Racing a sailing dinghy demands high levels of concentration, and many actions preformed by a dinghy racer are second nature, done without thinking, yet ever mindful of what is being done.

A seasoned dinghy sailor’s dinghy will be loaded with what appears to be chaos, but every item will have a purpose, and will be positioned for easy use under appropriate conditions.

A few items that make sailing easier and consequently more enjoyable:

Let’s start with footwear. Although possible, it is not advisable to sail barefoot. Banging a cold wet foot against a deck block won’t be noticed until your foot starts throbbing, or worse, until you notice your foot is bleeding. Protect your feet, and wear either tennis shoes or neoprene bootees. If you decide to use tennis shoes, they do need to have laces, as wet tennis shoes do fall off for little or no reason. Tuck the protruding laces away into the inside of your shoe so they don’t hook or snag on anything.

Toe straps have a way of not being there when you need them. Use lengths of shock-cord from one side of the dinghy cockpit to the other, passing it under the toe-straps. This will keep the toe straps firmly open, and dead simple to find and use. If your dinghy has a flat deck, use lengths of two-inch polypropylene tubing pop riveted to the toe straps, to keep them off the deck. Position them at the ends of the toe straps or the polypropylene tubing will be a nuisance.

Forgetting to lift your dagger board when bearing off to a reach or a run is common. Although a lift line won’t do it for you, it will make your life easier. If your class rules permit it, pass a line from one side of your dinghy to the other, passing through a hole in the dagger board. It will take some experimenting to find the exact position of the hole, and you will need to insert a bush of sorts to protect the line. Also necessary will be a channel for the line to run in, routed into the dagger board. Utilizing a lift line means you will be able to lift the dagger board from anywhere on the boat, taking away the need to move inboard, or the need to remember to do it when crossing the centerline of the dinghy. Always lift your dagger board before gybing.

Use a lightweight burgee to tell where the wind is. Remember that a burgee indicates relative wind direction, not true wind direction.

Tufts of wool taped to the sail at one third and two thirds of the height and at a third and two thirds of the width of the sail at that height will tell you immediately how your sail is drawing. Tie tufts of wool to the outside ends of your battens to monitor what the airflow over your sail is like. These tufts are invaluable when tuning for racing.

A simple bridle traveler for dinghies without a traveler is easy to fit. Look at the Laser Class dinghy traveler. It is simple, unobtrusive, infinitely adjustable, light in weight, inexpensive, very effective, easy to use, and easy to install.

Conclusion: To make your dinghy sailing easier, look at other dinghies, and see what is installed

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

This article, by Teresa Schultz, was first published on Factoidz:
Sailing Dinghy Hints and Tips

A trapeze on a dinghy is a thin wire, attached to the mast, close to the top of the mast, which runs down to deck level, and has a ring on the end of it. The ring is hooked onto a hook on a special belt worn by the sailor, called a trapeze harness. Once hooked into the trapeze harness, the sailor is able to move out of the dinghy, to the extent that only the balls of the sailors’ feet are actually in contact with the boat.

Apart from a trapeze harness, a few other items are needed. It goes without saying that a suitable personal buoyancy device be worn. If there is enough wind to trapeze, there is enough wind to get hurt. You don’t want to get knocked into the water semi unconscious.

Footwear is all important, as this is your point of contact with the boat. Neoprene bootees are excellent, with light-weight rubber soled canvas shoes a close second. When getting into your trapeze harness, make sure it is on securely, and is tight enough. Stand upright. If you can slip your palm in under the hook, but are unable to make a fist, it will be just right.

Before going out onto the water you’ll want to adjust your clip height. Sit on the deck of the dinghy, in the position you would normally, and hook yourself onto the trapeze wire. Let the trapeze take your weight. You will be able to feel the deck under your butt perfectly, but there won’t be any pressure. In other words, if your butt is just touching the deck, you’re good to go.

Once out on the water, on a close-hauled course, you can step out. As with athletics, take off on your best foot. In contrast to athletics, when trapezing, your best foot is always your forward foot.

Slip your butt off the edge of the deck, and swivel your hips slightly, toward the front of the boat. Now draw your forward leg toward your chest, put your heel on the gunwale, and push off backwards. As you’re clearing the gunwale, you will be drawing your back foot under you, and placing it on the deck to help stabilize yourself. As your butt clears the gunwale, your back foot will be edging toward the gunwale, and by the time your butt is 12 inches from the dinghy, both your feet will be against the side of the dinghy. Push against the dinghy so that the balls of your feet are your contact with the boat.

With your feet about 12 inches apart, straighten your legs, not your body. Keep your front leg braced, and use your back leg as shock absorber or stabilizer. Get used to floating in mid-air in a sitting position. Let go of the trapeze ring, you don’t need it.

Now, bend backwards from your waist. It is daunting at first, but you will soon get used to the feeling of flying over the water with the side of your face just inches from the surface of the water. In time you will more than likely do a few head ducks, voluntarily or involuntarily.

If you sail, but have never been out on a trapeze, you’re missing an experience you will cherish forever.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

This article, by Teresa Schultz, was first published on Factoidz:
Trapeze Sailing for Beginners

You enter your first dinghy race and it is a disaster from start to finish.

You’re yelled at from all angles, and it seems as if every boat in the fleet is intent on sailing through you. You manage to start moving out of the chaos at the start line when you hear a gun. This prompts you to tack, and while every other skipper in the fleet is distracted, you cross the line, and head for the first mark. From somewhere you hear someone shouting something about a five-minute gun.

Time slows, as does your heart rate. Realisation creeps in, and you return to the race side of the line. While you’re returning, the rest of the fleet are still jockeying for position and yelling. You hear a gun, and realize that you are heading in the wrong direction. You tack, and realize that you are at the very back of the fleet. By the time you get to the line, the first boats are well on their way to the first mark of the course.

You know your boat. You know your boat is fast.

You grit your teeth, scoop water from next to the boat, splash it over your face, sheet in the main sail and sheet in the jib sail, as hard as you can, move right aft… and go nowhere.

From one juddering bone shaking swell crest to the next, all you see are rapidly dwindling dinghies, as they waggle their transoms, and leave you behind.

For many skippers who started racing without a mentor, this will be a familiar scenario. Some will have been more traumatic, and some not really traumatic.

As with any sport, knowledge and being prepared are vital to success. Sailing a dinghy, however, introduces another facet to competitiveness: Skill. You, as an aspirant dinghy racer, need to have certain skills.

Sailing dinghy trim is the very first skill beginners need to learn. Learning anything else on a sailing dinghy that is not trimmed correctly will compound and exaggerate bad sailing habits.

Lesson one: Sailing dinghies are designed to perform at their best when level.

Lesson two: Level refers to fore and aft, as well as across the beam.

Lessons one and two therefore mean that your dinghy will sail best when it is level in both planes. Sail with a (plastic) glass of water placed on a thwart. By observing the level of the water in the glass, you will find where the best place to be in your dinghy is under specific conditions.

Lesson three: Watch your wake, around your rudder, and the outside edges of your transom. If the water is bubbly, and turbulent, move forward, until you cannot see any more turbulence. Then move forward a bit more.

Generally, you want your transom clear of the water, unless the wind is strong enough to make the dinghy plane. Even then, shifting your weight too far backward will disturb your sailing dinghy’s trim, and slow the boat down.

Lesson four: The lighter the wind, the further forward you can move. In very light winds sit as far forward as you can, preferably on the leeward side of the boat. This will cause the bow to go down in the water, which helps directional stability. By heeling the boat away from the wind, the sails will fill easier. As the wind freshens, move your body weight toward the centerline, then to windward, and then only consider moving backward.

Conclusion

Optimum dinghy trim will help you stay with the fleet, or closer to the fleet, but to catch up and pass the tail enders, knowing how to trim the sails of your dinghy is even more important.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

This article, by Teresa Schultz, was first published on Factoidz:
Sailing Dinghy Trim for Beginners

For novice skippers it is mostly sail trimming that keeps them bringing up the rear. Concentrate on fore and aft and lateral trim, then pay some attention to your sail trim.

This discussion is not about the theory that makes a dinghy move through the water as a consequence of air movement across the sails; rather, it is a practical guide to effective sail trim on a small sailing dinghy. Please bear in mind that this is a general discussion, and will therefore not be equally suitable for all sailing dinghies.

Dinghy sail trimming starts on land, when you are rigging your dinghy.

Hoist your mainsail and jib.

When tensioning the sails, remember that the harder the wind is blowing, the harder you can apply tension to the sails. In light winds, apply very little pressure, to make your sails as full as possible. Light tension will also allow the sails to react to puffs quicker and easier.

Many, but not all mainsails have a luff lock position, some have more than one, to allow for different wind conditions, but most have no locking position. If your dinghy has a luff lock, and it is required to use it, do so. If not, read on.

The luff on a dinghy is elastic, and depending on how much tension is applied, will extend by as much as six inches, sometimes more. For light winds apply tension to the halyard, sufficient to increase the luff length by approximately two inches. A light fold should be seen in the sail, running parallel to the mast. Now go to the clew of the main, at the end of the boom. Apply pressure to remove the vertical luff fold. When the vertical fold has disappeared, watch the sail along the boom. Apply tension until you see a fold starting in the sail just above the boom. Now slowly release the clew to a point midway between the two extremes.

As the wind force accelerates, tighten your luff, then the foot of the sail, always maintaining the midway point. Apply pressure to remove the vertical fold. Stop, and mark the position. Now apply more pressure until a horizontal fold starts forming. Stop, and make a mark. The position you want is between the two marks. Experience with your dinghy will help you determine optimum settings.

Out on the water a common mistake made by novices is over-sheeting. This is pulling the sails in too tight. Nothing will slow a sailing dinghy down more than over-sheeting.

With your dinghy rigged, stand behind the dinghy and sheet in until the outside tip of the boom is above the outside corner of the transom. Use a permanent marker to mark the sheet at a point that you will be able to monitor easily. It is suggested that you use the boom block as a reference, as a deck block will divert your attention from what is happening around you. This will be your light weather setting. Now sheet in a bit more, until the tip of the boom is half way between the transom and the centerline. Mark this point with a permanent marker, and use it as a reference for maximum sheeting in strong winds.

Adjust your kicking strap, or boom vang. In light wind conditions the kicking strap must have very little tension, just sufficient to keep the boom from lifting up. In heavier conditions, you can apply tension that will drop the level of the boom below its actual rest position.

Jib luff tension is achieved by applying halyard tension until just before a vertical luff fold starts appearing.

Out on the water, launch your dinghy and get clear of land. Make sure your weight is correctly positioned, and steer a course to windward. Sheet in your mainsail, ensuring that it is between the marks you made earlier. Now adjust your course, so that the leech of the mainsail is just fluttering. Sheet the jib in to stop it flapping. Have a look at the leech of your mainsail. If it is opening excessively along the top third, you need to tighten your kicking strap. With time and practice you will be able to feel the difference this makes.

Now sheet the jib in some more, until it starts back-winding the main. You will see this happen when the beautiful aerofoil shape of the main starts making a bubble just behind the mast. Let the jib out until the bubble goes away.

These are the basics, and will make a difference to your position. By fine-tuning these settings you will notice if your ability to catch up is improving or not. Fine-tuning and practice will take you closer to the front of the fleet.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

This article, by Teresa Schultz, was first published on Factoidz:
Dinghy Sail Trimming for Novices

Tony and I were at a shopping mall this morning, Hemingways shopping mall, in East London, and the shop we wanted to go to was not yet open – well, hardly any shops were open as it was still before 9am. So we strolled around looking in the windows of some of the other shops.

We looked in the windows of Incredible Connection and drooled over some of the goodies we could spot inside, well, not really drooled or else we would have messed on the window and I don’t think the Incredible Connection staff would have appreciated wiping up drool from their windows when we were not even going to go inside to buy anything. To say technology is rapidly advancing is an understatement. There were some really cool goodies inside Incredible Connection. Oh well. One day.

We walked on a little further and overheard a young lady phoning somebody to inform them that the security gate over the store wasn’t opening, so she couldn’t get in. Well that’s certainly good security then, I guess, but when it’s supposed to open up, and it doesn’t, it must be very frustrating, especially so close to the time the store was supposed to be open for business.

Then we came across some fish in a fishtank, the fishtank being set into the wall. Nice idea, we thought. Then we noticed that this fishtank was part of a restaurant that served fish. Hm.

I really hope those fish in the fishtank don’t mind witnessing their cousins being eaten in the restaurant. I really hope they don’t think they’re next.

Imagine you, as a human, were locked up in an enclosure. Okay, so you’re fed and kept safe from intruders. The temperature of your enclosure is controlled and everything is honky dory. Then you notice that giant fish are sitting down at tables and eating humans. With a knife and fork. What would you think? How would you feel? What would you be discussing with your fellow inmates over dinner? “We’re next; I know we are!” ?

Disclaimer: just wondering out loud, onto the keyboard, words appearing here, creatively. No disrespect intended to any of the shop owners.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

If your digital camera has only 2 or 3 megapixels, your photos will only look good if they stay fairly small. If you try to print a large photo, or a poster, your photo will no longer look as good as it did on your computer or on your camera.

The more megapixels a digital camera has, the more detail can be recorded at the time of taking a photo.

Megapixels are like little blocks, all forming a larger block. The more little blocks that are in the larger block, the better the quality of large photo prints.

Think of a rectangular piece of material, like a towel, with a pattern of equal size squares on it. If the material is strong and you grip it at either end and try to stretch it, nothing will happen. Or, if you are able to stretch it a bit, the threads won’t separate too much and the piece of material will still look quite good.

Now think of a rectangular piece of material of the same size as the first one with the same pattern of equal size squares on it, but made differently. The threads are loosely woven, almost like the threads of a fishing net, and as you stretch the material, it does indeed stretch and increase in size, but the spaces between the threads are bigger and you can see through the material to whatever is in the background. The background becomes part of what you see when looking at your piece of material, and detracts from how the piece of material looks in its original size and form.

Although a background as described above does not become visible when a photo is enlarged, enlarging a photo can still be thought of as making little squares larger. If threads are closely woven, you have a stronger piece of material. It is the same with photos. If there are lots of little squares (megapixels) set closely together (as in a 10MP or 12MP digital camera,) they won’t become too big if enlarging the photo, and you will still have a good quality photo. However, if the megapixels are already large to begin with (there are only a few of them as in a 2MP or 3MP digital camera,) enlarging your photo makes these little squares even bigger, and produces a poor quality photo.

If you plan to enlarge photos quite a bit, a digital camera with quite a few megapixels (10MP or higher) will help you print large photos of good quality.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

This article, by Teresa Schultz, was first published on Factoidz Digital Camera Megapixels Explained for Beginners

Firstly, not many people want or need a digital camera with digital zoom, so do not be fooled by high digital zoom when shopping for a new digital camera. Optical zoom is more important.

Digital zoom is what you use when you want to view a photo on your digital camera more closely. This is after you’ve taken the photo and are checking through your photos on your camera screen to see if you’re happy with the results. Because most photos are taken quite quickly, you may have missed seeing something while taking the photo. Later, an enlarged photo may reveal that a child had a runny nose, or a bird that is actually in the distance appears to be flying out of the child’s head. Zooming in on your photo on your camera, on your small camera screen, allows you to spot mistakes, and retake the photo to get a better result. It’s like cropping a photo, enabling you to enlarge parts of a photo for better viewing. The higher the digital zoom, the more closely you can view your photos on your digital camera screen.

Cropping a photo using digital zoom (making just a portion of the photo appear as large as the original photo) reduces the amount of megapixels in the photo and spreads them out more, resulting in a poor quality image.

Optical zoom is used when you want less (of what you see before you) in your photo, and if you are unable to get physically close enough to the subject to achieve this result. Using optical zoom appears to bring you and the subject closer together.

Most digital cameras have a 3x optical zoom or 4x optical zoom. This is adequate for most photographic circumstances.

If needing a bigger optical zoom, there are digital cameras with 10x optical zoom or higher. Be aware that a high optical zoom often means that the digital camera itself may have to be quite a bit larger and bulkier than a digital camera with a smaller optical zoom. A bulky digital camera may not be as easy to handle as a smaller digital camera, and photographers may end up with photos that are a little blurry. Using a tripod, or manual settings that enable photographers to set faster shutter speeds, can help produce good sharp images.

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

This article, by Teresa Schultz, was first published on Factoidz Understanding the Difference Between Digital Camera Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom

That feeling of freedom, of being at one with your sailing dinghy, the wind, and the water…

The 9 year old, skippering her Optimist to a club race win knows the feeling

A 13 year old Dabchick skipper getting his Dabchick planing for the first time knows the feeling

Gliding over a lagoon bed, with barely a breath of wind, and no sign of disturbance on the water, watching fish dart around below

That first awesome scary time out on the trapeze

A wild wet rush through the breaking wave crests, alternating between airborne and submerged

Powering across a flat lake, flat out on the trapeze, and the spinnaker drawing perfectly

Dinghy sailing is a great way to get exercise. An active sailor will get to use all muscles in the course of a day’s sailing; in fact some dinghies will provide more exercise for particular muscle groups.

Using toe straps will strengthen and develop calf and thigh muscles, as well as provide excellent tone to the tummy area. Sheeting in does wonders for the arms.

Although there is no ideal age at which to start sailing, it is commonly recognized that the younger a person starts dinghy sailing the better it is.

Dinghy sailing provides many advantages to people of all ages. Start with self-confidence. Every excursion out onto the water offers a reward of sorts, which manifests in improved self-confidence. From self-confidence poise will be improved, as well as interaction with others. Constant activity within a confined space and frequent frantic bursts of energy will help do away with clumsiness and gawkiness.

It is of course not necessary to participate in high power sailing to reap any kind of benefit. Some are perfectly content to climb into their dinghy and spend the day sailing aimlessly. The interaction with wind and water, and possibly the solitude, provides much needed therapy for over busy minds.

Dinghy sailing allows the individual to perform to the levels they are comfortable with.

Dinghy sailing is suitable for all ages.

Dinghy sailing is suited to persons of all levels of physical ability.

Dinghy sailing does not need to be costly.

Dinghy sailing, in summary, is the universal sport.

© copyright Tony Flanigan 2011

Colds and flu suck! Or should that be colds and flu are just plain sick!?

When there’s work to be done, kids to take care of, the house to be kept in order, a decent night’s sleep to be had, or an important sports competition coming up, feeling sick and miserable makes people feel sick and miserable.

Common colds are just that, common, but they’re still a pain in the neck – or chest, or head, or nose, or throat.

You are taking all sorts of medication and you don’t really want to go to the doctor, but you are just not getting rid of your cold! Could your cold be worse than a cold? Do you have a chest infection or throat infection? Do you have bronchitis or tonsillitis? Will an anitbiotic help? “How long does a cold last!?” you scream – or splutter, or squeak because you have laryngitis too.

You know you’re really blocked up when you blow your nose and your ears squeak and bubble too. Lying on your side blocks one nostril and makes the other nostril run like a tap left open in a place that has dams that are always full. And how awfully irritating it is when you find you are quite capable of sniffing, and yet when you blow your nose, nothing happens?

When you sit up your back and head ache, but your nose becomes unblocked. Yipee! Lie down and at least one nostril stays unblocked, your head and back no longer ache, but if you cough you need to sit up and concentrate on trying to breathe in without each exhale of breath being a cough. The vix on your chest burns, and makes your eyes run, or are those tears of frustration? How long does a cold last!?

A cold usually lasts about a week.

Being generally healthy may help you recover from your cold more quickly, and be sure to get plenty of rest, and to wash your hands often.

If your cold lasts longer than about a week, or if any of your cold or flu symptoms are quite severe even before a week has passed, it may be an indication that you have something more severe than just a common cold, like sinusitis, bronchitis, tonsillitis, croup, or even strep throat or pneumonia.

Don’t mess with your health. See a doctor if things “don’t seem right.”

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2011

Disclaimer: The information on this site should not be relied upon. The information is general and informative only. Do not let any health concerns or legal concerns wait because of anything you have read on this site. Consult with a medical professional or legal professional about your health concerns or legal concerns.

Resources and Further Reading:

Common Cold – patient.co.uk

Flu or Cold Symptoms – webmd.com

Cold Remedies, what works and what doesn’t – mayoclinic.com

A basic rule when sailing in light wind conditions is to keep loose.

As always, you want a clean hull surface. There are advocates for smooth glossy, highly polished hulls, and there are advocates for smooth matte finish hulls. Whichever camp you follow, your hull does need to be clean of oils, dirt, and all the other matter that hulls collect.

Rig your dinghy, and raise the sails. Do not use excessive tension on your sails, as they need to be as full as possible. Move your jib slider outboard, as it can throttle the venture between the jib and main if too narrow.

If your class rules allow it, or if you are able to, move your stays up one notch on the chain-plate, but do not take up this tension on the jib stay. You want your rig just a bit floppy.

Your kicking strap must have almost no tension on it. When you ease off the wind you want the boom to be able to lift a bit, so that there is no pocket of air along the leech of the main.

On the water, sit on the floor of the boat, as far forward as possible. If sailing single-handed, get comfortable on the side opposite to where the wind is coming from, as far forward as possible. Keep low, to help keep the slot between the jib and main open. Ideally just the top of your head should be visible.

By positioning your weight forward, and heeling the boat away from the wind, two things will happen. Firstly the boat will heel. It may be a bit nerve-wracking the first few times, but it is safe. The heeling of the dinghy causes the sails to take up an aerofoil shape, helping what little wind there is to pass over the sails comfortably. If the leech of the main or jib is too tight, it will stop the airflow.

Do not sheet in hard, as this will close the leech. Sailing slightly freer in these conditions is faster. There are those who will opt to point higher, but when the wind is very light, there will be no significant speed advantage.

Moving forward lifts the transom out of the water, reducing the turbulence usually found there. The run-off will consequently be smoother. The bow will go down into the water, increasing your directional stability. This means you can now lift your centerboard. Do it gradually, until you see you are slipping off sideways, and then let it down again, sufficient to stop the sliding.

Body movement in light wind conditions must not be fast. If you need to sneeze, do it slowly. When you tack or gybe, do it slowly. Learn to roll tack, it is invaluable in light wind conditions. Fast movements will rock the boat, causing the sails to lose whatever wind they may have had.

Heeling to leeward, and putting the bow down do not lessen or reduce wetted area. To reduce wetted area you need to reduce the mass of the dinghy. A heavy dinghy is at a disadvantage in light wind conditions as regards gathering speed, but it takes longer to lose speed, which is a benefit. In heavy conditions a heavy dinghy will take longer to plane, and once planing, will come off the plane quicker, which is not an advantage. If your local conditions generally exclude planing conditions then a heavy dinghy is not bad. However, if light wind conditions are not the norm, you will need to lighten your dinghy.

© copyright Tony Flanigan 2011