2022. Ganga Bruni’s word: so your boat goes faster

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How to make your boat go faster

Taken from the 2022 Journal of Sailing, Year 48, No. 1, February, pp. 72/79.

The coach of Italy’s Tokyo Olympic gold medalist reveals his secrets for achieving top speed under sail. Aboard any boat, available to all enthusiasts, the techniques for becoming as good as the champions.

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We took part in the Caprera Sailing Center‘s High Performance course, Master Stage with Gabriele Ganga Bruni and special Guest Max Sirena. In a week of high performance training, we took lessons from outstanding instructors and boarded the sailing center’s J80 boats every day to train at sea, learning the techniques used by the racers to make the boat faster. What amazed us, besides the excellent results achieved by everyone, was the clarity of the teaching, and the complementary nature of competitive sailing and seamanship concepts. The techniques learned to improve performance are applicable on any boat, including cruising, by any good sailor. That is why we want to pass them on to you!

The competitive approach

Speed is the first goal of those who tackle a regatta. The fastest boat on the water, with the best course and the most efficient crew in maneuvering, is the winning boat. From High Performance course instructors and competitive sailing professionals Ganga Bruni and Max Sirena, we learned that the “fast boat” goal is the result of great teamwork and continuous training. Every opportunity on land and on the water, is used to prepare the boat and perfect the maneuvers in all wind conditions. One has to train all the time, study the race courses, study the opponent, plan exercises with the coach, and in briefings check the results; and then go back to the water to repeat them, hundreds of times, perfecting themselves, until one acquires that forma-mentis that has speed as the goal.

Boat preparation

Hulls, appendages clean and boat dry. Sails in good condition, removal of superfluous cargo, order in the cockpit, in short, all the rules of good boat handling derived from seamanship are preparatory to speed. Sails are born with a precise shape; with years and wear, the sail deforms, the sail fat tends to shift back to the center. Racing boats are born already essential and light; in cruising boats, for example, the amount of anchor chain can be reduced, tanks emptied, superfluous material eliminated. The payload can be rigged as low as possible amidships to improve stability and static trim, making sure it is balanced i.e., that the boat stays upright on the dock. In boats with water tanks on the two sides connected by a central valve, this should be closed when sailing, otherwise water will spill into the tank downwind at each tack. Instrumentation, if present on board, is essentially useless unless it is well calibrated.

Mast and sheet points

At the course, armed with a tensiometer, each crew operated on the rigging to adjust the shrouds and changed the position of the mast base, based on a chart specific to the J80 provided by the sailmaker. The most important lesson we learned is that there are many variables; to improve, one must measure, correct, and then verify. The same person should always make the adjustments, using his or her own method of working and keeping track of the changes so that the mast can be returned to the previous setting. Variation in mast tensions greatly affects the forestay. Excessive catenary on the genoa or jib, are the cause of a great loss of performance. Adjustment of sheet points, carriage position, tensions of vang, backstay, base etc, should be studied in preparatory outings. The classic tape or marker, marking the end positions of the halyards, or of the carriages, the tension of the battens, is a good start to have starting reference points, which will then be followed in sailing by continuous adjustments. The adjustment of the jib’s longitudinal carriage has multiple effects. It acts on both the base and the leech of the jib, moves the sail grease, and moves the headsail waste onto the mainsail.

Trim, the key to speed

Trim! Trim! Trim! I think this is the most repeated word in the entire course. Incorrect weight distribution on board, heeling and swell are all elements that deviate the boat from ideal trim. The crew must use their weight to keep the boat in trim, and to do so, they must be coordinated in their movements. The crew moves in unison so that the weight is like a single mass. Weight management does not just mean crew in sickle and roll turns: you also gain a lot of speed by avoiding unnecessary movements. For example, on small boats, the bowman going forward too early to anticipate a maneuver, or the tailer going downwind to adjust the jib sheet, go to greatly affect the trim of the boat. By optimizing the cockpit, these movements can be avoided. By crossing the sheets, the tailer can maneuver the winch upwind while remaining in the staysail with the handle behind his back. The centerboard, with a looping stay, can caulk or release the carriage from the upwind choke without having to move. Boat trim is also a useful indicator for the helmsman. Flat boat with gennaker, for example, indicates the maximum angle of descent beyond which one should not lean further to avoid losing speed. In any boat, it is the shape of the hull that defines the ideal trim for each gait. Consulting polars, or even charts of similar boats that indicate performance as a function of heel angle, will help to understand what the target speed might be for each gait and wind.

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Skiing and longitudinal trim

By watching the wake and reducing turbulence in the stern, you gain speed. With little wind, the weight will be more in the bow, with much wind more weight in the stern. Max Sirena, in his talk, reminded us not to forget in addition to trim, aerodynamics, especially upwind. If everyone is sitting lined up in the hawser, and exposing the side of the body to the wind, less turbulence will be generated than a crew standing in a frontal position. Awnings and spraytops generate waste that affects mainsail performance. Even a generous flag and associated halyard hoisted on the spreaders generates a few newtons of drag, one reason why in racing, you almost never expose the flag.

Using the backstay

Continuous adjustment of the backstay allows the mast to be flexed to adjust the Twist (warp) needed for the mainsail to luff properly, and to thin the mainsail in the middle. A leaner mainsail wisp allows air to be discharged at the top and keeps the boat steerable even under gusts, reducing the heeling moment. Wanting to thin the mainsail, keeping it in shape, thus without warping, will also require recovering a few inches of mainsail sheet as you cock the backstay. The leech tension is also controlled with the vang, which also has the effect of pushing the boom trough onto the mast, further de-rigging the sail.

Mainsail trolley, never downwind

If a boat has a significant mainsail carriage in the cockpit, we can be sure that this will have a great influence in mainsail setting. Upwind the mainsail luff is carried upwind to ensure that the boom is as much as possible amidships. The more the wind increases the more you will cast off, but on boats like the J80, and on almost all modern boats, the mainsail traveller is left just a few inches downwind. What matters, as a reference for carriage placement, is not the position of the boom, but the actual position of the mainsail base. A trolley that holds the boom a few more degrees upwind beyond the centerline can gain speed, because between the shackle and base clew, the mainsail base is always a few inches downwind of the boom anyway.

How to handle problems on board

A boat always loses speed when wrong maneuvers are made. The whole crew tends to lose focus on solving small problems, losing sight of the main goal: speed. There are situations, on short races, when letting go of the gennaker hoisting and continuing to white-sail aft to close the race, can be more winning than going to the trouble of loosening a candy gennaker. Sometimes races are also won on the mistakes of other boats. In order to improve, one must measure errors, which can be corrected by the method of successive approximation. If, for example, we realize in training that we have arrived long at the buoy, and are late in lowering gennaker, we will take a shore reference and a time, and repeat the maneuver, anticipating it. On the second attempt we will know if we are still too early, or too late, and we will make a third attempt, gradually getting closer, after dozens of lowerings, to the right time.

The role of the tactician

The wind conditions around the boat, the areas where there are gusts, the areas covered, the course of other boats, the good and the bad, are part of the overview needed to optimize one’s speed. The assessments are made by the tactician, the one who can look around. The tactician has to come up with a plan to achieve the goal and in parallel, he also thinks about a plan B, envisioning various scenarios of what can happen next. In racing (but also in cruising, in a short coastal outing with a round trip from the harbor), it is likely that the areas with both much and little wind are the same upwind and downwind, so it is the tactician must have a good memory, and remember where there is and is not pressure, to gain speed over opponents more distracted to these aspects. The role of the tactician outside the race is in essence to that of a good sailor, who observes the sea, the waves, the gusts, analyzes weather data, studies the charts, plans the course, and in sailing, understands and predicts, where it will be appropriate to sail in order to arrive before others.

The importance of preparticipation

Starts are one of the main topics of the training sessions. Ideally, the race committee prepares a starting line of a length appropriate for the number of boats in the race, and we know that with about 30 seconds to go before the start, each skipper will want to find his or her place on that line, holding a 10- to 15-second maneuvering space to caulk the sails and heel the sails and accelerate to cross the line at maximum speed. Where to position according to the wind and with respect to the line are one of the most studied topics in all the regatta literature. In non-professional regatta starts, boats move like sharks behind the line desperately searching for the best position. In top-level regattas, this phenomenon is less obvious; they try to let their opponents know what their chosen position will be and hold it while avoiding bothering each other.

Forbidden to tack

Out of an opposing sailboat comes turbulence or waste, called coverings, which it is good never to get into. If a boat veers into it upwind, I can’t keep sailing into the other boat’s wind waste. With little wind, turbulence is extremely penalizing, its effects propagating over many boat lengths. At the start, having to accelerate the boat, it is critical not to end up in such trash. One of the exercises we have done to practice arriving at the right time at the line proposed by Ganga Bruni is to make starts, self-banning tacking, to learn how to manage speed and predict the position of other boats, avoiding covers. Through the repetition of these of practice starts, we saw how crews very quickly perfected the ability to steer the boat and show up, without influencing each other, on the starting line within seconds of each other.

Roles on board

Making the boat faster starts with a careful assignment of crew roles, according to skills, weights and athletic training. Where the most time and speed is in fact lost is in maneuvering, or in setting the sails. Each element must know what its role is and how to coordinate with the others. To achieve maximum speed, the person operating the sheets does not just drop and haul, but operates a constant adjustment of the sails and communicates with the rest of the crew. Everyone wants to be a helmsman…but the most experienced person on board, for example, might be wasted at the helm, and the crew might function better with different roles. In the case of the J80s used at the course, the roles are: Helmsman, Central, Tailer, and Bowman. The bowman is by necessity an agile, light person, able to move quickly from the gunwale to the mast base to operate the halyards, and able to solve problems at the bow. He will have to grab the starboards with extended body movements and long strokes in order to hoist a gennaker at top speed. He is the one who shouts “head” when the halyard is on target. The bowman, also handles the vang, with little wind can help the tailer get the gennaker through by grabbing the clew, or by passing the handle from one winch to the other. The tailer is the one who maneuvers the sheets and counter sheets of jib, gennaker, or spinnaker, moves nimbly between cockpit and staysail, and operates the winches. He or she must know how to set the sails and be able to communicate with the helmsman to give directions on gusts and jumps in pressure, for example, saying “heave 5, lay 10, steady speed, low pressure, gust coming…” The good tailer is said to be the one who knows how to let go, not the one who fucks a lot. Tailer and bowman cooperate, especially on maneuvers such as gennaker hoisting and lowering, bowsprit plowing, and jib rolling. Agreeing on the direction in which they will move their legs to go out on the foresail, and the sequence in which they pass the handle, can gain speed. The Central, is primarily in charge of the mainsheet and carriage, gives guidance to the bowman on the adjustment of vang, base, and cunningham. He is a problem solver and often plays the role of tactician. Some call the center Octopus (octopus) because he must have an arm everywhere to help out where needed, having an overview of the whole boat. The helmsman, has as his main role the safe running of the boat, optimizes the VMG, but is not limited to the tiller. He also operates on backstay and, at certain times, holds the mainsheet and mainsheet carriage to free the centerboard. The helmsman senses the response of the hull on the rudder and acts gently on the tiller. Rudder shovels should never be given, which causes the boat to slow down. In tacking, the helmsman goes along with the crew’s speed, not the other way around. In a light wind, on the slack with gennaker, the helmsman will hold a more hemmed angle to the wind, while in a stronger wind, he may follow a grand slack gait. It is the helmsman who reads the instrumentation, takes references or alignments ashore. Weight and trim priority also apply to the helmsman, so he moves along with the rest of the crew. With little wave, the helmsman may not be the most experienced because he can be guided by the directions of those with more experience on board.

Visualize maneuvers and situations

Ganga Bruni ‘s teaching method is based on visualizing maneuvers and situations so that everyone can understand what will happen on board and what should be done. All situations are described as photographic sequences. Here is how she explained the Raising and Lowering of gennaker and the Turning with Rolling.

Issuing of gennaker

We prepare to arrive starboard tack at the windward mark, which we will have to leave to port. The mainsailer has the sheet in his hand and the carriage at mark. The mainsailer passes the sheet to the helmsman, and it becomes free. One arrives at the buoy with jib capped, and only at the lee, one leaves jib concurrently with the rotation of the boat, never letting it jib. Very important thing: If the jib is too capped, the gennaker does not inflate, because of a turbulence problem. The mainsail trimmer steps forward and goes to bring out the bowsprit. While the tailer gets the tack out of the deckhouse, which will pass external to all the shrouds, the bowman can get the tack off the pulpit, then back to the mast base. Gennaker up! Issa halyzes it with long arm and body movements. The helmsman follows the hoist and must not lean too far back so as not to hide the gennaker with the mainsail. When the pen is coming to beat, the bowman shouts “head!” and the helmsman heaves to get the gennaker inflated. It takes an element to whip the jib immediately after hoisting, and this can be done by the mainsman taking the line of the jib reel and the jib sheet in hand. It may happen that the tack is not on target: a call can be made to recover, but if a few cm of tack is missing, and the gennaker has pressure, better to leave it that way than to unload the gennaker and lose water.

Lowering of gennaker

The timing of the correct lowering involves a gennaker inside the deckhouse when the boat’s bow is half the length of the buoy. The more wind there is, the earlier the lowering should be done, so with the right timing, I open the jib, but don’t leave it too caulked; the uncaulked jib doesn’t go to bother the gennaker as much. Ready to haul: the tailer has the sheet and the counter sheet is clear. The bowman may already be getting into position near the counter sheet, and at ready to haul he is the one who initially retrieves the counter sheet, and passes it to the tailer. The bowman goes to the choke on the halyard mast. The mainsailer can reach out and let go of the tack and retrieves it. When you have the tack in the cockpit, you signal the bowman to open the halyard, halyard that will have to be not shot but spun quickly. The mainsailer goes back to the mainsail, and the bowman will be the one to retract the bowsprit as he goes back. The gennaker will end up in the water if the halyard is let go before the tack is recovered in the cockpit.

Turning with roll

In the first phase, the whole crew is in the gunwale, and there is an attempt to keep the boat flat, in this phase the crew looks forward, watches the gusts, the good and the bad, checks the backstay, and the mainsail. At the ready to tack, to the last, the whole crew stays in the staysail to keep the boat trim. You can drop a line of mainsail, and when it starts to sting, you drop the jib. The rudder is gentle in tacking, and when the boat enters by evolutionary effect into dead angle, and only then does the crew move. The goal is not to lie down after the tack, otherwise there is an immediate drift, which then has to be recovered. One therefore sets the genoa/jib immediately, and the mainsail can be a little more slack; when in trim, one sets again. A good crew can come out of the tack with little wind, with equal if not greater speed than the entry speed by using the technique of roll tack, or tack with roll. In roll tack, you shift your weight to pull the boat upwind, tack and only when the tack is completed, in the close haul, that you shift your weight to give it a “pump up.” There is no need to bring during roll tack the boat downwind. The upwind boat already has its own initial speed, from that speed you want to go straight into the wind. In fact, if you drift downwind you will have a sideways “drift.”

by Luigi Gallerani

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