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TopTip2020 #9 - Upwind Technique - by Tim Hire, UK
Tim Hire won the RS Aero 7 UK Youth Champs last year and narrowly missed taking the UK adult title too, finishing 3rd at the UK Nationals at East Lothian YC. As with any young sailor, Tim strives to build up the consistency which comes with experience and he achieved that at this winter's UK SailJuice Series finishing 4th from 660 entries! Speedy Tim is one of the fastest RS Aero 7 sailors out there upwind and here he shares back a couple of key lessons he has learnt on upwind angle and balance;
- 'Windy and Very Shifty Conditions - make sure not to sail too close to the wind in case you get a header and get dunked to windward. Instead, it is better to give up a couple of degrees to keep the boat powering consistently forward. This is especially relevant when sailing on small lakes where the wind oscillates so much that you would otherwise have to be constantly moving in and out of the boat which is hard to maintain over a long period of time.
- Moderate Winds - make sure to keep the boat completely flat to the point where it feels like you are heeling to windward (it is probably not!). Your heel can be checked by looking for the windward back corner of the transom - it should be just kissing the water. This reduces the amount of slip as well as the amount of rudder required, resulting in a fast boat.'
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01/04/2020 17:17:00
Peter Barton
Posts: 4692
