Starting at the wrong end of the Squadron line Get it wrong and you will spend all day in last place with no hope of winning. The core issue is…
expert tips
Sailing upwind when short-handed requires different techniques
Excessive heel is your enemy when sailing upwind, and with no hiking crew this is something the double-handed sailor needs to consider. To sail upwind well you must learn the…
How to plan watches and sleep when sailing short-handed
Before you decide on the best way to run watches double-handed, answer this question: are you sailing double-handed or single-handed in shifts? Successful double-handed teams pushing hard together have often…
Paul Larsen, world speed record holder, advises on how to avoid a pitchpole
I can see the boat has a reef in and the daggerboards slightly raised, so it is obviously windy. Judging by the lazy sheet, the gennaker is still furled so…
Short-handed navigation – and how to create your ‘road book’
Navigating when sailing short-handed can be an often-overlooked challenge. It can throw up stressful situations, particularly when it is the responsibility of just one member of the crew, navigating in…
Get out of that! Dismasting – Mike Golding explains what to do as soon as it happens
Although it is difficult to understand exactly what went wrong, we can deduce the following: prior to the dismasting the boat was on starboard and probably footing or reaching under…
How to use the outside gybe for short-handed sailing. Pip Hare explains
Outside gybing is not purely reserved for boats with extra-short poles or top notch race crews. If you practise, it can be less risky than pulling the clew inside the…
Get out of that! – Ken Read deals with a wayward spinnaker
This is a highly precarious position, and one that you should never find yourself in because it can be avoided. My first impression/guess would lead me to suggest the crew…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 1: Avoiding a Chinese gybe
Chinese gybes on windy days are a good spectator sport, but with the right prompt response they can be averted. This type of accidental gybe is caused by the boat…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 2: Broaching
Most of us will be familiar with that final pull on the helm that cannot be overcome as the boat rounds up to windward in a massive broach. The ensuing…
Get out of that! – Ian Walker on avoiding the crash gybe
On the edge and living dangerously, the crew in this photo are, to their credit, still racing hard and just about in control, managing to hold off a crash gybe.…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 3: Gybing
The first time I gybed single-handed it was on a 40-footer with a symmetrical spinnaker. The task seemed insurmountable and I struggled to see how any person could do this…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 4: Upwind trim
Sailing to windward on a badly trimmed boat seems like punishment. We have all felt that jarring crash when the boat falls off a wave, or wondered whether we might…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 5: Helming skills
When you’re sailing upwind in a monohull, the key is to minimise helm movement to tiny corrections and keep a steady heel angle. If the telltales are flying and the…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 6: Reaching
Reaching is the glory point of sail for many boats; it’s the time we record our best speeds and eat up the miles on long passages. Setting the boat up…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 7: Light airs sailing
We all know the frustration of trying to sail in light airs – it can be hard to resist firing up the engine. Yet most of us love to trim…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 8: Downwind sailing
Downwind sailing doesn’t have to be about screaming off waves under full spinnaker, and those of us who have crossed oceans in boats that are also our homes will know…
10 top tips for shorthanded sailing – from leading British Figaro sailor Alan Roberts
During Cowes Week 2015, I had the chance to sail with rising star Alan Roberts on his 33ft Magma Structures sonspored Beneteau Figaro. Roberts finished 9th in the gruelling Solitaire…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 9: Spinnaker trim
There’s nothing quite like surfing off a wave in the open ocean, spinnaker straining and helm vibrating under your fingertips. For me it’s sailing at its best. In this article…
SAIL FASTER SAIL SAFER advanced techniques series Part 10: Hoisting a spinnaker
The basic principles of hoisting a spinnaker are easy to grasp. More importantly, they are the same whether you are sailing fully crewed, short- or single-handed and use an asymmetric…