The Flipping Phase

This Wednesday I'll be coaching 2 fresh recruits to the 29er, and I'm excited to help get them up to speed as quickly as possible.  The first stage that every 29er team goes through is the flipping phase, where teams work on keeping the mast pointed up, and the blades pointed down in all conditions.  For too many teams, this is where the party stops, because the effort required just to learn to keep the boat upright (say nothing about racing, or even beating other boats) is on par with the effort needed to finish midfleet in the C420 or CFJ fleets.  As such, many teams get discouraged before they reach phase 2 (the boat-speed phase), and find a more forgiving class to with a more gradual learning curve.  Many sailors try to find a magic bullet from the start, by switching around skippers or crews to try to find a teammate who has more experience, or a natural ability, but this rarely works.  When it comes to learning how to sail a 29er, the first few months of swimming lessons are hugely beneficial in the long run, it's just a question of staying motivated, and having fun.  Today I'll try to present some drills and ideas to help teams get through this phase as quickly as possible, so that they can start focusing on racing.

Learn To Right Your Boat Properly:  Let's face it, if you're learning how to sail a 29er, you're probably going to spend some time upside down.  Minimize this time by learning proper techniques for righting the boat.  As 29er HP gets more established I hope to post some videos and tutorials on how to do this properly, but a few tips are: use the spin sheets, or the ends of the bail toggle lines to pull on instead of the side of the boat; learn the "scoop" technique, where the skipper stays in the water and grabs the hiking straps to keep the boat from california rolling;

Learn Where "Flat" Is By Sailing Heeled:  By sailing around a course with the boat heeled to windward, and the crew skimming the water, you'll learn to feel smaller changes in heel more quickly. This is key to boat speed later on, and very important when trying to stay dry.  Try to spend at least 15 minutes of every practice heeled to windward when you're starting out.

Practice Boat Balance By Tacking In Front Of The Forestay:  Anyone who has sailed in one of my clinics on a light wind day has done some "boat yoga," trying to move around the boat in strange ways while keeping it upright.  This is a good exercise for sailors of all level to get more sensitive to changes in boat heel.  Try having the crew go around the front of the forestay every time you tack.  As the crew gets better, they should rely less and less on the forestay for balance.

Skipper vs. Crew Capsize Contest:  Challenge your teammate to keep the boat upright while you try to flip it, and then after a few minutes, switch roles.  Climbing the mast is off limits!  This drill should make both teammates faster at responding to crisis situations, and more familiar with how to move around the boat quickly.

Set A Capsize Limit:  Especially if you don't have a coach, it is very important to set a capsize limit for your day of sailing.  Every time you flip, you lose a lot of energy, and it gets more difficult to right the boat the next time you flip.  A good limit for beginners is 10 capsizes in medium breeze, or 5-7 in strong breeze.  Any more than this, and you should call it a day.