By Airwaves writer Lucas Masiello Team racing adds an incredible amount of complexity to sailing tactics. While everything from fleet racing strategy applies to a team race, the tactics and what is important on the racecourse is very different. Because of this, as sailors, we need to augment our conversations from a fleet race mentality … Read More
Crew Communication in Team Racing: How to Optimize Your In-Boat Dialogue to Make Plays Happen
By Airwaves writer Lucas Masiello Team racing adds an incredible amount of complexity to sailing tactics. While everything from fleet racing strategy applies to a team race, the tactics and what is important on the racecourse is very different. Because of this, as sailors, we need to augment our conversations from a fleet race mentality … Read More
A Layman’s Guide to Basic Sailing Meteorology: How to Use Weather Patterns and Geography to Improve Your Racing Strategy
By Airwaves writer Lucas Masiello As sailors, we participate in a sport that is uniquely dependent on the weather. Everything from wind shifts to puffs and lulls is all products of both large-scale and local meteorological factors. However, aside from offshore racers and elite level course racers, not too many sailors know what is going … Read More
Never Get Fouled
By Airwaves Contributor Ken Legler “See that guy? Not only does he never foul, he never gets fouled,” said my Dad when I was 15. “That’s impossible,” I thought, not with so many tight races in these 9’ Dyer Dhow dinghies in racing we called Frostbiting. That guy, my dad was pointing to, was Roger … Read More
Strategy & Tactics in Waves
By Andrew Kerr Having recently sailed a 10 race series at Key West Race Week that featured a large part of the regatta with waves and cluster chop. Here is some strategy, tactics and boat handling key elements that can help your team sail a fast and consistent series when the waves are up. Pre-Race … Read More
Tight Layline Management & The Art of the Shoot
By Airwaves writer Andrew Kerr Picture this: A team is approaching the weather mark in 3rd place on a tight starboard tack lay line , it looks like that with some good sailing they will make it around the mark ahead of 55 other teams and will be off and running with a good spinnaker set. … Read More
Starting: Make it or Break It
By Airwaves writer Rachel Bennung In high school and college sailing your start is one of the most important things. You may be thinking, well getting a good start is important in any race. You are correct, however, in high school and college sailing it is the key component to doing well in a race. … Read More
Use of a Time and Distance Chart for Starting and Mark Roundings
By Andrew Kerr Recently when thinking about how racers utilize time and distance, I customized a chart to use as a reference for 1 minute of sailing from either a starting line or a mark. The purpose was to help with both starting proficiency and with estimating the length of a starting line. It also … Read More
Using Weather to Dominate the Competition, Part 3: Precipitation
By Airwaves writer Eric Tobias (for part 1: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition/) (for part 2: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition-part-2-sea-breeze/) Precipitation Precipitation is an important factor to consider as a sailor. Rain doesn’t only mean that we might have to change gear or be ready to get wet; it could also signal changes in wind or act as a preview of the … Read More
Using Weather to Dominate the Competition: Part 2, Sea Breeze
By Airwaves writer Eric Tobias (Editors note: To start at the beginning of this great series, check out Part 1 here: https://www.sail1design.com/using-weather-dominate-competition/) Sea Breeze I was once racing a distance race, and we were probably about 30 hours into the race at this point. It was extremely light wind and we were beating to windward … Read More
Using the Weather to Dominate the Competition
Part 1: Surface Maps and Wind By Airwaves Writer Eric Tobias To move on to Part II, Sea Breeze, click HERE To skip to Part II, Precipitation, click HERE I was waiting at a train station in the rain the other day, and I overheard a woman complaining, “They said only 20% chance of rain … Read More
Rounding the Windward and Offset Mark with a Symmetrical Spinnaker
By Andrew Kerr This article takes a look at the important elements of rounding the windward mark and offset mark with some key elements in mind for teams using a symmetrical spinnakers, with a few exceptions the vast majority of the elements that we explore apply to Asymmetric boats well. In this article we will … Read More
One Design Notebook: Developing a Team Position Chart
By Airwaves Writer Andrew Kerr One of the hardest things for a team to do is to field the same team at every race or regatta – inevitably someone cannot make the event and the team has to adapt with new crew, it is the reality of life that just about every team has to … Read More