high performance racing

maybe abit of a stupid question but ive sailed high performance boats for he last year and i currently sail (helm) a laser 5000, before this ive raced toppers and lasers.

this summer im thinking of doing some racing in my 5000 and maybe a mates 4000 but since ive never raced high perormance boats before i just wondered if u guys can give me any tips or tricks for high performance racing like starting etc

cheers

Generally just duck people rather than trying to go above them.

I think racing a high performance boat is a step up in ability compared to sailing one.  A much bigger step up than when in slower boats.  Sailing a 4000 as I do I often encounter people who have sailed them when on holiday and think they will do well at racing.  Invariably they do badly and capsise a lot, many are put off which is a shame.

I suppose the big difference is that they have been able to tack and gybe when they've wanted to, not when other boats or the course has forced them to.  Similarly they have not had to think ahead about: which gybe to get onto after a windward mark, which gybe to come into the leeward mark, and when to tack to clear other boats and arrive set up correctly for the windward mark.  You'll have noticed I've mentioned transistions that you have to make under pressure something you rarely have to do when just blasting, and as you know its the transistions which are the tricky bits with high performance boats.

So enjoy the new challenge and don't get put off by poor results, and let us know how it goes.

Is a laser 4k a high performance boat?  I consider high performance to be 49er, 14, cherub etc etc.

Originally posted by Dead Air The 4K sails off of apparaent wind, seems a pretty good definition of a high performance boat in this day and age

name a boat that sails off wind that isn't apparent