Steer Less...Go Faster!

This episode discusses a sailboat steering ("helming") technique I learned from one of my good friends and sailing mentors, Scott Tobin. Scott is an experienced sailor who frequently crewed on private yachts moving between the U.S. mainland and the Caribbean. He also solo sailed his own 40+ foot yacht in the Atlantic for many years. When I first got my boat, I called on Scott to help me improve my heavy air sailing skills. On one outing on my Precision 18 "Mandatory Fun", Scott noticed I was constantly correcting the course of the boat anytime the bow strayed away from the point we were heading to. In the sailing world, this is called "oversteer" or "oversteering." He told me to just "hold the tiller steady" and see how the boat reacted. With no steering input, the boat just naturally came back to the intended course just from the change of the wind on the sails and the angle of the hull moving through the water. On a sailboat, all the forces involved naturally want to be in balance and any change in the forces effects the opposing forces, which has a tendency to bring the boat back to equilibrium. Amazing! Sailboats are so cool. Subscribe and follow @ColoradoSailing on YouTube for more original sailing videos, gear, boat maintenance, sailing tips and travel content as I sail my Precision 18 trailer sailer and Precision 16 sailing dinghy in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota. #sailingchannel #coloradosailing #sailing #mountainsailing #sailingtips #sailinglife #learntosail