Do you regard reaching, while fun, merely as a connection between beats? Or perhaps you struggle to keep up with the pack? Then read on, you may well pick up some good tips here! The article assumes there is sufficient wind to promote planing on reaches.

Most of us have played 'Ducks and Drakes' or skimming stones over water (no, I haven't lost it, this IS going somewhere). Have you worked out how this can happen? After all, stones SINK in water, right? Well, they do if they rely only on their BUOYANCY for support (DISPLACEMENT condition). However, skim them over the water at speed and the other way of staying afloat comes into play - DYNAMIC forces take over and the stone is actually PLANING.

Consider the (simplified) diagram below of a planing boat. As you can see, it takes relatively little force to push the boat at lower speeds. As it approaches a certain speed, the force required to drive it rises dramatically.
This is called HULL SPEED and is as fast as a boat NOT designed to plane (a DISPLACEMENT boat) will go, however much driving force you apply!

However, a Splash is a good planing design.
As more driving force is now applied, the DYNAMIC forces acting on the hull start to lift it out of the water and PLANING commences. The reward for all that hard work going past hull speed is now given in the form of a dramatic rise in speed with hardly any extra effort.

THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR BOAT FOR EVERY SECOND POSSIBLE - THE ZOOM ZONE!.

Still awake? Then read on…

The graph over the page demonstrates how this combines with the amount of drive the rig produces at various points of sail The radial lines are the boat heading in relation to the wind. The speed achieved at that angle is represented by the plot of the blue line along them.


Not surprisingly, you don't go very fast if you sit head to wind (in fact you will go backwards, but who's counting?) No surprises either to note that the fastest point of sail is a broad reach.
However, isn't it surprising that you actually slow down as you go onto a dead run? There is a very good reason for this and it is fundamental to getting the best out of a really broad reach / near-run, but more of that later.
So the trick is to get into to the ZOOM ZONE earlier and come out later. 'But how?' scream both still in the audience. There are several answers to this, but learn them and you will not only have BAGS of fun but will gain you places!

Boat settings
'Cos you've already read the set-up and tuning articles,
you have your rig set to get every last ounce (gramme to you lot) of drive out of it, haven't you?
Trim
and because you know the basic techniques article back to front, you've got the trim bang on, right?
Balance
You are sailing your boat bolt upright, yes???
What to do in a gust while broad or beam reaching
The correct way to start this section is to state what NOT to do. When the gust comes, DON'T ALLOW THE BOAT TO HEEL TO LEEWARD! If you do, those steering forces you already know about will take over and by the time you have everything under control, (assuming you are not horizontal), you will have wasted all that power you've been gifted, as well as using up valuable energy and stamina.

How to keep it upright? Try this out - it works, believe me!

Imagine a car going round a corner quickly. We all know it leans outwards, due to centrifugal forces (anyone making smart remarks about centripetal forces will be banished to a topper for life). The same applies to your Splash when you turn at speed. So, if a gust is trying to push you over to leeward, provided you are travelling at speed, bearing away will produce countering forces helping to keep you upright. This is why you must not allow the boat to heel and slow - you lose the ability to deal with the gust.



Here's the gen: You are reaching at a good speed. The gust comes and the boat starts to heel. You lean your weight out, obviously. You also move your weight aft to lift the bows a bit. You ease the mainsheet and pull the tiller to bear away KEEPING THE BOAT FLAT! You will accelerate at a remarkable rate, I promise! As you regain control, you can gradually sheet in again to get the best out of the wind while staying bolt upright.

What this does is to take the force of the gust and turn it efficiently into boat speed. When travelling faster, the apparent wind over the stern quarter drops (you are sailing away from the wind) and it becomes easier to handle the gust.

'But I will be sailing the wrong course!' the cry goes up. Don't worry. I have a plan…

The next challenge is when the gust passes and you are still hiked out in the teabag position. Answer: do exactly the opposite. Bring your weight in and move forwards a little to keep good trim. At the same time, sheet in and push the tiller STILL KEEPING THE BOAT UPRIGHT. The centrifugal force is now working the opposite way and helping to keep your bum out of the water while you readjust your weight. You are now using the momentum of the boat to travel across the wind more and create apparent wind flow over the sail. This will prolong your plane for a few moments longer, gaining those valuable inches (sorry, centimetres) against the opposition.

Looking at the diagram below, you can see that, as you bear away to gain speed, you start to sail under the proper course. When the inevitable lull comes and you sheet in and harden up, this brings you back onto and eventually above the true course, ready to bear away on the next gust. Simple, huh?

When you master this, you can balance your boat in gusty conditions by working the sheet and helm in this way.

Remember, have regard for rule 42 - you are allowed one pump only to promote planing!

GOLDEN RULES OF THIS TECHNIQUE:
1) Don't let the boat heel to leeward in the gust
2) Don't allow the speed to die or you will lose the centrifugal force.
3) Don't let the boat heel to leeward in the gust
4) Maintain correct balance and trim
5) Don't let the boat heel to leeward in the gust
6) DON'T try to ride it out by just hiking out - you will quickly become very tired and will not travel so fast.
7) And, of course, Don't let the boat heel to leeward in the gust !!!!!

Fine reaching;
As mentioned in the Basic Techniques article, a fine reach is the most physically demanding point of sail. The reason for this is that, although you are almost close-hauled and therefore experience a lot of heeling force off the rig, you don't have the luxury of sheeting right in hard and flattening the sail off… or perhaps you do!

The basics are the same, the difference is that, in the lulls, you sheet in (right in onto close-hauled to de-power the rig if necessary) and make ground to windward. When the gust comes, you can then bear away onto a much faster (and easier to manage) reach, hardening up again when the gust dies.

Apart from making a faster passage, it is much less tiring than fighting a fully powered-up rig.

Almost a run
A sail works in just the same way as a bird's wing - by the action of air flowing over it. When you are on a dead run, there is no effective airflow over the sail - it is now working about the same as a parachute (much less efficiently). This is why your boat speed drops as the true wind comes round dead behind.
.
As you turn slightly onto a reach, air starts to flow over the sail, producing more drive and you accelerate. This increases the APPARENT WIND FLOW (ask your dad, he'll know) over the sail, producing yet more drive and, bingo! You're on a screamer!

All you have to do, then, is the opposite to the broad reach technique. Harden slightly onto a broad reach during the gusts (very little change of course is normally necessary) and bear away onto a dead run during the lulls to get back on course, or even below it.

This is the reason why it is best not to be tempted to sail high on a near-run. As you approach the mark, you will have to be on a dead run and therefore have minimum boat speed - just at the time when you need some extra speed for your mark tactics! Conversely, if you have sailed slightly low, you can approach the mark on a broad reach and at speed.

Got all that? Good! Now go out there and do some buddy sailing and make it work - the more you practice this, the more effective it is.

BY THE WAY… nearly forgot to mention something important:

DON'T ALLOW YOUR BOAT TO HEEL IN THE GUSTS!!!