the PHRF NE's?  Only boats with a tall rig got any wind at all.
    
    The favored tack concept is very interesting.  When there was
    considerable shear in terms of reaching at the top/pointing at the
    bottom, we tried to find a way to be on the opposite tack where
    we could move the clew forward to power up the bottom  and tighten
    the top.  This is when you have light wind. In heavy air you rarely
    find much shear, but if you did you'd try to do the opposite.  I.e.
    be on the tack that lets you reach on top, easing some heeling moment.
    Mostly, we just played with sail until it got that "v" disease.
    You know "looks so bad, but feels so good."
    
    The other thing about shear is that all our wind instruments are
    (were) on top of the mast and they often conflicted greatly with
    what we were seeing on the water.  Maddening!
    
    Dave

    re .10 "move the tack" = move the car for the jib lead.  I used
    a bastardized term.  Sorry if I confused anyone.
    
    re favored tack:
    
    I guess you have to factor directions, velocities, and the break
    point in making a decision, ie you're on the rhumb line and the mark 
    is due north, the wind shears at 2/3rds the way up the rig -- down low 
    it's 5 degrees east of north, up high its 5 degrees west of north -- 
    the favored tack would be starboard to expose more sail area to the 
    lift, and you would trim the jib as you describe.  If, on the other 
    hand, the mark was due north -- the low wind was 10 degrees east of 
    north, the high wind 15 degrees east -- and all else was the same, 
    starboard would still be favored but you'd trim the jib flat at 
    the bottom and full at the top.
    
    Change velocity, break point, and the relative difference in direction,
    and the equation needs juggling.  Also, I wonder if there is
    any "general rule" regarding how shear conditions fill in?  I would 
    guess that the upper air mass fills downward -- never really kept 
    track of this.  Either way it fills, if it has a predictable tendency,
    then you have to factor in the notion of getting to the side of the 
    course from which you expect the wind to fill in.  
    
    All this is my best guess based on experience, which isn't to say 
    I'm coming to the right conclusions.  You're right, the instruments 
    aren't much good in shear conditions.  Reading tell-tales is much
    more important.  But I can envision someone devising an instrument 
    package that takes readings from intermediate heights.  Set it to 
    give you an average, or when the wind is shearing, go to separate 
    readings for intermediate heights.  Anyone want in on the ground floor?

    On the other hand, sometimes the dependence on instruments
    really gets tedious.  That gives me an idea:  Someone should 
    sponsor a "No Instrument" race.  Wouldn't that shake things up!?  
    
    ;)

    A couple of years ago a club over here (UK) had a no instrument
    race. The crews who had dingy racers among them did rather well......
    It was however great fun......

re wind shear and instrumentation problems:

Oh come on guys, you really aren't being creative here. All you need to
do is spend some more money! For a price (to be negotiated and high
enough to make my fourtune) I will design and engineer a system of
transducers that will attach to your headfoil at intervals (say one
foot) and will provide both wind speed and wind direction data. Then for
an additional fee I will provide a program for your onboard computer
system that will determine the favored tack and the optimum trim of the
headsail. Just think, you can be the first in the fleet to have
absolutely the latest in high tech go faster instrumentation. But only
if you sign a design and development contract quickly. There was a boat
in Marblehead late this summer that had a tall, thin pole at the bow and
four or five windspeed/direction transducers mounted at various heights.
The competition will soon be leaving you behind!

:-) 

    Due to the ham handed help at Brown's, we had no wind instruments
    for almost our first month last season.  It really forced us to
    come back up the learning curve quickly.  I plan to use this as
    a training method again.  It really works!
    
    The reason it is difficult to get multi level wind readings is where
    would you put the sensors?  Except at the top of the mast, thrust
    out in front of the headstay, every place else is affected by sails,
    rig, etc.
    
    Dave

    
    re. .10
    
       I rely on a good set of jib telltales to predict wind shear. This 
    isn't easy, shear occurs mostly in light air and the usual slop makes 
    the apparent wind gyrate. If the shear is steady and predictable,
    I handle it with twist in the sails - using more twist on one tack
    than the other. The wind direction aloft can be used predict
    the shifts down low. 
     
      If the shear patterns are confusing, I sail with more twist on
    both tacks. The entire sail will not be drawing at all times, but
    most of it will through a wide range of shear/shifts. You get a wider 
    sailing groove.
    
      On the subject of fancy instruments, I'd be afraid of shaking
    up the boat by triming the sails every time the instuments changed
    their readings. I'm probably biased because my class (J-24) forbides
    fancy instruments and I can't afford them. I'd rather concentrate on 
    the light air mentality:
                            stay quite, move smoothly, and watch for puffs. 

    -Paul

    re wind shear instrumentation
    
    There is an instrument I've found very useful when there's lots
    of wind shear.  It's called an AUDIO TAPE DECK.  Some of the better
    equiped ocean racers have these.  What I do is remove the cassette,
    pull out the tape, cut it into 8" pieces, and fasten them to the shrouds
    and sails.  I've found that cassettes containing disco music are
    eminently suited for this use.  ;^)
    
    If there's lots of wind shear, it's usually real light.  Most of
    the people on board should have their eyes looking out over the
    water for wind patches.  Rhumblines aren't that important when it's
    light.  Steering low, keeping sails full, and leapfrogging from
    wind patch to wind patch in the general direction of the mark will
    get results.  And watch for current too.  It's often more important
    than the wind in drifters.  
    
    - gene

RE: .12 

>>>    re .10 "move the tack" = move the car for the jib lead.  I used
>>>    a bastardized term.  Sorry if I confused anyone.
    
Nobody but us slow cruisers.  We still persist in the old-fashioned habit 
of refering to that corner of the sail as the clew.  

Or are you into some *really* innovative sail-shaping these days?

;-),  J.

    
    re "moving the tack"
    
    On some boats we do move the tack rather than moving the jib car
    to adjust the luff break.  Most of the E22's in my fleet have the
    old fashioned jib cars that have to be manually slid along a track.
    Some of the newest boats have the Harken jib cars that move when
    you pull a string but it's an expensive and not expecially productive
    retrofit.
    
    All of our boats, howverver, have an 8:1 "floating" tack which allows
    the tack to slide up and down the forestay.  The control line is
    double ended and led back to the cockpit on both the port and starboard
    sides.  Because the forestay angles back, sliding the tack up moves
    it closer to the jib car, thereby giving fullness to the foot of
    the jib.
    
    Working the control line allows us to optimize the luff break without
    haveing to let the jib sheet out or leave the weather rail.  This
    works well for high aspect blade jibs where the full range of
    adjustment is only about 2".  On a boat with a genoa, this range
    will be considerably more.  Then it's the jib car that will have
    to move.
    
    - gene

    Re Alan,
    
    Your concept sounds very close to what I'd imagined.
    A really clever design might even be invisible:  Drill
    tiny hole in the leading edge of the foil, and I'm sure
    a program could do some vector/vortex annalysis.
    Velocity readings would key off the note created as the
    wind rushed by the opening -- the old beer bottle
    principle.   ;)
    
    Re Shear and light air
    
    We saw significant shear conditions in up to 14 knots apparent.
    
    Later mates,
    Dean
      

    RE .17
    
         I was racing in Newport this year when I met a guy who worked
    for CBS. On his boat he uses 2 foot sections of VCR tape. He says
    it it better than yarn because they are not affected when they get
    wet. The added benefits are that the peices of tape make tons of
    noise that disturb sailors close by. He says he doen't have to keep
    an eye on the sail as much because he is "listening" to the sail
    instead.
    
    john

    I was serious about the difficulty of taking accurate wind readings
    anywhere but at the masthead.  Was talking to the "computer wallie"
    on New Zealand when they were in town last weekend and asked about
    multiple sensors.  With a mast that big shear becomes a real problem.
    His response was that it was not a real good idea and they got around
    this with the video camera on the masthead and a program that digitizes
    the black stripes and compares it to expected performance.  They
    have these big black cirles painted on the deck to act as points
    of reference for the video.
    
    The crew was really nice.  When they realized we knew alittle about
    what we were talking about they immediately invited us on board
    to look around.  Pretty impressive.  The one thing that struck me
    was that the jib sheets they use on this 130 ft monster are exactly
    the same size spectra sheets we used on Fat Tuesday!  The mast
    construction was also pretty impressive.  The thing was vacuum bagged
    all in one piece.  An amazing piece of engineering.
    
    Dave

Re .22:

Reply .14 was intended to be humorous, at least in part. Sure, 
accurately measuring wind speed and direction vertically in front of a 
sail is extremely difficult, but not impossible if you are willing to
spend enough money, where enough may be millions of dollars. 

    
    Dave:  you must have talked up a pretty good line.  I asked to get
    a look at the "space frame" that holds the keel to the rest of the
    boat but was told it was classified.  My most vivid recollection
    of the visit was the climb up that rickety scaffolding to the deck.
    It was immediatly clear why they had everyone sign a liability
    disclaimer.
    
    Dean:  you're right about wind shear at higher velocities.  Happens
    a lot on close reaches and makes for lots of fun with vang and barber
    haul placement.  There are actually a couple of real-life devices
    that have tried to deal with the problem.  One that I've actually
    used (or attempted to use) is a little wind vane that attaches to
    the luff of the jib.  Patches that have a mounting bracket are attached
    to both sides of the jib and the vane itself is clipped into the
    brackets.  The owner of the US-1 that I used to race on bought three
    of these thinking they were more responsive than telltales.  He
    had them mounted equally spaced along the luff.  The vane itself
    stuck out about 6" in front of the forestay.  With three vanes and
    a masthead fly, we, in theory, should have had a good picture of wind
    shear.  But for some reason the vanes always showed the wind as
    being more lifted than really was.  The result was we were always
    pinching on a beat or luffing the jib on a close reach.  That combined
    with the fragility of the brackets (lost an average of one a day)
    led to our going back to telltales.
    
    I'm told that Ted Hood tried a similar system on Robin with the
    difference that it was electrified.  The vanes were wired to indicator
    lights spaced along the luff.  Red for port, green for starboard.
    If the lights blinked, the sail trim was off.  If the lights were
    steady, the trim was right on.  The usual problems with marine
    electronics meant that some of the lights always blinked.  No one
    could tell a bum circuit from an out-of-trim condition.  When he
    got tired of being mistaken for a christmas tree, he got rid of
    the lights.
    
    Now, audio-video tapes are a real advance.  Now I have the excuse
    I need to get a VCR.
    
    - gene

    
    re. .24
    
      Any wind indicater within 1/4 boat length (approx) of the boats
    rig will be the  victum of circulation. In fluids theory, engineers
    were not able to model foils accurately until a vortex (circular
    flow) was added. This vortex is real and it's effect is called
    circulation. Looking down on a boat on starboard tack, the circulation
    flow will be counter-clockwise. Circulation interacts with the free
    stream to cause a higher velocity up-draft (lift) at the luff of
    a sail and a downdraft (header) at the the leach.   On a sloop rig,
    the main feeds forward into the the jib creating a major effect
    on local wind direction. The free stream "anticipates" the luff
    of the jib. This feed-forward effect is what allows your competitor
    to clobber you when he tacks into a safe leeward position half a
    boat length to leeward of your bow. Your jib provides a higher velocity
    lift for him to sail in. Because the lift forces break down
    near the mast head, a wind indicator can function there.   

      I'm still wondering about the usefulness of instruments to detect
    free stream wind shear. Detecting laminar and turbulent flow around
    the sails is what's important. So shouldn't the sensors be local?
    
    -Paul

    
    SONUVAGUN!!!!!  Vindicated by science!!!  After all these years.
    And for all this time I thought it was bad eyesight or all the beer
    we drank before the race that made those wind vanes look funny.
    You wouldn't beleive (or want to hear) the "discussions" between
    crew and skipper that those windvanes caused.  They were so troublesome
    we got to calling them "wind devils".
    
    I'm intrigued by your explanation of the safe leeward position.
    I've always explained it by saying that the wind bounces off the
    leeward boat's sails and backwinds the windward boat.  But what
    you're saying is that the windward boat "circulates" the wind ahead
    of and to leeward of itself, thereby lifting the leeward boat.  Hmmm.
    If this is true, does the safe leeward boat actually see the lift
    as a change in compass heading? 
    
    If it does, I can envision it's being put to good use as a
    tactic at the windward layline.  A port tacker at the windward mark
    who doesn't room to tack onto the starboard layline can leebow a
    starboard boat shy of the layline.  Then the circulation effect lifts 
    him right up to the line.  Sounds too good to be true.  What's the
    catch?
    
    - gene
          

    Circulation:
    
    I don't recall ever seeing a backwinded tell-tale on a windward 
    shroud.  If the air is circulating within as much as of 1/4th a boat length,
    wouldn't this happen?  When beating, on the other hand, 
    it is desireable to let the windward tell-tales (the inboard 
    tell-tales affixed to the leading edge of the jib) "float," or 
    backwind slightly.  
    
    Intuitively, it would seem the circulation effect is more closely
    confined to the area around the sail.  Certainly, this would
    influence the air-flow at the leading edge of the jib and in the 
    slot, but as a factor that effects another boat, I see it manifesting 
    itself as a trailing vortex that funnels upwards -- the result of 
    the rig having no "endplate" -- and all it does is add to the general 
    confusion of air behind and to leeward.
    
    In the the safe leeward position, I'd always thought along the 
    same lines a Gene -- that the wind curving off the leeward yacht's 
    sails bends slightly to weather before breaking into turbulent
    eddies.  (This effect creates the lift you can ride when crossing 
    another boat's stern.  No?)  It's hard to believe the weather yacht 
    induces any lift for the "safe leeward" vessel.  In the instances with 
    which I'm familiar, it would be more accurate to say that the windward 
    yacht begins to loose bearing and then weather ground if they
    hang around too long, but I've never experienced a header as the 
    result of a windward yacht tacking away.
            
    For reading shear, the consensus seems to be that sail-affixed 
    tell-tales are the best "instruments."  This is an indirect 
    method -- reading the symptom rather than the cause, but it works 
    fairly well.  

    re. .27
    
        The concept of lift circulation is not air traveling around
    the boat like a tornado, but rather a vector sum of the vortex
    and the free stream. In this way the free stream wind direct is
    altered - you won't see a reversal in direction because the free
    stream velocity is higher vortex velocity.
    
    For example: 
     
   At the windward shroud and 
   windward side of the sails - The two velocity vectors are 180 degrees
                                apart, the sum is a reduction in velocity
                                but not a large change in direction.
                                Bernoulli's equation states that as
                                velocity decreases, pressure increases.
    
    At the luff of the sails -  The two velocity vectors are 90 degrees
                                apart, the sum is a change in direction
                                ( a lift ) and an increase in velocity
                                due to the "funneling" of air to the
                                leeward side of the sail.
    
    On the leeward side of the
    sails                      - The two velocity vectors are traveling
                                 in approx. the same direction. The
                                 sum is increased velocity. Bernoulli
                                 says as velocity increases, pressure
                                 decreases.
    
    At the leech of the sail -  The two vectors conbine to create a
                                header. This effect is masked by a lot
                                of turbulence. I have experimented with
                                friends boats, we tried to sail on each
                                others sterns to find the header. We
                                didn't find much, the flow is a mess.
    
    You can see how the high and low velocities are needed to create
    a pressure differential --> LIFT! If you still don't believe in
    the vortex, think about a golf, ping pong, or tennis ball. They
    rotate to generate a vortex and lift.
    
    You can see the vortex at home in your bathtub. Fill it with water,
    hold the wing of a toy plane in the water and vertical. Now move
    the wing through the water a constant velocity, the stop suddenly.
    Experiment with different angles of attack. When you get it right,
    you will see the vortex (a wirlpool) peel off the wing when you
    stop suddenly. This happens because a vortex can not begin or end
    in a continuous medium - it must form a complete circuit.  
                                    
                                                                       

    re .28
    
    Nice explanation.  It just wasn't clear that you were
    summing vectors, although I suppose it should have been
    "intuitively" obvious. 
    
    As for the safe leeward postion, are you describing the
    tactic that has come to be known as "Wally?"
    Dave, what do you know about this?  I'll have to go back 
    and look at my S&S vs Kiwi Magic tapes.  That's the most 
    graphic execution of the safe leeward position that I can think of.

    Still seems unlikely that there is a usable lift for the
    leeward yacht, but this wouldn't be the first time I was
    wrong.
    
    ;)    

    And here I thought I was the only person who forgot stuff.
    Guess I was right.  ;)
    
    When sailing to windward in swell and/or chop, it's not
    always possible to steer "up" the front and "down" the
    back of the waves.  Problems arrise when the frequency between
    waves varies, when there is swell and cross-chop, or when you 
    get a series of particularly square waves.  Of course, any bad 
    sequence is going to knock anyone off their stride -- you 
    can only fall gracefully so many times, but I've found that it's 
    possible to smoothly exit an oil-canner if I pump the helm to throw a 
    quick cork-screw motion into the boat:  Just before the bow crashes 
    down, I give the helm (tiller in this case, would be next to 
    impossible to do this with a wheel) a single, quick, strong pump 
    to induce a rotational force to windward.  This is a split second
    motion; the tiller passes through 10 or so degrees, ending up in
    the exact same position it was in before the pump.  I'm not 
    really changing course so much as altering the relative forces 
    at work as the bow comes down.  The effect is to make the
    entire boat squat in the trough, thus absorbing the momentum
    of the bow crashing down.  Properly executed, I've manged to loose less
    than 1/2 a knot in situations where crashing down would certianly
    have cost 2, 3, or 4 times that much.  However, following this
    maneuver, the boat is extremely sensative to additional helm 
    inputs.  It takes a good boat-length of travel to re-establish 
    a "powerfull stride."
    
    I've manged to use this technique to rescue our bowman from
    blue water nose dives on several occaisions, and 
    to generally maintain a smoother passage over a rough sea -- as 
    compared to others helmsman steering through the same conditions.
    

    Spinnaker trim:
    
    When flying the chute in broach conditions, choke the
    sheets to dampen oscillation -- move the leads as much
    as 8 feet forward (this on a 35 footer).  The amount of choke 
    depends on your heading.  The closer to the breeze, the less tolerant the
    chute is to choking, but then, oscillation also becomes less
    of a problem.  Also ensure that the hoist is fairly close
    to the masthead. For prolonged downwind legs -- over 4 hours, 
    adjust the hoist periodically to distribute wear on the halyard.
    
    Has anyone ever seen a windex with pointers at right-angles
    off the vane?  Would be nice to have to help call pole angle.  
    Remember to do a mock up.
    
    For trimming at night:  Get familiar with the sound the chute
    makes when properly trimmed (playing up to a panel's worth
    or curl).  When it's dark, let this sound delimit
    the maximum ease in the sheet.  Generally, play the sheet
    more conservatively at night.  If you find the chute is silent,
    you need to ease something.  Rapid fluttering -- like the sound
    of a loose jib leech -- either means ease the sheet, or if
    it is eased, it's time to change to a heavier sail.  You're
    already into the chicken-chute?  Hang on and enjoy the ride.
        
    Also, in any light at all, it is usually possible to
    see the outline of the chute's leading edge. Never let the
    pole pull the clue out beyond the natural line of the sail.
    When you observe this happening but there is no ease in
    the sheet, the pole needs to be eased.  You will likely find 
    afterwards that the sheet can be eased slightly as well, as you 
    generally have to strap the sheet to fly a chute with an oversquare 
    pole.

    When sailing by-the-lee -- maybe to avoid a jibe at a mark
    rounding -- play the chute exactly oposite to you natural
    inclination, ie when a collapse seems imminent, ease the sheet --
    right up until the boom crashes over.  
    
    ;)
    
    

    Re:-.1
    Also remember to put your most expendable crew to hold the boom
    over when by the lee.  Remember to take bets on how far he'll be
    launched when the boom does jibe. ;^)
    
    Speaking of "by the lee", remember to never race anywhere near Monhegan
    Island at night.
    
    Dave

    At the five minute gun:
    
    Be at the place in the line you want to hit.  
    
    Sail away from that point on the reciprocal course 
    of close-hauled on starboard tack.
    
    Sail the close-hauled equivalent of 1 minute away
    from the line.
    
    Punch in a way-point on the loran (establish visual
    verification points).
    
    "Round" the way-point at 1 minute 10 seconds to go and
     crank it up.  Use the 10 seconds for acceleration
     and jockeying.
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Be careful about the conditions you'd
    attempt this in -- certainly not a start for
    ultra light or flukey air.
    

    In large fleets ( ie. 50 boats ) a Vanderbuilt type start is very
    risky. If the line is short, conjestion in the last 15 secs shuts out
    those who are comming in on starboard tack, close hauled, and at
    full speed ( you have no rights when clear astern ). It's better
    to be conservative, find a hole on the line at 30 secs, defend it
    with aggresive luffing for 15 secs, then use the last 15 secs to
    reach into your hole, accelerate, and harden up seconds before the
    gun.
    
    The philosophy is to get the hell away from the line without being
    massacred. Just get clean air. Sucking gas at the start behind 
    a 50 boat fleet can ruin your whole day.  

    BUILD A FUNNELATOR!!!
    
    Phew!  Can't forget that, now can we.
    
    Recommendations for design and building materials?
    
    ;)
    

    Re the starting technique note.  A timed start wouldn't have worked
    too well at the PHRF NE's would it, Dean?  The luffing battles on
    the line with 40 class A boats were pretty funny.  On one start
    (recalled) every was right on the line luffing when one boat backed
    its jib and crashed over to port tack starting a domino effect all
    the way down the line.  Lots of crunching and yelling.  Pretty funny
    looking back now. :^)
    
    Dave

    
    A timed start in a big fleet isn't that bad if the line is biased
    enough towards one end so that everyone (but you) is ganging up
    there.   If you pick the middle or opposite end, you can hit the
    line running while the others are choking each other.  Of course,
    every time this works for me, there's a general recall.
    
    - gene

    To be honest, I've rarely been aboard a boat that could
    pull off a timed start -- mostly because the tendency is to 
    "eye-ball" the whole thing.  I'm trying to devise a 
    reasonably good method for improving the odds of one
    succeeding if the situation pertains.
    
    In most instances, Jon Burbank (the undisputed "starting helmsman"
    on Bodacious) goes for the start described by Mr. Keenan.  
    When Jon is good, he holds his own very well.  There have
    been times, however, when it would have been nice to have a timed 
    start set up as a back-up.  There have also been times 
    when a timed start would have been attractive in its own right, as 
    Gene describes.
    
    Regarding a timed start in a big fleet, maybe Mr. Keenan or
    Dave Wittenberg could elaborate on the rules in effect.  Could
    someone elaborate on what being "clear astern" means in this context?
    Also, in a potential collision situation, an overlap would
    occur before the boats collided.  How long must the overlap be
    in effect to have rights?  (I can recall occaisions when we've 
    been luffed up in the very instant that another boat got beneath 
    us, and they came up from clear astern.)  What is the "overtaking 
    boat" onus in this situation?  Would the beating boat even be 
    correctly described as overtaking?
    
    Sorry if these questions seem simple or off base -- I'm the 
    first to admit my understanding of the rules is less than it 
    could be.  That's one area where I generally defer to Jon without 
    comment.
    
    Remember to read the rule book -- again.
    
    ;)
    Dean

    We had Arbella tossed once for pulling the stunt Dean describes
    of coming up from clear astern, close to leeward and demanding luffing
    rights.  No problem.  We put the helm over to come up, and our stern
    swung around and tapped their bow.  Were they mad!  They hadn't
    provided us room or opportunity to do their bidding.
    
    Plus, could someone reaffirm the rule about luffing AFTER the gun,
    but BEFORE crossing the starting line?  Is it still only allowed
    to close hauled or course to the first mark, whichever is lower?
    
    Dave

    "Room and opportunity" ALWAYS apply.  Assuming these
    requirements are met, what rules then apply?  
    
    Had there been no collision, would there have still been
    an enforceable protest?

    Dean 
    
    PS  Dave, I'm anxious to see your new boat.  Is she being trucked up?
    
        

Here are a few of the rules that apply to a boat trying to defend
it's position while luffing on starboard tack at the line.

* When you find a hole on the line that looks good, make sure you
  enter the hole on a starboard tack course with your main filled.
  This qualifies you as a starboard tack boat during all your luffing 
  manuevers up to head to wind. For example, if you  work your way 
  along the line on port tack, find a hole, and luff head to wind 
  into the hole, you have no rights over someone who wants to sail 
  right through you on starboard. The reason being you never reached 
  a starboard tack course, so legally you are still a port tacker.   


* Now you are in position, since you are barely moving, the rudder
  is very ineffective. Steer by trimming the main and easing the jib
  and vice versa. 

  You have rights over anyone on port tack. 
 
  For Starboard tackers coming at you, there are typically three 
  situations:
            
          1. They overlap you to windward. You have rights.

          2. They overlap you to leeward. They have rights. More on this
             later.

          3. They are clear astern. You have rights. Draw an immaginary
             line, at right angles from the centerline of your boat, from
             the aft-most point on your boat. Any boat behind that line
             is clear astern. He has no overlap on you -> no rights.

  Many times starboard tackers coming from astern will hail for you
  to "get up" while they are still clear astern. You have no obligation
  to anticipate an overlap, even if they are moving much faster and it's
  obvious they will overlap you in seconds. Simply hail back "No overlap"
  or "You're clear astern".

* Suppose you are on the line, starboard tack (boat A). There is a starboard
  tacker to leeward (boat B). Now boat C comes along late on starboard, the 
  line is jammed, and C wants to go between A and B. Boat B is an obstruction 
  to boats A and C. If there is physically not enough room for C to fit 
  between A and B, then C does not have any rights over A even after he 
  establishes an overlap. The reason being insufficient water. If C sticks 
  his nose between A and B, he does so at his own peril.

* Imagine the same situation as above, but now there is room for C 
  between boats A and B. As soon as C establishes a leeward overlap
  on A, C can luff A according to the following limitations.

           1. C must hail A and give A ample room and opportunity
              to keep clear. 
    
           2. C may not alter course to prevent A from keeping clear.
 
           3. While C's mast is aft of A's helm, C can only luff A up
              to a close hauled course.
         
           4. Once C's mast is forward of A's helm, C can luff A up
              to head to wind. 


Now repeat this five times fast!

-Paul

    
    re .40
    
    Rules 40 and 42 apply.
    
    Rule 40:  Before a leeward yacht has cleared the starting line any
    luff on her part must be carrried in such a way as to give the windward
    yacht room and oppurtunity to keep clear.  The leeward yacht can
    luff right up to head-to-wind if her mastline is ahead of the helmsman
    of the windward yacht.  Once the leeward yacht has cleared the starting
    line rule 38.1 comes into effect and she may LUFF AS SHE PLEASES
    subject to the mast abeam restriction.  The only difference on either
    side of the starting line is that on the course side of it, the
    leeward yacht can luff fast.  On the other side, the leeward yacht
    must luff slowly. 
    
    In addition the definition of luffing rights changes after the leeward
    yacht has cleared the starting line.  Before the line, the leeward
    yacht must simply ahead of mast abeam regardless of how the overlap
    was established.  After the starting line is cleared, the leeward
    yacht can luff only if the windward yacht is passing to windward.
    This means luffing is a defensive manueveur.  A yacht passing to
    leeward can't luff a windward yacht
    
    Rule 42:  Things change if the two yachts are in the vicinity of
    a starting mark.  A leeward yacht approaching the line to start
    (i.e. the final approach) is under no obligation to give room at
    the mark to a windward boat.  If the gun has not yet sounded, the
    leeward yacht can squeeze off a windward yacht by luffing her into
    the mark.  BUT, after the gun, the leeward yacht can't deprive a windward
    yacht of room at a starting mark by sailing above the compass course
    to the first mark or close hauled.
    
    In a nutshell:  if not near a starting mark, luff as high as you
    want.  Just do it slowly before clearing the starting line.
    
    If you're near a starting mark, don't come up any higher than the
    lower of the compass course or close hauled on your final approach
    after the gun has sounded.
    
    - gene

    Paul,
    
    Ok, everything you say makes sense, but...
            
    Let's just deal with 2 boats for the moment.  A is
    going for a timed starboard start and B is starboard reaching 
    along the line.  A's course intersects B's course amidships.
    Now, in this case, would not A be within its rights to
    hail B to come up as soon as a collision becomes apparent --
    several lengths before actual contact -- if not sooner.
    Unless I'm missing something about your definition of
    "clear astern," it seems there is no way to construe that
    A is ever in that position as regards B, and there is 
    no "breaking of overlap" for B to anticipate.  

    With multiple boats, wouldn't any boat to windward and overlapped
    behind B be forced to give room too -- on a "room and opportunity"
    onus beginning with A -- effectively making B defend A's hole?
    As it were ;)  As for boats with which A is in fact "clear 
    astern," I don't even see how they enter the equation.  They just 
    motor down the line and enjoy the show.
    
    It seems then, that a boat attempting this "stunt," should 
    use his "jockeying time" to maneuver onto an intersection course
    with someone's midships, hail them early, and be ready to offer 
    "room and opportunity" while pushing direclty for the line.  If
    there is no ready target, head for the line and fall in.
    Conversely, if you've got a log jam line, then there will be no 
    "room and opportunity" to give, and the crasher will do just 
    that -- if he isn't snuffed out first.  But if there is room to 
    breath and the boats on the line are actually moving, you could 
    get away with it.  
    
    No?  
    
    Dean

    Dean,
    
     It definitely seems that there are a lot of A holes around at a
    start ;). In the case you described, the boat on starboard-close
    haul would have rights over the starboard reacher. It comes under
    the rule for same-tack boats, running hard over running free 
    (old terminology). As soon as the close hauled boat hailed, the
    reaching boat would have to head up. Now we are back to the situation
    I described - overtaking from clear astern. If there are several
    reaching boats, all overlaping, you must give room and
    opportunity for all of them to keep clear. 
                          
      As for driving through a line of starboard reaching boats, I don't
    think it's a very strong position. As stated above, you have to
    give room and opportunity (that's a lot of time with multiple
    overlaps) and the tables can be turned on you if they
    all head up in your face.
    
     At the Volvo regatta last summer, there were 56 J-24's on the line.
    Everyone just parked there from about 45 to 15 seconds. It
    was neat watching everyone do a luffing snake dance. Nearly all of the line
    was closed to anyone arriving in the last 15 seconds. The boats
    were wall to wall. 
                                            
    -Paul

    Re: .41  Dean, the plan as of right now is to have the boat trucked
    up to Newport for repainting in early February and launch mid April.
    The boat is currently named "Restitution" and we don't know yet
    what to rename her if at all.  To say we're psyched is a definite
    understatement.  The real challenge is going to be keeping the rig
    in the boat.  Pretty small section with a massive main.  The main
    foot measures 18.5'!  I'll let you know when she's in Newport if
    you want to take a look.  I think you'll be most surprised with
    the interior.  Pretty comfy for a One Tonner.
    
    Dave

    Thanks Paul.  I would only add that it should be possible to
    make the call such that as the reaching boat pivots you
    remain in front of the clear astern line.  If they
    come up enough to break the overlap they're still going to
    create an opening and you could peel off slightly and slip
    in, or if your timing is real good, they've probably cleared 
    enough of a hole to go through.  Of course, if someone is 
    idling on the line just "below" this performance, it would
    greatly hamper your ability to peel off, as you imply in your
    earlier reply, but that only happens in the most cramped of 
    quarters.  In most of the races I've seen in Mrblhd, skippers 
    prefer to keep their boats moving.
    
    At any rate, thanks for all the feedback.  I'm just 
    brainstorming.
    
   ;)
    

...experiment with tiller extension grips.


  I just read an article that says my grip on the tiller extension is
all wrong. I have been holding the extension in my palm with my thumb
pointing down toward the tiller (thumb down). This causes the majority 
of the steering motion to be  performed by the shoulder as you push and
pull the extension by your side.

  The better method is said to be a grip where the thumb points up
toward the end of the extension (thumb up). Now the steering is performed
mostly at the elbow as you push and pull across your chest. The advantages
are said to be: better feel, more travel, more compact position (good for
small boats or cramped cockpits), and the forearm indicates rudder position.

  Any comments from thumbs up helmsman? Sounds like this is good for at
least half a knot. ;)
    
    -Paul

    How about whatever you feel comfortable with...... :-)

    Re .48  Will work on big boats up to about 5 knots of air.  After
    that you NEED shoulder strength to steer.  Plus, with the thumb
    down method you can still use elbow action.  All this assumes the
    kind of extension with the cross ways grip (perpendicular to the
    direction of the extender).
    
    Dave

re -.2
    
    What sort of end is on the extension?  A ball?
    You're talking about gripping the extension just beneath
    the end, yes?  If so, it sounds like the two different 
    techniques would require significant differences
    in your body position as well.  In the case of your technique,
    your shoulders line up parrallel to the boat, yes?  In the "recommended" 
    technique, it sounds like they'd be at some angle approaching
    perpendicular, no?  But then, I guess it would depend on which 
    hand you were steering with.

    It does seem logical to practice techniques that channel feel 
    into your more sensitive joints.  I'm used to a tiller with a 
    "D" handle on the extension's end, so for me, maximum feel comes
    from planting my elbow on my leg and steering within the range 
    of opening and closing my fingers and curling my wrists.  As wind and sea 
    build, I tighten my grip and start relying more on my entire arm.  
    I've never really focused on pivoting exclusively at the elbow.
    In what mag was the article?
    
    At any rate, there is no doubt that helm technique will
    impact speed -- I'd bet anywhere from 5 to 20%, depending
    on conditions (and all else being equal).  It pays to know
    who steers best in what type of conditions -- if you have the
    luxury of multiple helmsman.
    
    Dean

    
    Depends on where the helmsperson is sitting on my boat.  My tiller
    extension is ball and stick type that's not extendable.  The most
    comfortable way to hold it is with the stick between the index and
    middle fingers and the ball cradled in the palm of the hand.
    
    If it's light air conditions and the helmsperson is inboard, the
    thumbs up method works OK - mostly because the ball is then too
    far outboard to hold.
    
    - gene

    Dean,
    
     In both cases your shoulders are roughly parallel to the boat's
    centerline. Your supposed to wrap your fingers around the shft of
    the extension. If you're extension is short or a T-handle, this
    probably won't work. Sounds good to me for boats with a light helm.
    
    -Paul