To better sail upwind, the sine qua non condition is to practice as much as possible. And a hundred times on the job, you'll put your work back on... It's a look of observation and sensations. Sailing sharpens one's senses, but progress will be faster if one looks in the right direction. So here are the keys to success: training, concentration and tuning.
A concentration of every moment
The helmsman must focus his attention, all his attention, on a loop of 3 information: heel, speed, angle to the wind. Easy to say, but incredibly hard to do without interruption
- The wind angle: that's base?!
Sailing upwind is first of all sailing close to the wind, so the genoa is trimmed as best as possible and the helmsman must be obsessed with the genoa's pennons. The threshold zone is the apparent wind angle at which the boat will be able to sail up. To get upwind, the first thing to do is not to get too far away from it.
- The gîte : it's néfaste?!
Lodging is slippery, so we have to keep a reasonable average lodging. It is often said that you have to "sail flat" so that the anti-drift plans are as effective as possible. A boat that heels too much will increase its drift. You can feel the heel under your buttocks, so the helmsman must take the best position to be sensitive to it.
- Speed: it's nécessaire?!
The helmsman has to concentrate on speed, it's the key to upwind sailing because drift decreases with speed . Speed can often be read on a screen with speedometers and GPS. But hearing and sight are also very good sensory sensors capable of measuring speed to sound and sight in the wake.
