Many beginner sailors find sailing upwind more intimidating that it needs to be – this explanation will give you an understanding that you can practice next time you go sailing – a basic online sailing lesson for beginners and some ideas that will also help intermediate sailors. Big thanks to Parz Kazuri (Patrick Ruiz) for inspiring this section. This is a section of our free online sailing lessons.
All Free Online Sailing Lessons – Index
- Sailing Upwind with less effort
- Increase confidence in Stronger Winds
- Downwind with less distress
- Gusts, Gybes and tacks easily
- Not hitting other boats and more
We are interested in a practical approach with the absolute minimum of sailing jargon.
There are only five words of terminology in the whole article and you will know most of them already.
Compare that to your “favourite learn to sail” book where there are dozens each page.
There is only one correct position for the sail regardless of the direction you are sailing.
The sail is always put at the correct angle for the wind direction. As we have seen above … there is only one right direction and the sail and boat will tell you when that happens.
When the sail is oriented correctly the boat will get a “KICK” like a turbo feeling and you will feel the boat is sailing faster. Be a bit off and the boat will sail badly. We want this KICK all the time.
If the boat feels sluggish rather than lively on the water the best thing to do is EASE the sail. But here are more details.
From left to right
- Flapping is obvious
- Sail is angled to the wind slowly and the sail fill from the back. The front it still blowing in the other direction. This is called Luffing.
- Sail is pulled in a little tighter – when the luffing just disappears the sail will provide a noticeable “KICK” as power and then speed increases on a light responsive boat like the Oz Goose.
- Sail is too tight and insidiously it feels like more power for a moment, but then the boat goes slower and slower. Many beginner and intermediate sailors will sail around like this for a long time, not realising that they are going very slow. It is called oversheeting
The importance of feeling boat speed – if slow then the sails need to be adjusted.
If the sail is not luffing but the boat feels very slow then the sail is usually pulled in too tight.
How to check?
The test of the right angle of the sail for power is finding the luffing again by easing the sail out and pulling it in again until the luffing just disappears. Beginners should practice this continuously around every 10 seconds – a tiny ease of the sail, see if it luffs. Rule 1 – wind direction is always changing.
- If the sail luffs, pull it in again until the luffing just disappears. (left pic)
- If the sail doesn’t luff, continue easing it out until the luffing appears, then pull in the sail slightly to remove the luffing. (right pic)
Some will say to check this with steering the boat – this is wrong advice for dinghies. It is best to use the sheet to ease the sail as it is an instant test. Steering the boat takes time and if you were wrong then you have to steer back – you lose speed for longer.
Easing the sail actually increases speed if you were at the wrong angle.
How does this advice look for sailing in different directions?
Yes … the sail stays at the same direction to the wind for most steering directions. It is the boat that changes direction. But when the hull changes direction the sail has to be adjusted to retain the correct angle.
The sail on the left without the boat shows the correct angle with the luffing just gone – the sail has the power KICK.
The sail angle does not change relative to the wind, but the boat hull angle to the sail changes radically!
The middle three drawings above show the boat going in different directions with this perfectly trimmed sail. Eased until the sail luffs, then pulled in slightly.
We put a figure 8 knot (diagram and video here) in the mainsheet to prevent the boom going beyond 90 degrees – right side of the drawing above – maybe around 80 degrees is safer for absolute beginners.
When the sail sheet hits the knot and stops – if there is no luffing then the sail is at the best possible angle. At least until we start talking about advanced sailing.
Practical 1 – Continuous sail trim
These practicals assume the wind is moderate – definitely no white caps and not so light that the water has no ripples and waves.
Practice 1 – sail parallel to the waves for 200 to 400 metres adjust the sail every 5 or 10 seconds easing it to find the luffing and when you find the luffing, pull it in to get rid of the luffing. Turn around and do the same back to in front of your starting point.
This is important because the wind is always changing direction and the boat changes direction too. So the correct angle of the sail has to be found around every 10 seconds.
Don’t worry! Over time it becomes automatic – but a big thrill to know that you have control of the power.
Practical 2 – feel the power disappear when sail is too loose or too tight – FEEL THE KICK when right
Practice 2 – Same exercise as above, but …
This time ease the sail until around 20% of the sail is luffing. Now trim it correctly. FEEL THE KICK.
Now you have found the kick, pull in the sail two arm pulls and wait to see what happens. Speed will drop slowly. Now trim it correctly. FEEL THE KICK and the boat will accelerate again.
How does the sail angle look on the boat for sailing upwind?
For the Oz Goose and boat with one sail like the Laser, Optimist, Joel White Nymph, many of the Bolger homebuilt boats, many of the designs by Iain Oughtred, John Welsford, Jim Michalak this method works just fine.
So lets look at the simple case of one sail.
The ideal theoretical sheeting angle for a single sail or any front sail of a sailboat is around 10 degrees from the centreline of the boat. Middle boat in the drawing below shows the accurate angle. See the boom is over the corner of the transom. This is a useful visual guide when sailing.
I have drawn these as accurately as possible. As you see the sail angle to the wind is the same for maximum power, but boat angle to the wind is changed.
This is acceleration mode.
Boom is out beyond the corner of the transom. But not too far.
Boom position for the “Pointing/Normal mode”.
If speed starts dropping then go back to acceleration mode.
Boom position for Oz Goose in Very light wind looks like this.
Or any time it is difficult to get speed upwind.
You can see the boats are barely moving
Practice 3 – Look through these photos and look at the boom angles of the boats. Work out if they are in acceleration mode, normal/pointing mode or light wind mode
Practice 4 – on the beach turn the boat so the wind is coming from the side.
Put the boom at the angle for acceleration mode.
Put the boom at the angle for normal upwind sailing (Pointing mode) – that is the 10 degree angle
Put the boom at the angle for light wind
One of the great tricks for racing is to look at which boats are going fast and then copy their boom position.
Sailing upwind as a process – in medium wind strength
Diagram
Left image – Start to trim the sail to get rid of luffing. Change the boat direction until the boat is sailing happily in acceleration mode.
Now turn the boat upwind – middle image – the mainsail will luff a little.
Pull sail in to get rid of luffing. Boom position is now closer to the upwind/normal mode.
If the boom is not in that position yet then point a little higher to make the sail luff a tiny amount and pull in the boom to get rid of the luffing again
Problem 1 – If Sail starts luffing – you steer to just get rid of luffing
Diagram – heading upwind and sail starts luffing a little
Sometimes the sail will start luffing when in upwind mode. This means the wind has changed direction or you are still getting used to steering.
Steer down gently until the luffing just disappears. When it disappears look at the mast, line it up with something in the background and make sure the boat is NOT continuing to turn.
Losing Speed – Losing the KICK power zone from the sail – avoiding oversheeting
Having the sail too tight is the worst situation as we have seen at the beginning above. How do we avoid it?
The best way is for beginners and most of us still learning to find the KICK power zone is to do this about every 10 seconds. As you practice more you will know the feeling of the KICK zone so won’t need to do this so often
Diagram – avoiding oversheeting upwind. Some think this is an example of two boats racing. It is showing two choices for one boat.
Finding the BEST speed sailing upwind
If speed feels low it is always safe to ease the sail and get speed back in acceleration mode before trying pointing/normal mode again.
If speed always disappears every time you try pointing/normal mode then try sailing with the boom a bit further out in pointing/normal mode.
In lighter wind or rough water this may be necessary at times.
Pointing higher shortens the distance you have to travel to windward. If you sail upwind in acceleration mode the boat has more distance to cover.
In pointing mode the boat reaches the top mark well before the one sailing in acceleration mode.
Speed is important too. Sailing out of the KICK zone of the sail is bad too. Never be afraid to ease the sail to luff a little to find the KICK power zone.
Rather than the aim being in Pointing/Normal mode all the time, our aim is to keep the boat moving fast and be as close as we can to Pointing/Normal mode as much as possible.
So it is best to try and pull the boom in when you can to point higher.
But if speed starts dropping the boom can go out a little until you find the best balance of speed and pointing.
| Useful tip about target UPWIND speeds and GPS for Oz Goose sailors. (OK to use GPS Speedometer Apps while practicing – but not for racing) We sometimes use a GPS to research the best speeds for our 12ft boats to go upwind. We find that when the wind is so that the crew is just sitting comfortably on the side deck that the upwind speed should be around 4 to 4.2 knots. When the crew is hiking out and the boat is moving faster around 5 to 5.5 knots. Pull the boom in more to go slower. Boom out to go faster. Always trying to bring the boom in but retiaing the speed. |
Summary How to Sail Upwind Tutorial
Know how the different boom angles look on your boat. Upwind/Normal, Acceleration mode and Light Wind Mode.
If in doubt about boat speed, ease the sail and see if it luffs.
If the sail luffs pull it in again until the luffing just stops – the sail trim was correct.
If the sail does not luff, ease the sail more until it does luff. Pull it in a little so the luffing disappears – you are now in acceleration mode. Then go through the routine to move from acceleration mode to Pointing/Normal Mode.
If boat feels sluggish with boom in Normal pointing mode even with the power KICK then try moving the boom outward a few inches (50mm) and steer to get rid of the luffing.
It is wrong to sail upwind in only one mode. Being able to chance to acceleration mode to get speed and then to pointing mode to sail high is the best way
Good luck with your practice!
Links to Two Sections on Upwind Sailing in Stronger winds.
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