Sailing an FD in Heavy Weather
SAILING THE FLYING DUTCHMAN IN HEAVY WEATHER
The FD is the best boat you will ever sail to windward in 25 knots offshore in waves. Other boats may be more responsive downwind but none can match the FD upwind for balance and power. Sailing in heavy weather requires a combination of boat preparation, mental and physical fitness, correct adjustment of the rig and practice.
Sailing an FD in Botany Bay. The crew with aft foot on stirrups.
Mark Peelgrane on helm and Ian McCrossin as crew. Photo circa 1983.
BOAT PREPARATION
Most boat builders and riggers underestimate the amount of stress that the rig on an FD is subjected to sailing upwind in heavy weather and waves. The amount of rig tension required to reduce luff sag on the large genoa and the speed with which the FD leaps over waves in heavy weather often landing with tremendous force puts a strain on the genoa exit box, stays, trapeze wires and mast step. Thus all these fittings and rigging plus the boom and rudder have to be bullet proof. If you are contemplating racing in above 25 knots it is worthwhile putting some stirrups on the gunwales for the crew like on the wings of an 18 footer, one for his forward foot for sailing to windward and one where the skipper is aft for downwind. It is better for him to be anchored on the gunwale than on the rudder or around the bow.
HEADSAILS
A good heavy weather headsail is vital if you sail a regatta where heavy weather is likely such as Lake Garda in Italy or Durban in South Africa. It is more difficult if the racing starts at about the time the thermal breeze freshens which is common in Australia and New Zealand where you often start in 10 knots and finish in 20 knots. A good heavy weather headsail is flat with leach hollow and strait exit on the leach. I used to like the old Diamond 2-8 which also had a little fullness on the luff.
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL FITNESS
Mentally you should feel you are more than capable of sailing the course and physically fit enough not to be too tired at the end of the race. Tentative manoeuvres and indecision often lead to disaster. If sailing in cold areas like Medemblik in Holland make sure you stay warm with proper clothing particularly if there are to be two races in one day.
SAILING THE BOAT
Sailing the FD upwind is a question of balance. You want the boat to almost sail itself with slight windward helm up the waves luffing the boat a bit up the wave and neutral helm at the top of the wave as you pull away into the trough. The Cunningham should be pulled on as tight as possible to twist and flatten the head of the mainsail to reduce the heeling moment. The lowers should be pulled on tight enough so the mast is straight to the gooseneck with the vang pulled on hard enough to reduce flogging of the mainsail. If the lowers are off too far then the boat will feel great but you will be sailing too low with a poor VMG. The stays should be on as hard as you can pull them. Which genoa clew you sail with depends on crew weight but unless you have a gorilla on the wire it would be the third hole. We have marks on the coarse genoa adjustment for clews 1, 2 and 3 so you can quickly adjust if changing clews without running out of adjustment on the genoa halyard. As the wind increases the mast is raked back in conjunction with the centreboard being also raked for balance. As you sail over the top of the waves the mainsail should be luffing with the occasional complete backwind but not flogging. It should not be setting all the time as you will lose height. The final adjustment is the mainsheet tension pulled on just hard enough to get the minimum windward helm up waves.
Mast straight from deck to gooseneck
ADJUSTING FOR GUSTS
If the wind is variable in strength the choices for depowering are, pull the centreboard up, loosen the leach adjustors or put in more rake. If I see a gust coming that will last for a reasonable time then I pull up more centreboard, if short then I either luff or let the leach adjuster off, if persistent then I put in more rake.
DOWNWIND
Preparation for downwind comes before the start. If possible pull the spinnaker up to make sure it is not tangled and to make sure the braces are set for the reaches. When I was young and fit sailing as a crew for Mark Peelgrane we used to write the compass bearing of the wing mark from the windward mark [back bearing of windward mark heading plus 45] on the starboard side of the boom and, when we pulled away at the top mark, pointed the boat at that compass heading and, if we were not flat out easing sheet, pull the spinnaker up. As you sail up to the windward mark you should ease the vang, pull on the baby stay, release the cleats for the spinnaker halyard and windward brace. When pulling away at the windward mark keep the crew on the wire and the boat flat to reduce windward helm and try and catch a wave as you start to pull the spinnaker up. Put a mark on the genoa sheet at the cleat for the ideal position of the genoa for a reach. When raising and lowering the spinnaker sail deep so the boat is flat and when steering with the tiller between the legs keep the knees bent like snow skiing-I used to practice running square like this off Sydney Heads. Keep the centreboard up as far as possible without the boat slipping and capsizing to windward in a lull. Sail like an 18 footer keeping the boat below the rig and pull away as far as necessary to keep the boat flat.
WING MARK
If you can`t make the wing mark let the vang go, let the genoa flog, pull more centreboard up and get the crew back. If you still can`t make it sail fast and pull the spinnaker down when you can sail fast on a 2 sail reach to the mark. If you flap the spinnaker watch that the sheet hasn`t gone around the end of the boom. If you come in to the wing mark square running then it is likely there has been a wind change and the 2nd reach will be too tight so you should pull the spinnaker down.
GYBING
In heavy weather and big waves the most important manoeuvre at the wing mark is not to capsize. It is imperative that you gybe while surfing down a wave which takes the pressure off the mainsail, otherwise you will round up and capsize. Even if you have run past the mark it is better than being upside down with the other boats that have not gybed on a wave.
IAN MCCROSSIN
AUS33