HOME :: Travel-and-Leisure / Sailing How to Sail Fast in Moderate Winds - Tips From an Olympic Gold Medalist

Many, many years ago, I interviewed the late Sir William Northam, who had been sailing for only 13 years, after he won Australia's first Olympic Gold Medal for yachting in the 5.5 metre class at Tokyo in 1964.

Among many interesting hints about sailing in moderate winds, he told me this: "In the time I have been sailing -- admittedly not long -- I have learned one thing: I cannot tell whether a boat is going as it should unless it has a speedometer. I know that the purists will talk about the feel of the boat, and sound of the waves, and the ability of the speedometer to mislead. There is some truth in what they say. There certainly is a feel to a boat, you can tell something from the sound of the waves, a speedometer can be misleading. But I still use one -- a good one.

"I find that in the larger boats, where different weights of sail are used for different conditions, the speedometer will indicate which sail is doing the best job. In given conditions you can tell immediately whether a sail change has improved or retarded your progress. But you must be able to remember the conditions, the sail you use, and the speed you can get out of the boat, so that when the same things happen again you can tell whether or not the boat is at its peak."

Many of you will have got the point already. In the days before polar performance curves became commonly used to record a boat's performance under different circumstances and wind strengths, Bill was doing exactly the same, except that he was using his brain as the recording device, not a computer.

He believed that on the larger boats one should use different weights of sail for different conditions, but only for headsails. For the main he wanted one only for nearly all conditions but he would change its shape, when necessary, with equipment on the boat. He did this for the Olympics, the trials for the Olympics and for the Australian championships, and it was one of the main reasons for his success.

The only other main he used at Tokyo was one designed for very heavy weather, with which he won the fourth race.

Once again Bill was ahead of the game, keeping things simple, yet having great capacity to change his sail shape while underway.

He believed the headsail was the critical sail, and the way it was setting even more critical. His preference was for a slack foot and an easy, but not too easy, leech, and he adjusted the lead to get that setting.

As he said: "Of prime importance is the head of the sail, because you have so little up there that what you do have you must make the most of. The head should be tighter along the leech than elsewhere on the sail, but only marginally, so the air that has been used up can flow easily off it. If anything, the whole leech should be loose, but it must not curve in. The flow of the sail will be slightly forward of centre.

"When setting up the lead for the sail make sure that, while you retain the slack foot and easy leech, the sail still falls in evenly from head to tack when the boat is luffed. If the sail is set up like this she will point with the best of them, and we certainly found that in moderate weather in Tokyo no competitor could beat us on the wind. Many overseas boats carried headsails with large roaches, which gave them more area, but not more speed."

I am sure if Bill were still alive and sailing, he would have used modern technology to put himself ahead of the game again.

Copyright © 2008 Bevanda Pty Ltd

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