When to Gybe - Fast Asymmetric

This is one of the downhill runs http://youtu.be/PN8uuL5o6vc.

Rule of thumb, under stand especially if its breezy, gives you room to bear off more, same as it often pays to under stand upwind, lots of people over stand the mark, better to understand and short hitch than over lay, both directions..

One thing I've noticed, not many dinghy sailors know their lay lines 

 

 

Easily done in the 800, is to single wire if you're under the lay for leeward mark. A lot of the fleet do it having sailed the boat for a long time (little while back), and just seen it done at the Nats at HISC, you will not lose a lot pace. I never normally roll the kite (in opposition to the post above), to try and make a mark/buoy. Sounds very counter intuitive, but oversheeting the kite and flogging the main, helps considerably I found and dropping to your knots (if you're not already there!).

Having looked at a few of your videos on YouTube, you could possibly benefit from trapezing slightly higher, on the transition out; then lowering yourself once you're out. Of the downwind footage I saw, you would probably benefit from locking both crew and helm into your footstraps for stability of steering for helm and sheeting (confidence) for crew, even though it looked fairly flat.

I recommend a copy of Higher and Faster too if you can get your hands on a copy!

We came across  this affect when sailing the 5000. We noticed boats in same wind heading lower with the sails tighter and going faster, despite both boats twin trapezing. When we spoke to the richards brothers about it, the mention of downwind gears came up. Once you have born away on the gust, you head up sheet in looking for more apparent wind, as you sheet in you immediately have to bear away again, sails tighter and sailing lower and faster. In a heavy 5000 you had to do this 2 or three times to get max speed, but the difference was massive.