Sailing Technique
In this section you'll find some basic and advanced sailing techniques. If the UFO is your first boat EVER, we suggest you read some resources on the basics of sailing before engaging in this section.
Basic - Definitions
Abeam: When an object, craft or island is abeam your vessel, that means that it is off the side of your boat. It is 90 degrees from the centerline of your boat.
Abaft: Toward the stern. “Honey, have you seen my boat shoes?” “They’re abaft the navigation table!” This is the opposite of forward.
Aft: In the stern of the boat. For example, the back cabin is referred to as the aft cabin.
Starboard: Facing forward, this is anything to the right of the boat. Same deal as “port”–only the opposite.
Apparent wind: The wind direction and speed which the crew observes to be blowing in combination with the true wind. This is often different from the true wind direction and speed due to the boat's motion.
Astern: The area behind the boat. If you go astern, you are going in reverse.
Athwartship: Directionally perpendicular to the centerline of the boat.
Backing (a sail): Forcing the sail to take wind into its opposite side by pulling the sail to the opposite side of the boat.
Batten: a thin, flexible strip (often fiberglass) that is inserted into the main sail to help it stay open to the wind. The batten runs from the back edge of the sail (leech) toward the front edge (luff).
Beam: The width of the vessel at its widest point.
Beam reach: Sailing with the wind blowing perpendicular to the direction the boat is traveling.
Bearing off or Bearing away: Steering the boat away from the direction in which the wind is blowing.
Bend: a knot which connects two ropes.
Berth: A slip, a mooring, or a bed within the boat.
Bight: A bend or loop in a rope. When a rope forms a bight, it has changed direction 180 degrees.
Block: A pulley.
Boom: This pole runs perpendicular to the mast and holds the bottom of the mainsail in place. Its position is adjustable side to side as needed for the wind direction.
Bow: Front end of the boat
Broach: When a boat sailing downwind accidentally ends up sideways to the waves and heels over dangerously. This can be caused by large seas or poor steering.
Broad reach: Sailing with the wind coming off your stern quarter. If you’re standing at the helm facing the bow, the wind is blowing halfway between the side and the back of the boat.
Bulkhead: The walls in a boat which run athwartship, or perpendicular to the centerline of the vessel.
Capsize: When a vessel tips over past 90 degrees.
Catamaran: A vessel with two hulls.
Centerline: An imaginary line that runs from the center of the bow to the center of the stern.
Chandlery: A store that sells boat supplies and parts.
Cleats: The wooden or metal piece to which ropes are secured.
Chock: A fitting that a line passes through to change direction without chafing.
Clew: The lower back corner of a sail. This is where the foot and leech of the sail meet.
Close-hauled: Sailing as close to the direction the wind is coming from as possible with the sails pulled in tight. (See Points of Sail for infographic.)
Close Reach: Sailing between close hauled and beam reach. (See Points of Sail for infographic.)
Dead run: Sailing with the wind coming from directly behind the boat. Sails are fully out to catch the wind.
Dead reckoning: Determining a vessel's position by knowing the direction and speed traveled.
Dinghy: A small boat which is used to travel to shore from the main vessel. This can be propelled oars or a motor.
Dismasting: When the mast breaks off the boat. This can occur due to rigging failure or structural failure of the mast.
Displacement: The weight of the water that would otherwise be in the place of the boats hull.
Ebb tide: After high tide when the water is receding towards low tide.
EPIRB: Stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. This device transmits a distress signal to emergency services and notifies them of a vessel's location.
Fairlead: A fitting which encloses a line within a smooth ring and helps guide its direction.
Fathom: A measurement of water depth equal to 6 feet.
Fid: A pointed tool used when splicing a line.
Fix: Determining a vessel's location by using the compass bearing of two or more fixed points of reference such as landmarks or buoys.
Fix: Determining a vessel's location by using the compass bearing of two or more fixed points of reference such as landmarks or buoys.
Freeboard: The distance on a vessel from the waterline to the deck.
Gelcoat: A colored resin which is painted onto the outside surface of a boat and forms a protective glossy layer.
Gudgeon: A circular or cylindrical fitting, often made of metal, into which a pin or pintle fits to create a hinge or pivoting joint. In a vessel with a stern-mounted rudder: the fitting into which the pintle of the rudder fits, allowing the rudder to swing freely.
Gunwale: Pronounced “gunnel”. This is the top edge of a boat's hull.
Halyard: The line which attaches to a sail to raise it.
Headway: The forward motion of a vessel through the water.
Heave to: A method of controlling a boat’s position to the waves and limiting headway by backwinding the forward sail and keeping the rudder hard over into the wind.
Heel: The tilt that occurs to a boat's hull when the sails are filled with wind.
Hounds: The attachment points for the shrouds up the mast.
In-Irons: When a sailboat is bow into the wind with sails flapping. No steerage is possible as the vessel has no forward motion. (See Points of Sail for infographic.)
Jibe/Jibing: Pronounced with a long i sound. Steering the boat from one downwind direction to another downwind direction by turning the stern of the boat through the wind. This will cause the sails to move across the boat to the other side, i.e. from port to starboard.
Leech: The back edge of a sail. If the sail is square, then this term refers to the outside edges of the sail.
Leeward: The direction to which the wind is blowing. If the wind is coming from the north, then south is leeward.
Luff: The forward edge of the sail.
Lying a-hull: When a vessel is drifting with all of it’s sails down.
Mainsail: Pronounce main’sil. The primary sail of a boat that is hoisted up or unfurled from the mast.
Max VMG - Maximum Velocity Made Good - The angle a sailor takes that achieves the most speed towards the mark.
Mayday: An emergency call put out over a marine radio when there is clear and present danger to the crew of the vessel.
On the hard: When a vessel is out of the water and being stored on land.
Painter: a rope that is attached to the bow of a dinghy, or other small boat, and used for tying up or towing. Ideally, the painter should float.
Pintle: a usually upright pivot pin on which another part turns - a pintle inserted into a gudgeon holds the rudder in place.
Points of sail: The vessels course in relation to the direction of the wind.
Port: The left side of the boat when facing forward.
Port tack: Sailing with the wind hitting the port side of the vessel and the sails are out on the starboard side.
Reef: reducing the size of the sail in high winds for the safety of the crew and equipment. This is done by either tying or rolling the sail to the boom or forestay.
Rigging: All the wires and ropes used to hold the mast in place and adjust the sails.
Roach: The outer back edge area of the mainsail. If you were to draw a diagonal line from the head of the sail to the clew (back corner), the roach would be outside this diagonal line.
Rudder: Steering fin at the back of the boat. Controlled by a steering wheel or tiller from the cockpit.
Running: Sailing in a downwind direction.
Running rigging: The lines, such as sheets and halyards, which control the sails.
Shackle: A metal U or D shaped link which has a removable pin through the ends.
Sheet: A line or rope which connects to the clew (back corner) of a sail. It is used to control or trim the sail.
Shrouds: Wires or ropes which run from the deck chainplates to the mast. The shrouds prevent the mast from moving side to side.
Skeg: A section of the hull from which the rudder hangs. It provides a variable amount of protection to the rudder depending on its size.
Splice: Connecting two lines together by weaving their strands together.
Spreaders: The horizontal arms extending out from the sides of the mast.
Spring line: Dock lines positioned from the bow to a midship point on the dock or from the stern to a midship point on the dock. This line configuration helps decrease forward and backward motion of the boat while docked.
Sprit: A protruding pole or platform which some boats possess. This spar allows for the sails and rigging to be attached further forward.
Starboard: The right side of the boat when facing forward.
Starboard tack: Sailing with the wind hitting the starboard side of the boat and the sails out on the port side.
Steerage way: When a vessel is moving through the water with enough speed to allow the rudder to steer the boat.
Stern: The back end of a boat.
Swing: The circular motion of an anchored boat around it’s anchor due to wind and water movement.
Tack: The forward lower corner of a sail.
Tacking: Turning the boat across the direction the wind is coming from to change course direction. This causes the sails to travel to the other side of the boat.
Tender: Small boat used to transport from shore to the main boat.
Tiller: A bar which controls the rudder and is used to steer the boat from the cockpit. It is used in place of a steering wheel.
Trim: To adjust the sails.
Windward: The direction from which the wind is blowing.
Wing on wing: Sailing downwind with the mainsail out on one side and the foresail on the opposite side.
Basic - Points of Sail
Basic - Water Depth
The UFO sailboat with its foils fully extended really needs more than 5 feet (150 cm) of water depth to safely sail. With less depth than this, you run the risk of grounding your foils, particularly the rear foil as your weight is generally aft of center making the back of the boat lower.
Basic - Getting Started Foiling
Watch these videos:
Basic - Light Wind Tips
Weight forward. Try to get back of hulls out of water
Downwind - sail all the way out. Weight forward
If you have no chance of foiling, proven: slide wand up, downwind- main foil all the way up.
Basic - Tacking - Heisman Tack
This tack is tricky to complete gracefully. Sample video follows this narrative.
Gain speed, sit on windward stern
Turn, stay sitting on the corner, after the sail comes across, reach your hand up and push the sail the rest of the way across you then out as far as you can. It helps to get on your knees for this. You should keep control of the tiller. If in this process the boat stops or starts sailing backwards ...
Push the sail fully out
Turn the tiller 45 degrees, in the opposite direction as you are steering backwards
Once you are pointing in the right direction…
You must still be sitting on the old corner at this point -- Change sides, move weight forward
Grab mainsheet, swift pull to pop battens.
Light pumps on the mainsheet until you have some speed.
(When the boat is stopped or slow, the mainsail overpowers the rudder easily, so you can’t trim the main yet, it would put the boat back in irons.)Trim the sail to new direction
Advanced - Feel the Mainsheet
Feel the Mainsheet - by Nick Burroughs
The "feel in the mainsheet" technique is really a key part of getting a UFO flying around on all points of sail, so here's an explanation. Simply, I mean the amount of load you "feel in the mainsheet," but I also mean "when in doubt, let it out," which I'm sure you've all heard before.
In many situations on the UFO your ideal mainsheet trim is within about 6 inches of ease from the point where the load in the sheet drops off precipitously. You'll see me constantly easing and then retrimming the sheet as I foil, to make sure the point where it goes light is nearby and then trimming in a little bit to the ideal spot.
There are two times where "feel in the mainsheet" is really important while the sailing UFO. The first is getting the boat launched onto the foils, and this becomes particularly important when the breeze is marginal and your margin for error in take-off maneuvers is much smaller. It's extremely important to keep the boat flat, or slightly heeled to windward when trying to get launched. That means easing a lot of mainsheet. Some folks have eased the mainsheet to the point where it goes light, thought they were very under-trimmed and then over-trimmed the sheet to compensate, preventing the boat from getting up in the air. What you really want to do is ease the mainsheet as far as you have to, to keep the boat flat, which generally means easing it until it goes light and then trimming in a little bit.
The other point of sail where "feel in the mainsheet" drives decisions, is when trying to sail max-VMG angles downwind. When you're sailing such low angles, it's easy to get over-trimmed, lee-stall the sail, and if you don't catch it quickly, death-roll. To avoid all that, you want to be continually easing your sail to find the spot where the mainsheet goes light and then trimming only a little bit in from there. In practice downwind, I ease to find the light spot, retrim a little, then ease and bear away to sail lower, keep easing to find the light spot and retrim. If I feel the boat slowing or stalling, I may head up a little to keep it foiling and stable. If you go way too low, you'll find a spot where the apparent wind is really far aft and you can't ease the sail out far enough to find the light point. At this point you're in a very unstable mode (you may have already capsized). To get sorted you should head up, heel to weather and get back into the stable, fast, higher-angle downwind sailing mode. You can work lower once you're stable and ripping. Check the Downwind section below for more details on how to make max-VMG downwind. The "feel in the mainsheet" is just another piece of information to help you keep it in the groove.
Finally, I should note that the "feel in the mainsheet" trick doesn't work nearly as well for upwind angles. "When in doubt, let it out" is still good advice when sailing any boat on any point of sail. However, the point where the mainsheet goes light is significantly more under-trimmed upwind, so while you can ease to where the sheet goes light and then trim in as a recreational foiling mode or a step on the learning curve to sailing faster upwind modes, it is not the fastest way around the racecourse. The one caveat is that in marginal foiling conditions, being over-trimmed is death, so proactive easing and sailing lower angles can work upwind when you can barely foil. But when you get locked into "King Crab mode" in moderate breeze and start really ripping upwind, you actually want to be trimming on extra mainsheet, pulling the boom down and increasing leach tension to increase speed. You can overdo it and stall, but a quick ease and/or bear away will have you up and ripping again. For more details on "King Crab mode" and upwind sailing in general, see below…
Advanced - Upwind using King Crab and High Altitude Flat
Upwind UFO Sailing for Maximum Velocity Made Good (VMG)
So here's my best shot at synthesizing what I know about upwind sailing and the "King Crab" mode we've started to discover. Warning: Much of what I'm about to say is at the bleeding edge of I haven't an effing clue, and has no real data behind it. Thankfully, we're still in the steep part of the development curve, so feelings plus a little bit of informal two-boat testing can produce useful results.
First, a brief intro to the dynamics at play upwind. To go really fast, you want to fly high, reduce drag and go faster. But as you go faster the low-pressure (top side) your foil sucks harder, and as you fly higher the low pressure flow gets closer to the surface. Both effects increase the risk of you ventilating the foil and crashing back down to the surface. Additionally, as you fly higher the area of main vertical in the water to resist side-slipping shrinks, and as you go faster the vertical is more likely to ventilate just like the horizontal. Therefore, in order to stop the boat from slipping sideways, you have to heel to windward and use the horizontal mainfoil to prevent side-slip. Basically, you're trying to fly as high and fast as possible without ventilating and crashing.
If you've spent enough time sailing your UFO to get comfortable heeling to windward and making VMG upwind at maximum ride height, you've probably experienced "King Crab" mode at some point. I first discovered it when sailing just low of close-hauled. As you bear away into a footing mode you find you need more windward heel to prevent blowing out the main vertical and slipping sideways. With substantial windward heel at a just below close-hauled angle you'll find a spot where you get locked in and launched upwind. The boat will accelerate and crab to windward like crazy. The first time you do this you'll likely make amazing VMG for 5-10 seconds and then fall out of the groove.
Here's our hypothesis. The boat starts crabbing by yawing slightly to weather--by which I mean to starboard on starboard tack. Here's a diagram of pitch, roll and yaw. Now that we're sailing in 3 dimensions we need a slight upgrade to the standard nautical terminology.
Yawing to weather with windward heel means your bows turn down towards the water and to weather. You can initiate this on purpose by pushing the tiller slightly away from you. The change in yaw also sets the mainfoil up on the right angle to crab. The new flight path causes the nose to dip momentarily, but as the wand pushes down the flap the boat finds an equilibrium and maintains altitude (height above the water). Now you're crabbing to windward with the movement initiated by your forward foil. In the absence of any correction by the sailor your bow gets dragged around to weather until your AWA goes so far forward you stall. As you're going sideways (crabbing) at the same time your AWA stays further aft than you'd normally expect, allowing you to survive for a surprisingly long while.
But if you really want to stay in the groove, you need to course correct and achieve equilibrium. Pulling the tiller slightly towards you brings the yaw control back to neutral now that the boat is getting forced sideways to windward. Think of it as steering into the crab. If you leave the tiller center-lined while crabbing to windward, you've created an angle of attack on the rudder vertical that turns you to weather. Now to be fair, I don't entirely know/remember what I was doing upwind to keep it in the groove, but Dave said he pulled the helm towards him a little and that makes sense. It's pretty instinctual at this point, but I can't wait for my next sail to consciously put the idea to the test.
Practically how do actually pull off the "King Crab" mode for long periods? The key factor I noticed Sunday was the main vertical unloading and slopping around a bit in the case. (Note, I will be shimming up the main vertical with some tape before my next sail to reduce this slop, which does make the mode a bit disconcerting and difficult to sail.) To get the main vertical to unload, you'll need to heel the boat way over to windward, so the horizontal mainfoil prevents all side-slip. You'll notice yourself sliding in and hiking less hard when you have enough heel angle on, because the mainfoil is also taking over some righting moment duties as well.
Now that you're heeled over and in the groove, staying there requires "preemptive sheeting" to control the roll of the boat and a minimum number of smooth, small steering motions to maintain flow over the foils. This and all my other tips apply to keeping the UFO in any groove upwind, not just “King Crab” mode. Things I made sure to do on Sunday:
Have my mainsheet hand by my shoulder before the puff hit. This gave me an arm length of mainsheet to immediately ease (and then maybe trim back if I'd overcompensated).
You want to be around maximum windward heel as the puff hits you, so you don't get knocked upright and out of the groove.
Flying lower to the water coming into puffs gives you more foil to resist side-slipping and keeps you tracking upwind. I didn't necessarily try to lose altitude into puffs, but if a puff was coming and I was losing altitude I didn't feel the need to bear away and accelerate to increase altitude.
Avoid dragging your butt in the water at all costs. The deceleration is very real. Touching down just the windward hull is much less painful, so switch to the leeward strap in puffy, unstable conditions and keep your butt out of the water. Using the leeward strap will also probably require using a bear away and hook maneuver to get foiling upwind as you don't have the righting moment via hiking weight to do a standard upwind launch. In more consistent breeze you can definitely sail "King Crab" mode in the windward strap (I did in the strongest bit of breeze on Sunday), but as you're running more windward heel than other modes, you need to be more careful not to smack your butt in the water.
Most importantly, I'm going to quote Dave again as all actions must be "preemptive." Early, small course corrections are far more effective than large, late corrections, which generally end up being over-corrections. In order to be "preemptive", you need to keep a keen eye out for changes in the breeze, while managing your current balance of boat speed, altitude and heel angle to always be ready for the next change in the breeze. I have no useful advice for how to manage all this while you're sailing other than to practice, practice, practice until you eventually develop an intuition for it. It's impossible to think your way through it at speed.
Finally, I think "King Crab" mode is much more of a technique driven mode than a tuning driven mode. I've gotten into the mode for 10-20 seconds at a time unstably in a variety of different breeze and tuning setups. In fact while sailing the mode stably on Sunday, I was 2nd pinhole from front with the rig super-stiff and a lot of cunningham and outhaul, but not maxxed. Then I moved my pin all the way forward. Then I loosened the outhaul some. All my tuning changes were in response to the conditions and keeping the boat balanced, but "King Crab" mode could be sailed in any conditions.
The one tuning note I will make is that I don't think the stiff spars both Dave and I were running were helpful. We had our rig tension maxxed because we left the dock expecting 8-10 knots on the water. Then breeze built, but was puffy, so we kept the spars stiff to maintain power for lulls and getting flying quickly in short duration puffs. However, in heavier breeze I've noticed the stiff spar will knock you out of the groove upwind in puffs. Essentially, the breeze gets to a level where you can't ease fast enough, and you need to loosen shroud tension and let dynamic rig response help you dump power.
Now how does this relate to the "high altitude" mode with relatively little weather heel we perfected in the summer. I think we made that mode work, because it was easier to get into and easier to sail. Additionally, as you fly high and relatively flatter, it's easier to avoid smacking your butt in the water, which--I can't reiterate enough--is very slow. However, we never really found balance in that mode. "High Altitude" mode required pinching and luffing in puffs to stop the main vertical from blowing out. Thankfully, that pinching was easy to do and produced good VMG, so it worked pretty well.
The "King Crab" mode feels much faster, and involves much less steering to dump power and avoid side force on the foil--it's all sheeting. While we haven't tested them side by side in moderate conditions, my sense is "King Crab" mode wins until you're struggling to stay on the foils. In marginal foiling breeze, getting as high and flat as possible, to give yourself as much glide path as possible to get through lulls should be important. And in marginal breeze you can get away with making the main vertical do more work resisting leeway. Therefore, in light to moderate breeze you'll have to transition into "high altitude" mode at times.
Assuming all our hypotheses turn out to be correct in subsequent sailing tests, the next thing to learn and teach all of you will be the best techniques for transitioning between modes. As always, if you have any questions reach out.
Advanced - Downwind
Definitely heel to weather to build speed downwind and carve towards the mark, but view heel as a consumable, not a prerequisite. Expect to slowly swing to upright and then heeled to leeward and hiking hard before you arc back up to build speed again. It's a smooth transition from the moth-thing to the wild-thing and it's presently the way to get downwind fast.
