On the practice day at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series St. Petersburg we mic-up world champion Willem Van Waay and Olympian Stephanie Roble to listen and learn how the top sailors get their J/70 around the racecourse.
Neat to watch and both hear and see what's being looked at tactically as well as on the boat itself. The details are important, and this crew is working to get those right - sail trim, weight distribution, tracking competition - but not to the point of forgetting where the next mark is. Using the crew weight to help power the boat through a tack was something I'd not seen. Very cool.
Thank you for watching. The plan is for more! Let me know who you’d love to listen in on and which classes or types of racing (one design, handicap etc)
I sailed in a one design fleet a few years. We won just about every race Kicked some butts at the nationals and we talked about just about everything except sailing the boat.. our team was so good
Niklas--use of the jib in the pre-start is a powerful tool being used in the J/70 class especially. Furl in/out depending on speed and maneuverability desired. Next-level stuff for these pros!
@@sailingworld Thats correct, but there is no pre Start here. They are going downwind in realy light air an the jib is out for only 15s. Makes no sense for me.
@@niklasd2014 Sorry, I didn't notice your first post called out the maneuver at 7 minutes. Good excuse for me to watch the video again. At about 7:15, they were paying attention to the boat behind, called a puff, set the jib, noted the wind going forward, and talked about going into VMG mode. Seems they briefly deployed the jib to move forward on the boat behind rather than turn down in the knock.
Some of the unspoken and repeated glasses of "chardonnay" on the downwind leg would have received my "red napkin" as they were not linked to shifts, wind increases or steering, but rather skilled dinghy sailors who will take advantage of subtle pumping when no one is looking....except its on camera. "Up 1" - pumps 3 times......yeah, no.
I'm absolutely confused at watching this video, I don't hear any instruction or teaching being offered. According to the title, I was hoping to hear some teaching, where somebody was saying this is why we're doing this or that because we want this effect or that effect.
Listen to how they all communicate. There’s no idle chatter going on it’s all about the boat speed, puffs, competitors, and next mark. Their roll tacks are all well coordinated and there’s one person calling the time to “squash.” I also heard a code word (Chardonnay) just below the start line to put some heel on the boat. I’d say the key lesson here is teamwork and constant communication.
These are pros/serious competitors, not beer can racing with brand new folks every week - but everything they're doing can apply, as long as your crew doesn't mind an evening of listening to what sounds like Elizabeth Holmes directing flight ops on the Nimitz...