We’ve been watching the daily America’s Cup excitement on “OLN” in the evenings. The coverage is awesome if you like to watch sailboats! Of particular interest are the starts. When the winds are steady the boat that wins the start pretty much has a lock on the rest of the race – so the maneuvering between the boats is intense. And there are lessons for all of us in the way these boats are handled.

Consider steering. The helm by itself is only half the arsenal that can be used. The main and jib are used as well. If bearing away from the wind, the main sheet is eased (to keep the main from holding the boat into the wind) while the jib is held in tight to pull the bow away from the wind. The combination of eased main and trimmed jib probably doubles the turning speed to leeward.

When they want to bring the boat quickly into the wind the opposite approach is used. The main is quickly trimmed to help push the bow up, while the jib is left soft.

Another technique is “parking” – keeping the boats head to wind, sails slack, while the boat holds station or drifts in reverse.

How do these techniques work for the average sailor? Any time you are maneuvering under sail in tight quarters the same techniques apply. You can turn much more quickly using the sails to help, than if the rudder alone is used. This gives you a lot more latitude in what you can get away with when sailing in tight quarters. And the parking technique is useful when you want to sail out an anchorage, but don’t have room to pay off the bow and then tack or jibe. But drifting backwards often gets you into a more open area, after which it is easy to get the boat sailing on the correct tack.

If you have a ketch or yawl you have an added weapon, the mizzen. We use BEOWULF’s mizzen as a giant air rudder. It is very effective at holding us head to wind when sailing in reverse, and helping to bring the boat up into the wind. On the other hand, the mizzen won’t let us turn quickly, so it is the first sail we ease when turning down wind.

Watch the starting line maneuvering on OLN – you will not believe how these huge boats are being handled. And then try this on your own boat. It is great fun!