Small Changes Big Difference

SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE SERIES - EPISODE 6

In this series we talk to some of the biggest experts from the Farr 40 world. This time sailing journalist Andy Rice talks to Rick Goebel who, in his first year as owner of Farr 40 Insanity, captured the Corinthian crown by winning three of the four events in 2015.

“It has been remarkable to see the way Rick has come into the class and enjoyed such spectacular success so quickly,” says Farr 40 class manager Geoff Stagg. “As a skipper, Rick has been a real revelation. He has been very competitive out on the race course, but most importantly he has thoroughly enjoyed being part of the class.”

Listen to the podcast to find out Rick’s straightforward, keep-it-simple approach to competing in the Corinthian division of the Farr 40 fleet, and giving some of the pro teams something to think about too!

SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE SERIES - EPISODE 5

In this series we talk to some of the biggest experts from the Farr 40 world. In this edition, sailing journalist Andy Rice talks to Dave Armitage, Farr 40 sail designer for Quantum and one of the best mainsail trimmers in the business.

Listen to the podcast to find out Dave’s solutions to a number of set-up challenges and boatspeed problems.

Listen at minute 02:15 on the audio for a full list of Dave’s tips. Here’s a few of them:

• The traveller’s incredibly high. It could be as high as six or seven inches below the top stop on the traveller, which will end up putting your boom two to three feet above centre line at times, even slightly more. 
• The mainsail is sheeted incredibly hard, to the point where up around battens five and six, you’re actually just starting to kiss the backstay. 
• Also, the rig goes through a significant range of turns. The Farr 40 rig goes through almost 30 turns on the headstay. The capshrouds go through five to six turns, the D1’s go through seven turns, the D2’s, approximately the same.

SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE SERIES - EPISODE 4

James Lyne is one of the most accomplished sailboat racing coaches in the USA. He worked with the US Sailing team at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. He won the Melges 20 World Championships with Samba Pa Ti, and in 2014 coached Alex Roepers’ team on Plenty to victory at the Rolex Farr 40 World Championships.

In this podcast, James talks about:

• Taking the lessons learned from the 2013 season with Barking Mad and applying them to Plenty for her successful 2014 season (minute 01:50)
• The difference in approach to coaching and skill-building between working with a fully professional team and a typical Farr 40 team with a pro-am make-up and an owner-driver (minute 03:20)
• How to bounce back from a bad day on the water and make sure the next day is much, much better (minute 05:39)
• “Who would you pick from the day?” One of Terry Hutchinson’s favorite debrief questions and why James believes every team could benefit from asking this question (minute 06:50)
• The most common mistakes that James sees Farr 40 crews making in high-level racing (minute 08:50)
• James’s advice for Corinthian teams looking to do the best they can in a grand prix race fleet (minute 10:48)
• How to pick your tactical priorities, including when to live in the bad air of another boat (minute 13:24)
• What kind of wind trends can competitors expect at Long Beach for the World Championships? (minute 14:10)

SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE SERIES - EPISODE 3

Owner of Estate Master, Martin Hill reveals some of the technical and tactical breakthroughs that led to the Australian team finishing 2nd in the 2014 edition of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championships.

• The big mistake he had been making for years before discovering a painful truth (at minute 1:55)
• The combination of factors that you must have in place to be successful on the Farr 40 circuit (minute 4:30)
• The hidden benefit of the ‘slow years’ (minute 5:28)
• With the great benefit of hindsight, what shortcuts and pearls of wisdom would the Martin Hill of 2015 pass on to the Martin Hill of 2006? (minute 7:37)
• What it’s like sailing with great sailors like Olympic Champions Malcolm Page and Nathan Outteridge, and five-time Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams (minute 9:17)
• The importance of developing sails around your own racing style (minute 12:45)
• What every team needs to help analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and how to improve on them (minute 13:15)
• The changes to downwind speed and strategy that have paid dividends for Estate Master (minute 13:50). This is what Martin had to say:
  
  “We have been observing Nerone, which was successful downwind and I guess it's about sailing a little more aggressively. A lot of boats tend to get in line-ups and sail slower and slower. We try and find a way where we can break that pattern, sail our angles and hopefully get the angle of the wind into the last mark correct and make some gains. Downwind is not a time to rest, it is a time to make some ladders changes. We found some big wins in that area last year, so that’s something my pep talk would be very much trying to take on - about picking up where we finished off last time.”

SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE SERIES - EPISODE 2

Massimo Bortoletto has won the Farr 40 Worlds twice, been the runner-up three times, and won the European Championship five times. So sit up and pay attention. Massimo knows how to make a Farr 40 go fast!

• What are your priorities in terms of what gets changed first between backstay, mainsheet and traveller? [HINT: not a lot of backstay]
• What if the wind is really variable and it’s, say, 13 knots at one moment, and then the next it’s 7 knots and then it’s back to 13 knots? [These are Massimo’s favourite conditions]
• If you’ve got a boat speed problem, what are the lists of things that you will go through to try and work out where the problem is coming from?
• What are your priorities downwind? [Pumping is one of them, but it’s not the whole answer]
• What advice for an aspiring young sailor looking to win the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship?

SMALL CHANGES BIG DIFFERENCE SERIES - EPISODE 1

In the first of Quantum Sails’ Small Changes/ Big Difference series aimed at Farr 40 racers and keelboat racing enthusiasts, sailing journalist Andy Rice talks to one of the most accomplished professional sailors of the modern era and a multiple world champion in the Farr 40, Quantum Sails’ very own Terry Hutchinson.

In this episode, you can get Terry’s thoughts on:

• How to optimize your sail program.
• The most common rig tuning mistake that Terry sees around the Farr 40 marina.
• The process of analyzing a boat-speed problem and how to solve it.