Racing under a rating rule is not just about what you know. Being an equipment-based sport, sailing is also about what you have. The foils and hull, the rig and sails, all play a role in making your boat go fast and rate well under systems like CBH for sportsboats, or IRC and ORC for the bigger boats.

Shane Guanaria is with Doyle Sails, and Andrew York produces the REO sportsboat. Both understand yacht racing and what things make it go fast.

What are the principles of producing a fast boat to race under a rating?

Andrew York: First, to produce a fast boat I looked at modern yachts, sports boats and dinghies to see what was working. Always having an enquiring mind to try and work out why certain shapes, and other variables were working. Secondly, analyse data on successful boats to get an understanding of what affects the rating of the boats under the rule you want to design to.
Shane Guanaria: A good understanding of the type of boat and its relative strengths and weaknesses is needed. Talking through the expected use of the sails, regatta vs offshore, and the conditions the boat commonly sails in with the owner, and then make use of the data base of successful designs and access to world leading designers.

What features make it go fast?

AY: The REO sportsboats have greater form stability than the boats they typically sail against so that they need less crew to keep her upright. This means the sailing weight on the race course is light. We dig a smaller hole in the water and plane much earlier and top speed is higher. High power to weight ratio.
SG: Starting point for headsails is the geometry of the sail, ensuring the clew positions, foot round, roach, sheeting and barber hauler positions are all correct. With a Mainsail, it is looking at mast bends and sail areas. You need to have a mast that bends enough to get a sail from being deep enough in 6 knots of breeze to being flat enough in 18 knots of breeze. For reaching sails like Code Zero’s, there is a level of importance to pad eye positions for tweakers to get best range out of the sail. The engineering of the sail is important.

What equipment helps speed but isn’t necessarily rated?

AY: The hydraulic ram to change rig tension is not rated by most rules. Using it we can power up and depower the rig really quickly.
SG: Staysails are an easy gain when used in the correct conditions. These sails are getting more versatile with the introduction of jib tops and code sails on furlers and longer bow sprits and fore triangles allowing for triple headed sailing. Marks or loadcells where applicable on cars, backstays, vangs can allow for easily repeatable settings. A string pod on a rudder is gold for a mainsheet hand, but failing that, a centre mark on a wheel is every bit as important to check rudder angle.

What do you wish a rating system would change in its approach?

AY: Most rules we sail under in Australia are working pretty well, with new designs proving fast, competitive and seaworthy. In sailing we cannot afford to discourage any portion of the fleet. It is important to keep as many boats on the water as possible.
SG: More transparency and consistency with the rules. Less reactive decision making which ends up costing the owners thousands of dollars.

What design change do you think has had the most positive impact on boats’ performance?

AY: The move towards boats with greater form stability. While this is not obvious to many the wins and podium places of the REO boats over the last eight years tells the story.
SG: The introduction of the bowsprit and lighter weight planning boats has certainly made yachting more attractive to younger generations. The downside to this is finding a bowman these days that has dip poled a spinnaker pole on a 50-footer!  Furling sails have really changed the game a lot also. The technology in these sails have led to improvements in the standard working sails also, as have the hardware like the cables and furlers where many boats are now running structural forestays with PBO cables inside the sail with very light forestays or in some cases, no forestay. The increased use of halyard locks is also making its way through the fleet and with the elimination of halyard creep, the sail and rig performance has improved.

For information about CBH, IRC and ORC ratings click here.

By Glen Stanaway