Maximising 8 Metre Performance

by Philip Crebbin










As a British Metre boat man in heart and soul, Philip Crebbin hardly needs an introduction in the 8-Metre Class. After some 6 years of 12-Metre racing in two America´s Cups, he joined the Eight Metre Class as a very successful helmsman taking the Sira Cup in 1987 and the World Cup in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1994. Today Philip is director of RACE 1, a yacht race training and charter company, which has a fleet of Sydney 40 racing yachts and which is also launching a 38ft One-Design under the new IRM rule. Under his guidance skippers and crews learn to perform better in a very competitive environment. For the second edition of the Eight Metre Register, Philip gives us some of his thoughts on how to prepare and trim an Eight Metre for a major event.

When preparing an 8 Metre for the World Cup, or any major event, there are clearly two separate areas one has to consider. The first is optimising the boat as much as possible under the rule and the second is then maximising the performance of the boat on the racecourse. The first is a large subject in itself, but all boats except the modern fleet are heavily restricted in how much they can make changes or optimisations and stay eligible for their respective fleets. So for this article I will assume the boat is correctly set up and optimised under the rule and I will concentrate only on maximising performance on the racecourse.

Preparation starts ashore and should be a continuous process right up to the racing with the whole crew involved. Don’t even think about trying to win a major championship without making the whole underwater surface as perfect as possible, especially the keel and rudder. Most important is the fairness of the hull, something where many of the older boats are far from perfect. Fairness really makes a difference. Once it is fair, then a well-sanded surface is worth getting the whole crew onto, like for any boat.
Make sure that water turbulence is minimised. This means that the trim tab and rudder flaps must also be perfect. With a trim tab, check that your angle calibration is correct and that the centre point is precise. Your trim tab control inside the boat should be marked per degree of angle up to 4 degrees each side. Also check that the boatspeed impeller is correctly aligned and lowered to the right depth when fully down. If there is doubt about the instrument calibration, particularly the boatspeed, make a point of allocating time to calibrate as one of the first jobs when the boat is on the water. The target speeds and angles should be clearly written in sight of the helmsman, both upwind and downwind.

Check and service the rig, sails, winches and other deck gear as thoroughly as possible before launching the boat. Try to set the rig up to its proven race settings assuming these are known. Make sure all the running rigging is in good shape (don’t risk an even slightly worn halyard or sheet for the big event), and set up a simple grid on the coachroof for the genoa halyard to be able to monitor its position. Also set up a grid of tacking lines for the tactician on each side of the boat, at least with 60o to 90o marked at 10o intervals, but make sure you get the boat’s centreline accurately transferred to each side.

When on the water, time should first be spent checking the rig tune to make sure it is good so that you can then have confidence in it for everything else you do. Double-check it in different windspeeds, at least up to 20kts or so if you have the opportunity. Different boats need to keep different amounts of power on up the wind range. Try to make sure your mast is not starting to fall off too soon, while the boat is still able to use full power. However, once the boat is starting to heel too much and is getting out of balance, it can be good to have the top of the rig fall off a small amount to assist the twisting and exhaust of the mainsail leech. This will reduce the amount of mainsail adjustment constantly needed to keep the boat in the groove at top speed.

Take every opportunity with different windspeeds to look at each sail in its correct wind range. For each genoa, the trimmer should record the changes that need to be made to runner tension, halyard and car position up its range (all these controls must be properly marked). Try to do as much of this as possible when sailing hard against another boat of similar speed (i.e. it is no good a Classic sailing against a Modern). Always monitor the target boatspeed and keep track of when you are achieving it and when you are not when in a steady state. If you are not up to targets, analyse the problem and keep making adjustments until you improve.
Immediately before an event is a bit late for assessing the sails if some might be below race standard. So try to have that job done in time to have new sails made or adjusted before the final practice. Get your sailmaker to help you in setting the sails up and assessing them at an earlier date. However, if you do find a sail is not up to the mark immediately before the event, work out what is needed and get a local sailmaker to do it, in consultation with your sailmaker if possible. You are not going to win if you race knowing that a sail is not in good race shape.

If you are sailing against another good boat in your fleet, that is the best time to get a feel of the best “window” of speed for a given wind strength. The target speed is just the starting point. You need to know how much you can “scallop” the boat around the target. Metre boats are very heavy (and so carry lots of momentum), but have a low hull resistance and a large sail area. This means that they recover speed quite well when they are close to the correct numbers. So in most conditions, but especially smooth water, it is actually faster to take very gentle, small bites to windward, burn some speed and then equally gently lay the boat off to re-accelerate, all within a certain small speed window around the target. This can work over as much as half a knot (in total).
It is down to the helmsman to get a really good feel for the boat in different conditions so that he can do it almost automatically.
The principle is the same downwind, particularly when you are VMG running in light air. This time you burn speed by bearing off more and taking a bite to leeward, before luffing up again to re-accelerate. However, most people sail their 8 Metres too low and slow in light winds and so bearing off more is then disastrous. Be aggressive about getting the boat up to its target speeds and then play the scalloping game around that speed. Of course downwind you have to keep careful track of how much the target speed and angle changes as the windspeed changes. The spinnaker trimmer must constantly feed information to the helmsman about the pressure he has in the sail and call the helmsman up or down accordingly.

Most people also try to fly spinnakers that are too big in light air. If the wind is very light, big spinnakers are simply not fast. Get a VMG _ oz from your sailmaker and learn how to use it correctly. The big thing is to believe the target speed numbers. The only thing you have to watch for is that in light winds the masthead windspeed is often much greater than the water surface windspeed. This means that the target numbers need to be based on a slightly lower windspeed than the masthead reading. You have to make your best judgement of that according to the conditions on the day. On some days you also get wind shear (a different wind angle at the top of the mast than lower down towards the deck), which can dramatically affect you both upwind and downwind. Then both trim and numbers have to be adjusted accordingly on each tack and gybe.
In the pre-racing tune-up, make sure the trimmers are clear on the optimum range of each sail and how much overlap there is between them. This can often change quite dramatically between flat water and choppy water. The best combination is to have 3 full size No 1 genoas. The Light should be full and powerful. Do not try to pinch and point with it. When the boat is going a lot slower than proper hull speed upwind, it is speed that gives you height, not trying to point. The Medium will likely be the most frequently used sail, and crosses over from “looking for power” conditions to “fully powered up” conditions. This involves quite different set-ups between the low end of its range and the high end and the trimmers must master this.

The Heavy is a flatter sail, usually with quite a hollow leech and a very slightly shorter foot so that the slot is more open. The quicker the boat heels over and gets overpowered, the greater should be the reduction in foot length of the Heavy No 1 genoa. There should then be a heavier No 2 with a significantly shorter foot, but still with plenty of overlap past the shrouds. Blade jibs are not fast on Metre boats.
In stronger winds upwind, when the boat starts getting overpowered, be aggressive about moving the genoa cars back. The 8 Metre is a narrow boat and so you cannot widen the slot by moving the genoa car outboard. It really pays to twist the genoa leech much more. Also adjust the halyard to keep the point of maximum draft in the correct position in the sail and the leech as straight as possible. When the boat is consistently overpowered, change
to the No 2.
The mainsail is the key sail upwind and the mainsail trimmer has to be really on the ball. It is no use dropping the traveller very much in a metre boat with fully overlapping headsails and so controlling the sail depth and leech twist is critical. Overhaul the boom above the centreline in light airs, around a boom width, with a twisted leech and then gradually drop it back towards the centreline as you tighten the leech in more breeze. As the breeze increases, bend the mast more and, depending on the depth in the head of the sail, start using topmast backstay to twist the top leech again. If necessary, use less sheet so that the boom can be kept reasonably close to the centreline.

The mainsail trimmer must work closely with the helmsman at all times to keep the speed and the balance correct. With a trim tab, it is good to have to use a couple of degrees to make the rudder balanced even when it is quite light, and as the wind gets stronger up to 4 degrees.

A good spinnaker inventory is to have 4 sails. This starts with the Code 1 VMG already discussed which is quite a small sail, used in up to about 8 or 9kts. The Code 2 is larger for medium winds up to about 16kts, when it is still too light to run square with a very large sail. The Code 3 is the monster runner for stronger winds and can only be put up when you know you can run very square with it, above about 15 or 16kts. The Code 4 is then the heavy air sail, slightly smaller than the Code 3, for above about 22 or 23kts. In the World Cup in Porto Santo Stefano as an example, on Spazzo we used the Code 1 in the very light practice race, when we overtook the leading boats downwind to win the race. We then used the Code 2 in every race of the event except the two strong wind races when we used the Code 4. The wind was only very briefly in the 15kt to 20kt range and so we only put up the Code 3 once. We were always fast downwind especially in the very light and light medium conditions using the Code 1 and Code 2.

Of course general boat handling is an important part of preparation and every manoeuvre should be practised until it is as near perfect as possible. Tacking is absolutely critical and needs to be perfected in different windspeeds. Using a tacking line can be helpful to speed the process of getting the genoa past the shrouds and the mast. Minimising speed loss and getting the best acceleration out of a tack are key elements and so the helmsman must turn the boat at the right speed and lay it off correctly. The mainsail trim is a key element through a tack. Wind the sheet on going into the tack to tighten the leech, and then overhaul the traveller on the new tack and ease the sheet to twist the leech with the boom still kept high. Tighten the leech again after the acceleration has kicked in and the speed is approaching the target, dropping the traveller as you go to keep the boom in the correct position relative to centreline.
Spinnaker hoists, gybes and drops must all be going smoothly 90% or more of the time or you will not have enough confidence in your boat handling at critical times on the race course. When gybing, VMG light air gybing is completely different from run to run gybing in more wind. The pole will be quite well forward and must be squared back as the boat is born away to rotate the spinnaker round the headstay. The helmsman should call the squaring and then the trip when the rotation is correct. The clew should be all the way to the headstay when the pole is tripped, or immediately afterwards.
I like it to go up to half a metre beyond the headstay. Then, when the pole is reattached and it becomes the new spinnaker tack, it is drawn back into the pole end while the sheet is also being trimmed, helping to accelerate the boat out of the gybe at a high angle. Do not pull the pole back off the headstay too fast, and certainly not more than the acceleration angle needs. Then as targets are reached, the helmsman can square the boat a bit more and go back to his correct VMG angle. Having to let the new spinnaker tack off to clear round the topping lift and the pole end after the pole is reattached is simply slow. The whole operation must be done gently and smoothly. At all times the spinnaker must be set and drawing. There is never an excuse to collapse it.

Run to run gybing in more breeze is much easier as the spinnaker just flies out in front of the boat and the pole is dipped through to the opposite clew without the spinnaker needing to move very much. The process in both cases is not really any different if the pole is set up for end for end gybes rather than dip pole gybes.
Remember when practising hoists and drops that there are a number of options you should run through, Bearaway Set, Tack Set, Gybe Set, Leeward Drop, Windward Drop, Float (Leeward Gybe) Drop, Kiwi (Windward Gybe) Drop. With a port rounding, the Float Drop is when you approach on starboard gybe, gybe onto port round the mark and drop the spinnaker on the starboard side of the boat. The Kiwi Drop is the same except that you drop the spinnaker on the port side of the boat. Under the current rules you can take the pole off early and then you need to have a “human pole”, i.e. a crew member holding the spinnaker guy out as far as he can to keep the spinnaker setting until the drop is called. In the racing you will most often do Bearaway and sometimes Tack sets and Windward or Leeward Drops (preferably Windward – approach on port gybe and drop the spinnaker on the port side of the boat so that the gear is correct for the next hoist). So practice these the most, but do some of the others so that the crew is set up for them and you can call one in the racing without worry if tactics dictate it.

Of course there is much more detail I could go into on many of these points, but I hope that this will serve to provide something of a checklist of things to be covered if you want to be ready for the next World Cup or Continental Championship.