If you want to learn to sail with skill and confidence, you will want to become familiar with what each sail control line does aboard your small sailboat. Once you learn these controls, you will be able to

• Accelerate your sailing speed and performance.
• Boost your power to slice through choppy waves.
• Make faster sailing passages from point to point.
• Beat the competition on race night.
• Sail with comfort in light or heavy winds.

Olympian Steve Colgate once said: “To sail well is to have complete control over the sailboat at all times“.  Here are the five main sailing rigging controls you will find on most any sailboat from the smallest racing dinghy to the largest bluewater cruising or racing sailboat. Use them to shape and trim your sails for maximum sail power–and to achieve complete control over your small sailboat!

Halyards

Set the right amount of halyard tension to keep your sail shaped to perfection. When your sailmaker builds a sail, he or she builds a curved shape into the sail–called “draft”–from the top of the sail to the bottom of the sail. The deepest part of each curve needs to stay foward of the halfway point in both the mainsail and Genoa (or any headsail) for good power and drive.

Imagine that you raise your mainsail and Genoa one early morning with light winds. You tension the halyards of the mainsail and Genoa and begin to sail. The sail draft at that time stays just where your sailmaker designed it to be–in the forward half of the sail. Later in the early afternoon, a nice sea breeze begins to fill in and the wind increases. The sail draft now creeps farther aft (back) in each of your sails. You will need to move it forward again, or weather helm will increase and the boat will feel sluggish.

Reset your halyard tension as soon as you see puckers–also called “crows feet”–build along the luff. Tension the sail until the crows feet disappear. This moves the draft forward and your boat should accelerate like a a racing thoroughbred!

Cunningham

Use a fantastic invention from the sail racing world that will save time and effort so that you don’t have to hassle with a halyard. Have your sailmaker install a Cunningham ring above your mainsail tack. Pass a line through the ring from one side of the mast to the other. Larger sailboat can attach a small block and tackle to the Cunningham ring. Tension the line to remove wrinkles along the luff of the mainsail. This moves the draft forward and saves you from having to grind on a halyard winch.

Sheets

Slide your Genoa sheet blocks forward in light winds to add fullness to the sail. This setting places more tension on the leech and less on the foot. In heavy winds, slide your sheet blocks aft to make the Genoa flatter. This setting places more tension on the foot and less on the leech, and helps spill high velocity wind up high in the sail. 

Boom Vang

As long as the end of your sailboat boom stays over the boat (when beating or close reaching), the mainsheet creates enough downward pull to keep the mainsail leech trimmed. But once you ease the mainsheet, with the end of the boom over the water (beam or broad reaches, or running), the boom vang takes over the downhaul job. This keeps the boom more level, trims the leech, and keeps the boat in balance.

Traveler Track

Your mainsheet attaches to a slide–also called a “traveler car”–that attaches to a traveler track. The traveler track spans the deck athwartships (across the boat from side to side). In moderate winds of 5-12 knots, most sailing skippers keep the mainsheet car in the center of the traveler. In super light winds (lighter than 5 knots), move the car a hole or two upwind (to windward).

In heavier winds (greater than 12 knots), you want to push the car downwind to spill some of that high octane wind. This decreases heeling and keeps the boat on her feet. In a reefing breeze, you want the car at or near the end of the traveler for best performance.

Use these five powerful controls to learn to sail any boat like a pro. You will gain more power, speed, and performance on any point of sail–wherever in the world you choose to go sailing!

Captain John Jamieson teaches sailing skippers quick and easy ways to learn to sail like a pro. For a free weekly sailing newsletter plus more sailing tips, articles, and sailing videos, visit skippertips.com