matched then ever. I feel this makes the class even more attractive to race in as it is more about each sailors ability rather than the equipment they use and that balance has shifted in that right direction. My attitude is to critique my own performance first than initially question my boat set up and gear. WAVES Another technique that I have tried to import from racing my ILCA experience is how I race my Solo downwind in waves As many might know in those conditions in an ILCA you should ideally never just steer a straight downwind course as you have no shrouds you can let the sail out past 90 degrees and allow yourself to sail fast by the lee with the draft flowing on the other side of your sail enabling you to surf down a wave one way and as you lose speed (or even before you lose speed) then to lu ff hard up on to a fast reach, hopefully still riding the same wave. The end result being you can achieve better VMG. Of course in a Solo to replicate exactly the same technique as you are able to do in an ILCA is not as straightforward because the Solo’s shrouds restrict you from being able let your boom out past 90 degrees. However it is still possible to do this technique more than you might think and enough to be very e ff ective in the right conditions. For example in the perfect waves o ff Hayling Island you can experience in a typical sea breeze conditions. To be successful in achieving this you have to be a little bit brave and ease the kicker/ vang more than probably you normally have done before to open the top of the leech ! As always practicing this technique will help The top guys in the ILCA Class really never steer directly downwind at 180 degrees when there are any sort of waves ! They are constantly going up and down trying to at least stay on the same wave or even catch the one in front ! GYBING Also whilst mentioning the Solo’s shrouds I must say one of the biggest challenges I and I know others have found when moving from ILCA’s to Solo’s is gybing when it’s windy ! Although generally I find it a lot easier to do a good e ff ective gybe in a Solo than I do in an ILCA in most conditions.When it gets windy mainly because of the Solo having shrouds it becomes a great deal more tricky to avoid a capsize ! In an ILCA you can survive having bad technique in strong winds but often in a Solo you can’t. Because if you miss time things such as not centralising the tiller and then allow the boom to crash into the shroud which then holds the power of the wind in the sail it often means a capsize ! Whereas in an ILCA if you mess up you can just let the main sheet go and release the power out of the sail. Also as an aside I notice in a Solo, people generally gybe too often downwind on shifts when actually it would have paid them to run deeper by the lee particularly at times if it is just a temporary small wind shift. By gybing too much how ever good you are at it can cost distance.
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