Last season one of our most experienced land sailors gave a presentation before the start of each race day, the aim was to assist new sailors to under stand how to set up there yachts and how to and what to look for while sailing. I was impressed by the presentation and feed back so I asked Graeme If it was OK to share it on here and he was more that happy to help.
The tutorial went over several meetings so I will post a bit at a time as I think it would be to much to observe at one time.

By Graeme Chandler – AUS20’

Enjoying the Challenge by Graeme Chandler AUS20

Chapter 1

I gave up motor racing to join this club in February 1987, Yes that is 27 years… that made me member No 74 since the clubs founding in 1969 as the Safety Bay Yacht Club. Renamed the Sandgropers in March 82. Landsailing should be an enjoyable challenge, the biggest thing in getting to the enjoyable part is to reduce the frustrations the challenge will always be there.

First is the dependence on the wind
we have no control over the wind and we need to accept that and learn to use what we get. To use the wind you need to be aware of the direction and strength at all times AT ALL TIMES That means not only when you are racing, but when you are in the pit area and rigging your yacht.

How long do you take to rig your yacht? Is it hard work? If it is, look at another way. Think about how to use the wind to help rig your sail. If you tip your mast down wind BEING AWARE OF THE WIND DIRECTION stand at the head of the mast and flip the sail out away from you so that when you slide it on to the mast it will not fold back over the mast head. When you take your sail off tip the mast into the wind, pull the sail off and roll it from the head down. Now with the sail on and the yacht laying down – think about whether you fit your sheet now, or stand the yacht up. If you lay the mast directly down wind and fit the sheet, when you stand it up it will be square to the wind and likely to power up the sail. If you can’t turn the yacht head to wind, then don’t fit the sheet, but when you do stand it up DON’T WALK AWAY. Un-maned yachts sail very well.

Still on parking the yacht-, when you come in after a race, or a sail, finish up heading into the wind and not just front on to the car park if you leave the yacht standing disconnect the sheet. And we’re not even out of the parking area yet.

Now the matter of equipment,
Reliability and performance. RELIABILITY for me there is only one rule do all the maintenance before coming to the lake. Then, come early enough to do what you missed or forgot. Wind powered equipment works best with the least DRAG; The tyres being the point of contact contribute a large portion of the drag in the form of ROLLING RESISTANCE what water sailors call FORM RESISTANCE CLUB 88 sailors inherit the 400-8 TYRE -- the rib pattern works better than the diamond or road pattern -- remember these tyres are rated to 220 KG @ 30KPH and NOT FOR HIGHWAY USE. That is a third of the speeds we run them at, and about the same load, and in tyre terms, CONTINUOUS or HIGHWAY USE. From the ground up Tyres are the items requiring most frequent inspection, and attention Are they FLAT? what PRESSURE should they be? is there CANVAS SHOWING? (or close too), do you have a SPARE ready? The 400-8 tyres have a maximum of 42 PSI (3 bar for the metric folk)...I run 30 psi in the rear and 2O psi in the front. (THAT’S A TIP) Although secondary to the tyres the bearings are very important, they need to carry the load with the least resistance. There is a choice of bearings for the ‘88’ wheels; UNGROUND (cheap) wheelbarrow type or DEEP GROOVE BALL The DEEP GROOVE BALL bearings can be SHIELDED or SEALED. SHIELDED is a non-contact steel shield, and SEALED is a rubber contact seal. If you use the SEALED type remove the inner seal, and lubricate with LIGHT OIL, NOT GREASE. What do I use DEEP GROOVE BALL. Moving right along; AXLES;…are your axles straight? The CLUB 88 has no provision for adjustment so straight axles are essential. STEERING; is the cable tension correct? Have you greased the king pin? Is the front wheel vertical when you are running straight? If not you will be better on one tack than the other.

Part One.

Cheers Vic.
I have NO doubt this information will be of great use to all and sundry.
We are very fortunate that fellas like Graeme and yourself take the time and effort to write up, present and share this info ,as it has the potential to save the average punter a heck of a lot of pain and frustration.
I strongly feel it should be a pinned topic that can be accessed straight off the bat, without risk of third parties muddying the waters so to speak.

Enjoying the Challenge by Graeme Chandler AUS20

THE FRAME
The FRAME provides a rolling platform to keep the sail upright and allow the change of direction. Keeping the sail upright offers the greatest area to the wind.
A 10° HEEL is a 1.5% loss of area and at 30° is 14% less.

ROLLING RESISTANCE I mentioned in Chapter 1.

The other DRAG for land yachts is WIND RESISTANCE.
‘CLASS 5’ excludes ‘STREAMLINING’ but not minimisation. That is reducing the frontal area. STAY LOW AND FLAT. A simple statement that really means keep everything tidy and tucked in. The difference between LAMINAR and TURBULENT flow is really quite small in the wind resistance equation, but critical in the sail performance. For the sail we want LAMINAR FLOW, for the rest of the yacht we have mostly TURBULENT FLOW. CLASS 5 yachts have a forntal area of aprox 0.8M2. that equates to a wind force of 1.5kg at 12N. This is exponential.

Now for the HELM. Did you know you had one?Your yacht may have a WHEATER or LEE HELM. It should be neutral.In motoring terms this is the tendency to under or over steer which depends on the polar centre. When sheeted in on a tack, if the rear wheels slip away with the wind, this is a wheather helm. If the front wheel slips away with the wind, it is a lee helm. The position of the MAST STEP and your body weight determine which of these you have. ‘CLUB 88’s can not move the mast step so it is your body position that can be changed by moving the seat forward or back. For displacement yachts this can be changed by moving the crew or ballast to windward or to lee. For most of us (85th percentile) we should have our hips in line with the rear wheels. It is a good exercise to know what the weight distribution of your yacht actually is. Moving the mast step, or the changing the rake of the mast will move the CENTER OF EFFORT of the sail relative to the yacht and change the helm

The CENTER OF EFFORT is the point that is a result of the forces on the sail. For a ‘CLUB 88’ it is about 2 metres up and 800 back from the mast. On 88’s this point is very close to directly above the mainsheet and not movable.

WHEEL ALIGNMENT can be another contributor to drag.The front wheel should be vertical and aligned with the keel. The rear wheels can have a little toe-in,but no toe-out. The CLUB 88 specification for the rear wheel camber is 2.5°, My yacht is 8°. ‘CLASS 5’ yachts must pass through a 2 metre gate, make the most of this and run close to the maximum. I hope this Chapter has made you consider what you currently do, or reminded you of what you should do, or reinforced what you actually do, or maybe entertained you for a few minutes. My qualification for the preceding information and comments are that I am an Engineering Design Draftsman with 53 years of engineering and 27 years of land sailing experience.

Enjoying the Challenge by Graeme Chandler AUS20


Part two of chapter 3

WHAT ANGLE SHOULD YOU SET UP AT ON THE START LINE?
Getting off the start line clear ahead is the best place to be. You are setting up your yacht to the wind, that may be off the square to the line. Set your yacht so that you can sit on the line with the sheet all out whitout any effort to hold your position.This should allow you to power up the sail to a point that the yacht is almost dragging just before the start signal. More about this in the next Chapter.

DO YOU HAVE TELLTALES? Can you read them? Do you use them? Not much to reading them in good winds, very important in light winds, the only measure of how well the sail is working.

ROUNDING MARKS, in motor racing now the modern style is, stop late, turn in hard, power out. That will not work in land sailing, you need to flow through all roundings, tacks and jibes. Make all your roundings with consideration of the wind direction and the position of the next mark. You may be better continuing past the mark on the same tack to get a better line to the next mark.

Chapter 4
I hope you now understand your yacht a little better - let’s get down to a few tips and prctices for racing. Do you race for the competition, or for fun? The more efficient your technique, the better results for both. My opening remark of Chapter 1 was, “LANDSAILING SHOULD BE AN ENJOYABLE CHALLENGE”. If, you have now removed all the frustrations from before the start, we can get underway and enjoy the challenge. Make sure you understand the starting procedure for scratch, and handicap races. If you sail somewhere else these may be differnent. Such as the Morel starting grid and orange zones at turning marks. Get to the start line as promptly as you can. That will reduce the frustration of others as well. Don’t sail into the starting grid at speed, IT’S DANGEROUS. MARK WEBBER’S POOR STARTS MADE A No.1 QUALIFIER INTO A PROFESSIONAL PLACE GETTER When you practice, practice starting, not just sailing up and back. Practice starting without pushing,feel the power of the sail, sheeting in too quickly will stall the sail. You want to feel the drive as you accelerate. As you get to nearly close hauled most of the pressure on the sheet is actually bending the mast. Have you determined your best start line angle?
DO YOU KNOW THE WIND DIRECTION? There is only one generalisation about the wind, it is always shifting, direction, and strength. How you deal with this is a significant part of your ability to sail competitively.

Back to the START LINE. Set your yacht so that you can sit on the line with the sheet all out whitout any effort to hold your position. This should allow you to power up the sail to a point that the yacht is almost dragging just before the start signal. If you get overpowered on the line, don’t struggle to hold your yacht, you won’t win. go around and set up again at a better angle. If your sail flaps, you are pointing too high, or you need to limit your sheet. Flapping will damage the sail. When I set my yacht on the line I keep my front wheel turned to windward until just before the start signal. That allows me to absorb wind shifts, or lifts, without breaching the line. The diffenence between shifts and lifts; shifts are the change in direction, lifts are the change in strength Be sensitive to a shift ahead and bring your yacht around to it. To a lesser degree for a shift abeam. In fleet racing the first decision is “HOW MUCH DO I GET INVOLVED WITH THE FLEET”. This is most critical on the beat to the first mark in a scratch race when most of the fleet will be together. Stay with the fleet, or break away? The considerations are, wind shadow and right-of-way The courses we sail appear complex but really do not have many track options, this means the fleet will not split to opposite tacks very often. Remember wind shadow is not directly behind other yachts but at the apparent wind angle. Where the dust is. Try to stay out of the wind shadows, but remember everybody else should be trying to do the same. If you break away, will it give you right-of-way at the next mark or put you in conflict with the fleet? When you are on a tack, head up on every advantage shift you get, even if it puts you more above the lay line, the next shift may be against you, if you fall below the lay line that means an extra tack. When you are approaching a port rounding, on a port tack, yachts on a starboard tack, to your right, have right-of-way. If you can’t cross clear ahead you must cross behind. It is very rare that you can tack under the right-of-way yacht that is laying the mark and still make the mark. don’t turn sharply on the marks, or when you tack, that will slow you down considerably. Keep the flow by setting up early for the turn, or run on past the mark. Keep the power as long as you can. On turning a down-wind mark onto a reach, you should be almost on the next lay line before you reach the mark. When you are reaching the same applies as tacking, head up on every advantage shift or lift. Downwind; like catamarans and skiffs we tack downwind to get better than wind speed. Rounding a mark to downwind should be done to put you on what is a broad reach, this may require over-running the mark before you jibe. Rounding any mark should be done with the next mark in consideration and THE WIND DIRECTION. Have i mentioned that before? In any race there will be many judgement calls to be made between the marks as well as at the marks, it is not always best to follow someone else. In my view, you need a good reason to go past your defined turning point. Early tacks need to give you an advantage, either when you tack, or at the next mark. Be ready to change you course depending on the wind, or the fleet, don’t just sail the same as the last lap.

To recap a few of the things I have said in this very short series - Do your maintenance before you get here. Use the wind to set up your yacht don’t fight it. Always park your yacht head to wind. Practice starting. Define a turning point. Use all the wind indicators, and your teltails Stay above the lay line. Head up on every shift or lift. Sail two marks ahead. Keep your momentum. I hope you have gained something from what i have offered in these comments. As I said in Chapter 1, nothing of my yacht setup or how I sail is a secret. just ask. After 27 years I still find land sailing AN ENJOYABLE CHALLENGE.

Many thanks to Graeme for kindly allowing me to share this tutorial , I am sure that it will help a lot of sailors

The best way to learn something is by teaching others