On the Water - Crewwork

To sum up the science and art of making a sailboat move into a single post is perhaps the ultimate exercise in futility - made no easier by my lack of familiarity with fancy instaweb tools like graphics. For this i apologize, and i'll therefore try to keep it simple.

Sailing (assuming you are trying to get somewhere and not just out enjoying a cruise) involves 2 seemingly simple tasks; find the wind, and given the wind, make the boat go as fast as it can. All sailboats have a crew that (during a race) are completely focused on these two tasks. This is true for all boats, from the smallest dinghy crewed by a single hand, to the America's Cup Class boats (ACC) which carry 16. On the Parlay, we liked to have at least 5, and sometimes as many as 10 - in practice, this made us more similar to the ACC boats than the dinghies so that will be my focus.

All crews have a "brain trust", even if all members have other responsibilities in addition to this. First, there is a Captain or Skipper, who is in charge of making all final decisions in the race. ACC boats will also typically carry a Navigator and a Tactician, as well as a Helmsman, whose job it is to physically steer the boat. Smaller crews will generally combine these jobs (eg Skipper is also physically the helmsman). Everybody on the boat except for the brain trust is involved in the physical operation of the boat, which can be roughly divided into 2 parts, executing maneuvers and trimming sails.

Modern racing boats generally use two sails, a mainsail and a headsail. The mainsail attaches to the mast, and extends back along the boom; in this way 2 of the 3 sides of the sail are attached along their whole length to solid structures. The mainsail is entirely controlled by acting on said solid structures. Generally a racing boat will use a single mainsail in all conditions (although in heavy winds it will not be raised all the way up - this is called a "reef"). There are 2 main controls for the mailsail, the traveler and the mainsheet. Together they control the position of the boom; directly back along the center of the boat when hard on the wind, far from the center when running. When tacking or gybing, the only change that must be made to the mainsail is to move the traveler to a position that is the mirror image or its initial position; the sheet is generally not changed.

On the other hand, virtually all boats carry a number of different headsails. When sailing into the wind, a sailboat will use a genoa or a jib, which is a small genoa (for this discussion i'll use the terms interchangeably). The front edge of the genoa attaches to the forestay, a piece of metal that runs to the top of the mast. Unlike a mainsail, the bottom edge of the genoa flies freely, and the sail is controlled by a 2 sheetlines (one for each side of the boat) that attach to the corner of the sail that is opposite the forestay. For a genoa, only once side is attached to a solid structure. Similar to the mainsail, the sheet line is brought in (ie tightened) when hard on the wind, and let out (ie loosened) when reaching. Unlike the mainsail, the genoa requires significant effort to move during a tack or gybe. After the tack is begun, as soon as the sail begins to backfill with wind, the sheet that was holding the sail is released, and the opposite sheet is brought in. The net effect of this is to actually pass the entire sail in front of the mast! If done correctly, the wind will actually help move the sail across, making the tack end quickly, leaving the boat traveling fast and the crew not as worn out.

When sailing with the wind, a sailboat will use a spinnaker, the sail that looks like a big balloon. The top of the spinnaker is attached to a point at the top of the mast. The lower corner that on the windward side of the boat (ie port side when on part tack), is attached to the guy line, which goes from the middle of the boat, through the end of the spinnaker pole and attaches to the sail. The spinnaker entends forward from the mast in the direction opposite of the boom, and holds the sail open. The lower corner to the leeward side of the boat is attached to the sheet line. None of the 3 edges of the sail are attached to a solid structure; for this reason, the spinnaker is the most difficult sail to handle. It's beyond the scope, but gybing the spinnaker can be roughly described as:

• release the downhaul
  
• release the guy line from the spinnaker pole
  
• have the flyer manage both sheets
  
• raise the end of the spinnaker attached to the mast
  
• lower the pole via the topping lift (not too fast, or you'll drop it on the
• foredeckman)
  
• pass the pole under the forestay
  
• raise the pole with the topping lift
  
• attach the pole to the new guy line
  
• have the flyer manage the new sheet only
  
• lower the pole on the mast end, and
  
• tighten the downhaul.
  

of the basic moves during a race, this is certainly the most difficult, as it requires 4 or 5 crew members to have great communication and timing.

At the risk of leaving out an enormous amount of what goes on on the water, I think i'll stop here. If anybody wants to point out faults or pieces that i've missed here in a comment, feel free.

How does sailing work, in general?

Let's take a step back from the AC, and get a bit into how a boat moves using only the wind. Today's racing boats are the result of literally thousands of years of research into materials, sails, hydrodynamics, equipment and meteorology.

A common misconception is that sailboats are "pushed" by the wind. While occasionally there is some truth to this, the way a sailboat moves is in fact much closer to how an airplane wing works. Without stepping into DRC/CEJ dork-territory, picture an airplane wing...when it goes through the air, the pressure differential creates a force ("lift") that "pulls" the wing up...and the airplane is attached to that wing. Now take that wing, and rotate it so that the part that was atttached to the plane is now attached to the boat. If you cause the wind to go acros this wing/sail, it will cause a similar pressure differential, and "lift" the sailboat forward. The offshoot of this is that you are now able to have the boat travel in the direction opposite to the wind. This is called beating; when a sailboat is going in the same direction as the wind, that is called running.

However, no sailboat can ever go directly into the wind - the airplane wing doesn't work if you rotate it 90 degrees from its normal orientation. When a boat is pointed directly into the wind that is called being "in irons" or "dead into the wind". As a boat tries moves away from irons, it is able to travel faster and faster. This provides an interesting situation in a race; if the course is set up so that you would want to travel directly into the wind (also called sailing "upwind" or just "up", you have to choose between traveling more directly towards your goal at a slower speed, or less directly toward your goal at a higher speed. This leads to the concept of velocity made good ("VMG"); VMG is the rate at which you are approaching your goal. If you are moving 10 mph directly towards your goal, you are making 10 VMG. If you are traveling at a 45 degree angle to your mark, you are making about 7 VMG. If you are travelling at a 90 degree angle to your mark, you are making 0 VMG. The goal in a sailbody race is to always maximize your VMG.

For each boat, there is an angle to the wind for which if you move slightly closer your speed begins to drop dramatically. Generally, if you are trying to sail directly into the wind, you want to point the boat at this angle. This is called sailing "close-hauled", in most boats, it is 30-40 degrees away from irons. Clearly, even sailing close-hauled you will never get to a point that is directly into the wind. Because of this, the boat will have to zig-zag up the race course. The act of the bow of the boat crossing the direction of the wind is called a tack; when the stern of the boat crosses the wind, that is called a gybe. Tacking and gybeing both require switching the sails from one side of the boat to the other. If the sails are on the left ("port") side of the boat, the wind is coming over the right ("starboard") side; this is called being on starboard tack. Similarly, if the sails are on the starboard side of the boat, that is the port tack.

We can now describe a full 360 degree turn. Starting out in irons, turning the boat to starboard puts you on a port beat. Contintuing, when the wind is coming directly over the side, that is a port reach, then port run. When the wind is at your back, that is a dead run; continuing the turn to starboard you pass through starboard run, starboard reach, starboard beat and then back into irons. Each of these terms is called a point of sail.

That's enough for today - next time we'll take look around an America's Cup Class boat.

back, with a new focus

apologies for the extended absence - after contributing so grandly to the stunning victory of november 7, i found my blogging to lack a certain focus. rather than filling the page with thoughts on who might run for MS-SEN or challenge al wynn in the primary season. i just don't want to add to the media feeding frenzy. i don't know who is going to win the presidential nomination and i kinda don't care - i follow the house and senate much closer.

but fortunately for everybody out there, another of the many subjects on which i am a renounced expect is about to again enter the international spotlight. one more fleet race in early april, and then the 32nd America's Cup gets going for real. so as not to mince words, the coverage of the america's cup is total crap. i realize the sport is not massively popular in this country, but how do they expect to grow it without getting as much exposure as possible? with that as my goal, i'm gonna do my best to keep some running commentary on the racing and the off-water shenanigans, hopefully contributing to your knowledge of the sport - a little infotainment if you will.

With almost 2 months to go until the first Louis Vuitton race, I figure a FAQ is a good place to start...

Q: What is the America's Cup?
A: Often referred to as the oldest trophy in sports (first awarded in 1851), the rules governing the cup are contained in the deed of gift. After the completion of the race series, a racing team (called a "syndicate"), presents the winner with a challenge, which specifies the terms under which the following contest will be held. While there is no set time frame, the Cup generally runs approximately every 4 years.

Q: What happens after a challenge is accepted?
A: For the first year or so after a challenge is in place, other syndicates sign up for the right to race for the cup. For the 32nd running, it appears there will be 11 challengers representing 9 countries (italy has 3 challengers). The challengers then race in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the winner of which will race the current defender (Alinghi, from Switzerland). The AC is a best of 9 series.

Q: How does the racing work?
A: All of the races in the AC and the LVC are "match races" (ie, one-on-one). In the 31st AC, the course was 6 legs, back and forth between 2 points, going alternatively with and against the wind. I assume the 32nd AC will be similar, but like i said the coverage is terrible so i can't find that info anywhere.

Q: Why is it called the America's Cup?
A: The United States has won 28 out of the 32 America's Cup races so far, including the first 25 which represents the longest winning streak in the history of sport, lasting 132 years. However, the Cup is actually named after the first winner of the cup, named America. America was a revolutionary boat, that badly outran the entire british fleet around the isle of wight, in front of Queen Victoria. HRH, somewhat embarrassed, asked who placed second, prompting the classic line, "Your highness, there is no second.

Q: What kind of boats do they sail?
A: The rules governing the boats are specified in the terms of the challenge (this section is about 50 pages long). However, the boats are not identical - running a legitimate AC syndicate requires years of research, computer simulation and at least $50mm. There are always charges of rule breaking, including several trips to the court in various jurisdictions. Espionage is also a concern, specifically about the shape of the boats' keel. Simply put, the results are generally fantastic, with incredible boats that lead, down the road, to a huge amount of the innovation in the sport.

That's enough for now - next time we'll look into what actually happens during the race.