What follows are some details of what I think about when I crew in CFJ’s more than a guide, or tips, or anything else. It’s really just a breakdown of tacking style that I’ve had a lot of success with in the past. This tacking method is definitely to be saved for when your skipper is sitting in the boat or is close too it and for those races that got started in 2 knots and then the wind died but the race committee is gnarly. The main goal in light-air conditions is for the skipper to not feel you in the boat. Generally, this is geared for big, light-air, tacks when you have time and space on the racecourse and need boat speed. However, this type of a tack is definitely better for fleet racing than for team racing- keep an eye out for more posts CFJ boat handling in the future!
Pre-Tack:
Crew should be sitting all the way to leeward, even with both legs on the leeward side of the boat if possible. This is a lot easier in 420’s but can work in FJ’s depending mostly on your height.
Watch your elbows and weight position. Staying low keeps you out of the way of airflow between the jib and main so try not to compensate for your skippers weight by leaning out on the rail. If it feels necessary to do so, there’s probably a problem with boat speed (and most likely sail trim). Also, if sitting backwards, pay special attention that you’re not bending the jib sheet block or that you’re accidentally letting the jib ease when you’re not watching it.
Jib Trim. The jib should be trimmed on the looser side of the spectrum. In most conditions, the jib should be trimmed so that there’s a thin crease that runs at the bottom of the sail. Exactly how much can vary depending on the types of sails you’re using, but if there’s any doubt ask the skipper what looks good.
Tack:
If at all possible try to help the skipper use body weight and sail trim instead of the tiller to get the boat pointed higher. CFJ’s naturally like to point high, and small movements do a lot this way. Like sailing rudderless, leaning to leeward and easing the jib will make the bow want to go up into the wind a little bit more and make the boat tack smoother.
You’ll feel the boat about to tack when the skipper leans in a little bit more to lead into it and slightly easies the main. Ease the jib about ½ an inch with the main and try to shift weight even more to leeward.
As the bow starts to head up, slowly trim the jib. The jib only needs to be trimmed in tiny increments. Try to trim so that the jib doesn’t have a lot of room to luff before it backwinds. Trimming the jib too fast will put resistance on the bow wanting to head up, so trimming should be more like pulling in the slack until the jib backs. Ideally, try to time your trim with how your skipper sheets in the main.
The longer you wait to leeward the easier it is to roll. It’s usually safer to wait too long than to rush through a tack. However there is such a thing as waiting too long. CFJ’s are a lot easier to turn than 420’s so it shouldn’t take as much to roll.
When the jib is backed and the boat feels loaded you can start to cross the boat. You know that the boat feels loaded when it starts roll a little bit by itself and you can also feel a subtle difference on the jib sheet once the jib is fully backed. Grab the windward jib sheet and makes sure all the slack is out if you haven’t already.
As the boat starts to heel to windward, start to move towards the center of the boat.
Timing is key here. You want to focus on your body hitting the rail exactly as your skipper is preparing to roll. It varies from crew to crew; I tend to watch the skipper’s shoulders start to lean back to know when to come up to the rail.
Other: If you’re a new team, or a “one-practice stand”, this is when the countdown comes in handy. If you just feel a little off, saying the countdown in your head can get you back on track. However, if you and your skipper feel stressed about tacks, a lot of times the countdown can make things worse because you’re over-thinking it. Depending on the situation sometimes its better relax and just do what feels natural.
Roll:
In an FJ, it shouldn’t be necessary to put both feet on the windward side of the boat like you can in a 420.
When you go for the roll be careful not to tug on or ease the jibsheet. Keep it back-winded and full, the more curved your jib is the more it will help you roll- but don’t rely on this too much. If you realize you won’t be able to roll hard enough, you can cheat a little bit by easing the jib after it’s fully backwinded- but that isn’t ideal. It will make it look you rolled more, but it makes the tack a lot less smooth.
Once you’re on the rail, wait about half a second longer to time your roll with your skipper. Being on the rail is not the roll, the roll is throwing your shoulders out beyond the rail. If you’re tacking into a puff that will change how much you need to roll and flatten, you should be able to feel a change of pressure on the jibsheet, which is sometimes a better indicator than looking at the water.
Power-Roll. For the max roll be sure to have your shoulders squared. To do this you need to make sure your body is turned so that you’re rolling off of your butt and not your hip or side. You want to be facing across the boat and your shoulders parallel to the boom as if your shoulders were going to land flat on the water. This will help a lot when you’re ready to cross the boat because you’re already facing the other rail instead of the skipper or the back of the boat. It will also make your roll a lot more forceful with less effort.
The roll should be synchronized with the skipper. With each big tack, the goal is to get the back of your life-jacket wet. Or at least the pony-tail if you have longish hair.
Footwork. Crews have different methods, but I tend to keep myself in the boat by wedging my foot against the centerboard at the bottom of the boat. You can also hook your foot under the thwart or one of the straps, it’s a matter of preference.
Switch jib sheets just as you’re about to leave the rail. (It takes some maintenance between tacks or just before the tack to make sure the new jib sheet doesn’t have any excess slack in it.)
In general, I feel like if the timing and positioning are done well, the roll doesn’t need to be a tremendous amount of energy especially in CFJ’s. It should be just an extension of helping the boat do what it wants to do anyhow.
The Cross and Flatten:
The moment it’s time to leave the rail, the best way to think about is to try to beat the skipper to the other side of the boat. Not every tack is meant to be, or should be huge, but when going for the big ones its best to feel like you’re climbing up the boat.
Grabbing the rail to windward can sometimes feel like it’s almost necessary to save you from falling backwards, but don’t do it! Pulling yourself across the boat by grabbing the windward rail jerks the boat around. Sometimes crews will try to pull the rail up to them to make the roll look bigger, occasionally it works in a pinch but it’s definitely something to avoid. Skippers can feel the difference, and you should be able to feel the difference when they do it. Skippers who sail Lasers tend to do this a lot, so keep an eye on them!
The goal in light air crossing (and all crossings) is to avoid feeling yourself in the boat. Everyone has experienced that “clunk-clunk-clunk” of feet crossing the boat and in light air that’s definitely something to avoid. The key is to not move your feet around more than you need to. When you do set your foot down in the bottom of the boat, think of being on tip-toe.
The Flatten:
The main concern in the flattening is to end the tack slightly heeled to leeward. That means timing the “dive to leeward” is crucial.
For Really Big Tacks: If you’re tacking into a puff wind-line or if your roll was really big, the flatten can be pretty big too. The goal is to get you’re thighs on the windward rail (as opposed to your butt) if you need a lot of flattening. If you’re skipper’s shoulders go out to flatten, your shoulders should be right there too. However, the priority is to NOT let the boat go to windward, so don’t go for it if there’s any chance of over-flattening. The boat will continue to flatten after you leave the rail; it’s a race to get back to leeward before the boat over-flattens. Coming out of tacks, you don’t want to have to counter-balance the boat by leaning out to leeward.
Keep in mind that often the point of tacking is to get into breeze, so be on your toes for your skipper to tack on the edge of a puff, even if you didn’t see it before the tack. You can tell when you hit the wind line mid-tack because you’ll feel new pressure on the jib sheet.
Some crews will come up to the rail and “touch it” but not really put any weight on it before going back to down leeward. I’ve been guilty of this from time to time; if you find yourself doing this then just don’t come up so high on the rail.
For Normal Light-Air Tacks: Not every tack should be that big. For reliable light-air tacks, it’s also perfectly good to just lean on the rail, or come up half way. If you come up half way, it’s also easy to shift weight to your windward foot for a little bit of extra flatten. It’s not important to do a big flatten, but to flatten just enough so that the boat comes out of the tack slightly to leeward.
Some tacks just need a roll and no flatten, which can be counter-intuitive. In this case, it’s best to go from the rail you rolled on, sit for a moment on the centerboard trunk, and when you skipper is done flattening, throw your weight hard to leeward. If you’re doing this, the priority is to keep your weight low in the boat and avoid leaning out of the boat to counter-balance the skipper’s weight.
All of these methods work, the trick is using the right one depending on the tack. As your rolling you should be thinking about how much pressure you feel on the jib sheet, and that will determine how much you can flatten or not. As long as the boat doesn’t heel to windward, you’re set.
The Dive to Leeward:
In light air, being able to get back down to leeward fast enough is probably more important than the flatten. As a crew, the moment you reach the windward rail, it’s time to jump back to leeward to stop the boat from over-flattening. It can feel choppy, but it’s easiest if you think about the flatten and dive back down as one fluid movement instead of being two separate steps. Unless you tacked into a puff, you’ll probably end up in the exact same position you were in before tacking.
Jib Trim: The jib should ideally be trimmed at the same speed the skipper trims the main. CFJ’s are ideal to figure this out because you can hear how fast you and the skipper is trimming from the ratchets. About 90% of the jib (bottom of sail touching hull) should be trimmed by the time the crew is back to the leeward side of the boat. Trimming faster will stabilize the boat and put the bow down, but I usually try to trim at the same speed the main is being trimmed. Usually there’s a pause to let the boat stabilize, then pull in the last couple inches so that the bottom of the sail is slightly creased.
Pre-Tack:
Crew should be sitting all the way to leeward, even with both legs on the leeward side of the boat if possible. This is a lot easier in 420’s but can work in FJ’s depending mostly on your height.
Watch your elbows and weight position. Staying low keeps you out of the way of airflow between the jib and main so try not to compensate for your skippers weight by leaning out on the rail. If it feels necessary to do so, there’s probably a problem with boat speed (and most likely sail trim). Also, if sitting backwards, pay special attention that you’re not bending the jib sheet block or that you’re accidentally letting the jib ease when you’re not watching it.
Jib Trim. The jib should be trimmed on the looser side of the spectrum. In most conditions, the jib should be trimmed so that there’s a thin crease that runs at the bottom of the sail. Exactly how much can vary depending on the types of sails you’re using, but if there’s any doubt ask the skipper what looks good.
Tack:
If at all possible try to help the skipper use body weight and sail trim instead of the tiller to get the boat pointed higher. CFJ’s naturally like to point high, and small movements do a lot this way. Like sailing rudderless, leaning to leeward and easing the jib will make the bow want to go up into the wind a little bit more and make the boat tack smoother.
You’ll feel the boat about to tack when the skipper leans in a little bit more to lead into it and slightly easies the main. Ease the jib about ½ an inch with the main and try to shift weight even more to leeward.
As the bow starts to head up, slowly trim the jib. The jib only needs to be trimmed in tiny increments. Try to trim so that the jib doesn’t have a lot of room to luff before it backwinds. Trimming the jib too fast will put resistance on the bow wanting to head up, so trimming should be more like pulling in the slack until the jib backs. Ideally, try to time your trim with how your skipper sheets in the main.
The longer you wait to leeward the easier it is to roll. It’s usually safer to wait too long than to rush through a tack. However there is such a thing as waiting too long. CFJ’s are a lot easier to turn than 420’s so it shouldn’t take as much to roll.
When the jib is backed and the boat feels loaded you can start to cross the boat. You know that the boat feels loaded when it starts roll a little bit by itself and you can also feel a subtle difference on the jib sheet once the jib is fully backed. Grab the windward jib sheet and makes sure all the slack is out if you haven’t already.
As the boat starts to heel to windward, start to move towards the center of the boat.
Timing is key here. You want to focus on your body hitting the rail exactly as your skipper is preparing to roll. It varies from crew to crew; I tend to watch the skipper’s shoulders start to lean back to know when to come up to the rail.
Other: If you’re a new team, or a “one-practice stand”, this is when the countdown comes in handy. If you just feel a little off, saying the countdown in your head can get you back on track. However, if you and your skipper feel stressed about tacks, a lot of times the countdown can make things worse because you’re over-thinking it. Depending on the situation sometimes its better relax and just do what feels natural.
Roll:
In an FJ, it shouldn’t be necessary to put both feet on the windward side of the boat like you can in a 420.
When you go for the roll be careful not to tug on or ease the jibsheet. Keep it back-winded and full, the more curved your jib is the more it will help you roll- but don’t rely on this too much. If you realize you won’t be able to roll hard enough, you can cheat a little bit by easing the jib after it’s fully backwinded- but that isn’t ideal. It will make it look you rolled more, but it makes the tack a lot less smooth.
Once you’re on the rail, wait about half a second longer to time your roll with your skipper. Being on the rail is not the roll, the roll is throwing your shoulders out beyond the rail. If you’re tacking into a puff that will change how much you need to roll and flatten, you should be able to feel a change of pressure on the jibsheet, which is sometimes a better indicator than looking at the water.
Power-Roll. For the max roll be sure to have your shoulders squared. To do this you need to make sure your body is turned so that you’re rolling off of your butt and not your hip or side. You want to be facing across the boat and your shoulders parallel to the boom as if your shoulders were going to land flat on the water. This will help a lot when you’re ready to cross the boat because you’re already facing the other rail instead of the skipper or the back of the boat. It will also make your roll a lot more forceful with less effort.
The roll should be synchronized with the skipper. With each big tack, the goal is to get the back of your life-jacket wet. Or at least the pony-tail if you have longish hair.
Footwork. Crews have different methods, but I tend to keep myself in the boat by wedging my foot against the centerboard at the bottom of the boat. You can also hook your foot under the thwart or one of the straps, it’s a matter of preference.
Switch jib sheets just as you’re about to leave the rail. (It takes some maintenance between tacks or just before the tack to make sure the new jib sheet doesn’t have any excess slack in it.)
In general, I feel like if the timing and positioning are done well, the roll doesn’t need to be a tremendous amount of energy especially in CFJ’s. It should be just an extension of helping the boat do what it wants to do anyhow.
The Cross and Flatten:
The moment it’s time to leave the rail, the best way to think about is to try to beat the skipper to the other side of the boat. Not every tack is meant to be, or should be huge, but when going for the big ones its best to feel like you’re climbing up the boat.
Grabbing the rail to windward can sometimes feel like it’s almost necessary to save you from falling backwards, but don’t do it! Pulling yourself across the boat by grabbing the windward rail jerks the boat around. Sometimes crews will try to pull the rail up to them to make the roll look bigger, occasionally it works in a pinch but it’s definitely something to avoid. Skippers can feel the difference, and you should be able to feel the difference when they do it. Skippers who sail Lasers tend to do this a lot, so keep an eye on them!
The goal in light air crossing (and all crossings) is to avoid feeling yourself in the boat. Everyone has experienced that “clunk-clunk-clunk” of feet crossing the boat and in light air that’s definitely something to avoid. The key is to not move your feet around more than you need to. When you do set your foot down in the bottom of the boat, think of being on tip-toe.
The Flatten:
The main concern in the flattening is to end the tack slightly heeled to leeward. That means timing the “dive to leeward” is crucial.
For Really Big Tacks: If you’re tacking into a puff wind-line or if your roll was really big, the flatten can be pretty big too. The goal is to get you’re thighs on the windward rail (as opposed to your butt) if you need a lot of flattening. If you’re skipper’s shoulders go out to flatten, your shoulders should be right there too. However, the priority is to NOT let the boat go to windward, so don’t go for it if there’s any chance of over-flattening. The boat will continue to flatten after you leave the rail; it’s a race to get back to leeward before the boat over-flattens. Coming out of tacks, you don’t want to have to counter-balance the boat by leaning out to leeward.
Keep in mind that often the point of tacking is to get into breeze, so be on your toes for your skipper to tack on the edge of a puff, even if you didn’t see it before the tack. You can tell when you hit the wind line mid-tack because you’ll feel new pressure on the jib sheet.
Some crews will come up to the rail and “touch it” but not really put any weight on it before going back to down leeward. I’ve been guilty of this from time to time; if you find yourself doing this then just don’t come up so high on the rail.
For Normal Light-Air Tacks: Not every tack should be that big. For reliable light-air tacks, it’s also perfectly good to just lean on the rail, or come up half way. If you come up half way, it’s also easy to shift weight to your windward foot for a little bit of extra flatten. It’s not important to do a big flatten, but to flatten just enough so that the boat comes out of the tack slightly to leeward.
Some tacks just need a roll and no flatten, which can be counter-intuitive. In this case, it’s best to go from the rail you rolled on, sit for a moment on the centerboard trunk, and when you skipper is done flattening, throw your weight hard to leeward. If you’re doing this, the priority is to keep your weight low in the boat and avoid leaning out of the boat to counter-balance the skipper’s weight.
All of these methods work, the trick is using the right one depending on the tack. As your rolling you should be thinking about how much pressure you feel on the jib sheet, and that will determine how much you can flatten or not. As long as the boat doesn’t heel to windward, you’re set.
The Dive to Leeward:
In light air, being able to get back down to leeward fast enough is probably more important than the flatten. As a crew, the moment you reach the windward rail, it’s time to jump back to leeward to stop the boat from over-flattening. It can feel choppy, but it’s easiest if you think about the flatten and dive back down as one fluid movement instead of being two separate steps. Unless you tacked into a puff, you’ll probably end up in the exact same position you were in before tacking.
Jib Trim: The jib should ideally be trimmed at the same speed the skipper trims the main. CFJ’s are ideal to figure this out because you can hear how fast you and the skipper is trimming from the ratchets. About 90% of the jib (bottom of sail touching hull) should be trimmed by the time the crew is back to the leeward side of the boat. Trimming faster will stabilize the boat and put the bow down, but I usually try to trim at the same speed the main is being trimmed. Usually there’s a pause to let the boat stabilize, then pull in the last couple inches so that the bottom of the sail is slightly creased.
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