On Sunday, September 12th, 2004, the Westhampton Yacht Squadron hosted a clinic with 8-time Sunfish World Champion Eduardo Cordero. The clinic focused primarily on rigging and tuning, and was followed up with boathandling techniques and especially sailing fast downwind.
As far as rigging goes, Eduardo focuses on simplicity and having measurable starting points marked out for halyard location, top outhaul location, and gooseneck location. The recommendation being to start from these points and then fine tune based upon your own weight and the wind conditions.
In regards to halyard location, Eduardo recommended starting in the range of 106″-107″ measured upwards on the upper spar starting at the point where the black cap meets the upper spar on the bottom. Eduardo says that he personally doesn’t play with halyard location outside of that range too often, but went on to explain how movements from that location affects sail power. The gist of it being that decreasing the distance to the halyard location (which raises the height of the boom from the deck) can add power to the sail, but he recommendeds minor changes, if any, when doing this. He also stated that larger people than him would be the most likely candidates for trying this, and really only in light wind. Understanding the affects of lowering the distance to the halyard location, clearly paints the picture of the effect of increasing the distance to the halyard location (which makes the boom lower to the deck). Increasing the distance to the halyard location will decrease the sail power, which can be helpful in stonger winds, or if you are a lightweight whom frequently needs to depower your sail.
In regards to upper outhaul location, Eduardo measures 160″ upwards measured upwards on the upper spar starting at the point where the black cap meets the upper spar on the bottom. This will put you about 4″ down from the very top of the upper spar. Eduardo says it is very important to not be too tight on the luff of the sail, or it will not get the power needed for really good boatspeed. Another trick he has for checking to see if the luff is too tight is to pinch the sail with your thumb and forefinger between any two clips, you should be able to get a hold and fold of a finger’s width on this pinch. As far as gooseneck placement goes, Eduardo starts at 16″ from the point where the black cap meets the boom at the front. He then moves accordingly based on the wind conditions. He does not recommend going under 14″, and left me with the impression that he is not to fond of being as forward as 14″ or 15″ regardless.
A few other related rigging tips are to use 1/8″ spectra line for the halyard, and be sure to put a purchase into the line to take out slack and increase tension on the halyard line. In most conditions, its recommended to really crank down on this purchase and get it very tight. In very light air, you may not want to crank down as hard on the halyard because it may cause the mast to twist a little. Eduardo uses the tail of the halyard line to tie the boom vang with. Eduardo always recommends a little vang tension, less in lighter air, more in heavier air. He pointed out how a tight vang can really help downwind by helping preventing the leech of the sail from opening up and spilling air out of the sail. A tight vang will help keep the leech stiff and gives the sail more power in downwind sailing. Eduardo uses 7/64″ spectra line for his outhaul and cunningham and has purchases in both systems with the use of thimbles for the purchases. He also recommends replacing sailclips with the skinniest spectra line you can find. It is important to double square knot the lines you use to replace the sailclips, and to leave 1/16″ of a gap between the spars and the sail.
As far as outhaul and cunningham goes, we spent a little less time on this subject but there were a few helpful tips. Using the cunningham can tighten back up the luff, but it will also bring bring the draft forward on the sail. This can be helpful in waves and in depowering the sail a bit. The basic trick for setting the outhaul properly is to look at the window area of the sail and eliminate any wrinkles from your window. Eduardo also stressed good placement of the cleats for the cunningham and outhaul and to make sure they are as easy to reach as possible, especially since he recommends loosening these just before rounding the windwark and retightening them prior to rounding the leeward mark. One great thing about Eduardo’s outhaul system is that after all the purchases and where it goes into the cleat, he runs the line around the mast and through the halyard eyepad, then creates a handle to the line, and leaves to attach to the centerboard. This makes trimming the outhaul a snap and keeps the outhaul line in simple arm’s reach. Another rigging recommendation is to have a tiller extension that is long enough to reach the mainsheet block.
The next section of the clinic was on boathandling and boat speed. We spent time discussing body positioning, and how body positioning and sail control can steer the boat without rudder usage. We discussed how the sail is fuller and more powerful on starboard tack versus port tack because on port tack the sail is flattened by the mast. We also spent a good amount of time on downwind sailing and the importance of sailing by the lee, weight movement to assist in steering, and the importance of mainsheet action in any turning maneuver. Eduardo noted the importance of turning whenever necessary to facilitate optimum utilization on the waves.
To sum up, I would like to say thank you for Eduardo for instructing the clinic and thank you to the 10 sailors who participated. Please note that these are my notes summarizing the clinic and not those directly of Eduardo, be sure to check out his website http://starboardpassage.com for further information. Hope it is helpful. See you on the racecourse.
