I recently asked a large group of sailors the question -- " who here has a tuning partner that they tune with before the start or who tries to tune with someone before the race ? " In this large group of racers no one said that they presently did.

Being able to tune with someone before the race -- even for 5 to 10 minutes can really be beneficial to both teams, it really is an excellent way to get your team warmed up and ready for the race. Ask another competitor if they would like to line up and go upwind, if you cannot recruit anyone at the dock to do this then ask out on the water. Ideally one pre arranges to meet the other team at the starting line on every morning of the regatta and then you both go upwind for a period of time. This can actually take some choreographing to work effectively as you want to be sailing in your "normal mode" and not simply trying to beat the other boat. Remember, especially at a bigger fleet event like the Nationals in Huntington Lake, that you are racing against 30 plus other boats and so sailing low to drive over your tuning partner or trying to pinch them off is going to completely devalue what you are trying to accomplish.

This means that both teams, ( it can be 3 or more teams, it's just harder to organise) have to have clear air and be bow to bow and accelerating at the same time with a good four to five boat lengths separation between them. If there is a windshift to the left or right then it is very easy for a team to make the incorrect assumption that they are fast or slow. You want to monitor the compass carefully and make your speed evaluation when the wind is as steady as possible. The same applies for the velocity -- both boats want to be sailing in the same wind line as again, incorrect assumptions can be made if one team I sailing in more velocity. So your check list looks like this:

When you start tuning upwind -- especially in chop, remember that each team needs time to develop a rhythm for sailing in the waves.

In fact when it is choppy the windward boat needs more of a gap to leeward as both teams are tending to sail in more of a "bow down, fast forward" configuration and it is harder to stay in the windward position in these conditions.

In flatter water we have found that the windward boat can "live" off the leeward boat with a smaller lateral separation.

When you are critiquing your teams performance against the other boat try and communicate the evaluation into net even / net gain/net loss terms. In other words, if we go forward a length and they go up one length higher -- it's net even. Or, we go forward two lengths and they go up three lengths then it is a net loss to us of a length. This critique helps your team work out there "mode of sailing" and what adjustments we need to do to improve the mix of speed and pointing.

Interestingly enough, in doing a lot of tuning in different classes we have found that ultimately, with the wind direction steady, the leeward boat wins out after a very long period of of time. Theories abound on exactly why -- but there is certainly an aerodynamic theory that say's that the high pressure off the leeward boats sails and the low pressure off the windward boats sails cause a vacuum or suction that allows the leeward boat to sail up toward the windward boats line. For those interested in aerodynamics and how sails work, Tom Whidden's excellent book -- " the aerodynamics of sails" looks at this and other great topics in detail.

So, we are going upwind and we have a case of the slows -- here are some ideas on what to look at:

We are high and slow:

Fast and Low:

Slow and low:

Try everything ! !!

Major typical culprits are:

In general, you want to set the boat up for the lulls or lighter wind so it could be that the controls are too tight and you need more power in the boat. Try to remember that speed will give you pointing ability.

If there is time before the start -- it is good for both boats to tack on to port and tune on that side as well.

Take this opportunity to practice some jibes as you head down to the line. In taking this approach, both teams have utilized there pre start time productively and will be able to make incremental improvements in performance from regatta to regatta.