ISSUE 106:  The Importance of Changing Gears

My favorite sailor, Buddy Melges, is fond of describing one of the secrets to his many successes over the years. “You just have to present your boat for Mother Nature,” says Buddy. What he means is that you must change the trim of your boat and sails so you’re ready for whatever puffs, lulls or shifts Mother Nature sends your way.
     Buddy grew up sailing on the small, shifty lakes around Wisconsin and he knows that ‘changing gears’ (adjusting the set-up of your boat) is absolutely critical to keep going fast. You can’t trim your sails for maximum performance in seven knots of wind and expect that same trim to work when the wind increases to nine knots or drops to five.
     I have always liked Buddy’s use of the word “present” to describe this process. In order to “present your boat for Mother Nature,” you must get it all ready before Mother Nature arrives. In other words, you have to anticipate the changes that are coming and make the necessary changes before they reach you.
For example, if you first become aware of a puff when you feel your boat start to heel over, it’s too late. You are already losing power, failing to accelerate quickly, and turning your rudder too far to fight excess windward helm. You didn’t present your boat for Mother Nature.
     Instead, you should have seen the puff on the water before it hit you. This way you could have changed gears (by hiking harder,  dropping the traveler, getting a little extra backstay, etc.) just before and as the puff hit. The energy that was previously wasted (because it went into heeling the boat and/or spilled off the sails) is now used to move the boat forward.

The Car Analogy
One of the best ways to improve your boatspeed is to increase the percentage of time that you spend sailing in the right “gear.” For the sake of simplicity, sailors often    describe a sailboat, like a car, as having several gears. These cover the range of upwind sailing and are described in on pages 14-15.
First gear is used to accelerate when you are going slowly, while fourth gear is used to handle excess power when you are cruising at full speed. Third is used when you have maximum pointing, and second is a transition from first to third.
     These four gears are not defined in black-and-white – they are simply helpful guides. Honestly, I don’t know of any sailor who says, “Let’s shift into second gear now.”?But I know many good sailors who anticipate changes in conditions and continually make all the trim adjustments on the next two pages.
Obviously, you don’t have time to make every change listed for each gear. So you have to prioritize. The key settings are the ones that will have the biggest immediate impact ­ – like your mainsheet, jib sheet, boat heading and position of crew weight. The most important thing  is to be proactive, not reactive. Be sure to present your boat for the wind and waves that are coming.  •