Having trouble with the corners?

Paul Brotherton has some suggestions

Q: I own a 29er. It’s great fun in straight lines but corners are a nightmare, there always seems to be something different going wrong. Any suggestions?

A: My immediate advice would be to try and understand the boat’s balance, before getting too involved in the huge number of specific individual mechanical movements involved in each manoeuvre - whether that be a tack, gybe, hoist, drop or whatever.

But while you are going through this process of learning about balance, or when you’ve achieved it, it’s also possible to look in detail at the mechanics of those manoeuvres.

The best way to do this is to take away as many distractions as possible, like flapping sails, waves and shouting! This is best done by strapping your boat down in the dinghy park to its trolley and trailer, but make sure that you have a good quality trailer that supports the hull properly. If you don’t, put down plenty of padding on a sand or grass surface and then put the boat on that. Secure it to some anchor points so it doesn’t move, and try to ensure that the boat is roughly at the same angle as it would be in the water.

Begin with a single manoeuvre, let’s say that you start with your gybing.

Crew first, with a harness on, hook up on the trapeze wire and hold the spinnaker sheet. It’s possible to replicate sheet tension by tying some shock cord to the forestay and connecting it to the end of the sheets.

Slowly and thoroughly perform all the tasks required to cross the boat; easing the sheet, unhooking, sheeting the kite on the new side, hooking up onto the wire and extending on the new side.

Initially this should take some time, but at each step, keep asking yourself:

· How can I make this easier?
· How can I economise my movements?
· Can I change the order of my movements?
· Where should I put my feet?
· Which hand should I grab the new sheet and trapeze hook with?

Perhaps your team mate can stand aside, and after watching for a while they may be able to offer suggestions.

Once you are happy that you have a good economical order for the specific movements - get your team mate to write them down and number them.

Now practise, slowly at first - it is absolutely essential that the order is maintained. Once the order is ingrained in your brain, begin increasing your speed until the individual actions become one flowing movement.

Get your team mate to time them. I would estimate that the total time wire-to-wire, incorporating hand and sheet movements and footwork, will be between four and six seconds. It’s not surprising that crews are sometimes not on the wire with the spinnaker full, if the skipper has only given them two seconds because they have gybed too quickly!

The skipper should now jump in, repeating the above routine for their specific actions. Once complete, the skipper’s and the crew’s actions can be spliced together. Now comes the awkward bit ... try it on the water!