Monday Night Race 7-20-26

Monday Night Race 7-20-26

The “Don’t Be That Sailor” Guide to Success:

Kiss Your Shrouds: When going upwind, your jib should be just smooching the shroud. Trim it all the way in until the lower third of the sail and the shroud are whispering sweet nothings to each other. If it isn’t touching, you’re basically leaving degrees of pointing on the table.

Stop the Pinching: Pinching is for grandmas and cheeks, not sailboats. Sailing too close to the wind might feel like you’re taking a shortcut, but you’re actually just slowing down to a crawl. Keep your speed up, or prepare to be overtaken.

Every time you pinch the boat slows down and you lose momentum. As the boat slows the apparent wind speed drops. In order to get going you need to get the sails full. The boat will slowly start to build momentum and the apparent wind will increase and the boat will start going faster due to this increase in wind speed. When you pinch you undue all of those gains. Don’t pinch!

Downwind Drama: Don’t let your jib take a nap just because you’re heading for the leeward mark. Get it working! If wing-on-wing isn’t making your heart sing, head up on a reach to get those sails full.

Get the jib working downwind. You’ve got a sail here, don’t waste it. If it’s just flapping around it’s actually causing drag and slowing you down. If sailing by the lee wing on wing works – great. If not, head up on a reach and get it full. Otherwise, you might as well furl it.

Full gallery of pictures:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/h1WztMipfSyw2Gna9