Steering well takes practice. I agree with you 100% about
pointing too high. Most people pinch. It is frustrating to me
to see it and point it out, and then be ignored while the
competition walks over us. The smartest thing a helmsman
can do is listen to his crew when they tell him he is pinching.

I've seen great starts and great leads blown by pinching drivers.
You can coach someone during a start and they will listen--when
they are stressed out, but once things settle down on a beat, then
the helmsman wants to assert himself and won't listen.

Also it is common for other boats to point higher when
someone else is watching. The idea being--point high when
someone is watching, and get them to pinch and slow down.
Crew will report when someone is pointing higher than you,
and that reinforces the pinching syndrome. The helmsman
freaks out, points higher, and slows the boat down.

*****

I've also seen one minor change in rigging make a significant
improvement in boat speed. Which is why I posed this
question.

The one that comes to mind is headstay or forestay length.
Adding one inch on an Express 37 I crewed on moved us up
the fleet from the bottom third to top half overnight. We've
talked about this in past discussions.

Ken Read made a change like this to help him with his
impressive series in last years Etchells worlds.



OzOne wrote

Bart, I just love this stuff and to be very honest, often the cause of
lack of pace uphill is the wiggler.

Either that or you've got yourself fooled that you are actually going
as high as the other boat.

Often, he is actually sailing a tad lower and faster than you but uses
gusts to let the boat climb ever so slightly to make up the difference
whereas you are sailing high and slow the whole time.

I love one design!

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 07:47:29 GMT, "Bart Senior"
scribbled thusly:

I would think you'd like this question. An Etchells
article got me thinking about this again.

OzOne wrote
On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 05:00:38 GMT, "Bart Senior"
scribbled thusly:

You are sailing in a one-design fleet.

Your sail trim is good, your crew coordination
is fine, your boat bottom is clean and perfect.

You are following the fastest boat in the fleet,
pointing as well, and factors like crew weight
and position are the same. Sail trim looks
identical between the two boats.

But the other boat has consistent better speed
upwind, while you have similar speed downwind.

What factors might be making the other boat faster?

You're a tiller wiggler!

Oz1...of the 3 twins.