Information on sailing the X332 is given below, as a guide for people new to racing the boat. It presents the 'Mad Hatter' approach to the various roles on board, so that people have some idea of what to do and when to do it.

Key principles

• Have fun - the whole point of racing is to enjoy it
• Teamwork - if we work together, we will make the boat go faster. Usually, we try and have a core of experts on the boat who do one role and assist less expert people in doing their role
• Communicate - if you don’t know what to do, ask. The forces involved are strong, and we want to make the whole experience safe and enjoyable. If you don't know what or why you're doing something, you'll not only be less safe, you'll not enjoy it as much. And remember that to communicate from the bow to the stern, in a decent breeze, shouting is sometimes necessary! Shouting does not mean people are cross, just that they need something doing.

We tend to give people specific roles to do on the boat during the race; all roles are important, as it's the teamwork that makes us go fast, not one person's effort. You should attempt to do your role as best you can, and communicate and understand the roles around you so that you increase your knowledge and enjoyment. A brief description of each role is given.

This information has been split into the major manoeuvres, and within those each role is described. This is because we want to engender an atmosphere of it being the whole manoeuvre that is executed by the team of people, rather than each individual doing their role; success or failure is then a team thing and not an individual one.

Roles

Helm

Steers the boat, usually skipper

Navigator/tactician

Does the chartwork, calls the tactics. Sometimes done by helm, or other cockpit person.

Mainsheet trimmer

Responsible for setting the mainsail, using mainsheet, traveller, and sail controls. Works in close liaison with helm.

Genoa trimmer

Trims genoa sheet and adjusts genoa cars as necessary. Also does spinnaker trimming.

Genoa wincher/grinder

Assists genoa trimmer by winching. Adjusts spinnaker guy when asked to by spinnaker trimmer.

Keyboards/pit

Controls halyards in cockpit, winching and jamming as necessary. Also makes sure that all halyards and other controls led through the ‘keyboards’ are untangled and don’t jam.

Mast

Out of cockpit position; responsible for all things at mast such as spinnaker pole, halyards, etc. You are in control of hoists, watch for jams and the bow calling problems.

Foredeck/bow

Works in front of mast, attaching and lowering headsails, spinnaker, and end of spinnaker pole. You run everything ‘north of the mast’, if you disagree with the lightweights in the cockpit, or are not ready for a manoeuvre, yell loud.

Railbait

Ballast, sitting on windward (high) side most of the time. Shares role with genoa winchers so that we have fastest winching possible, and then looks pretty/handsome and makes helpful comments thereafter.

The time the sail combinations are decided on and set up. Cockpit crew pass headsail to mast and foredeck, who attach it and hoist, with assistance of keyboards. Generally slow manoeuvring; genoa trimmers set sail according to helm or tactician's instructions - 'let it flap' is a common one, so that the boat slows, and the genoa must be released a long way. All keep lookout for other boats as there is no defined direction for boats to be going. Navigator/tactician works out course to first mark, helm works out starting tactics - which end of line, which tack, and so on. Navigator calls out times.

On approach to line, all people in designated positions. Main and genoa trimmers set sail for boat speed as requested by helm - full speed to flapping, and many positions in between. Fast response to instructions needed. Tactician keeps eye out for other boats, and works with helm in deciding start line approach. Bow person is up on pulpit, calling distances to line - actual units immaterial as it's the rate of change of distance that matters, though boatlengths are relatively easy to estimate. Typical X332 starts have us near the line, on starboard, with about 3 mins to go, with slow forward motion and flapping sails, and we accelerate at the last possible moment.

Post-start, we need maximum speed. Helm looks for clear air and god pointing and speed, mainsheet trimmer checks set of mainsail and has it in pretty tight, genoa trimmers have hauled in genoa and set it for optimum speed. All except trimmers move to the windward rail; if main trimmer can work from rail, so much the better.

Crew positions should be on rail, unless about to manoeuvre. Positions on the rail are, from the bow backwards: bowman, mast, keyboards, genoa trimmer, main trimmer, helm. Sit on the rail facing outboard, body inside at least one lifeline, legs over the side. Tactician is in cabin, or on stern. Genoa trimmer sometimes has to sit to leeward to trim genoa, other times can set it and sit on rail. Default position is genoa in pretty tight; No. 1 is against spreaders, No. 2 just off spreader, No. 3 simply wound in hard. Sail shape can be adjusted with genoa car; back tightens foot, opens leech, whilst forwards pulls down leech and slackens foot. Default position is sufficient leech tension to give parallel slot with mainsail, and is roughly equal foot and leech tension. Halyard tension also important - tight for better pointing, looser for more power. We rarely adjust this on the beat. Backstay tension should be on high; check with helm that this has been done.

Helm steers boat to avoid crashing into waves, but with minimal rudder movements. Aim to get boat into the groove, avoid pinching, and watch the numbers on the VMG dial. Mainsheet trimmer adjusts mainsheet, traveller and kicker (ask keyboards to actually set kicker if you can’t reach) to get the best from the main. Light winds see the traveller to windward, mainsheet set so boom along centreline, no kicker. Medium sees traveller in the centre, more mainsheet tension to hold boom down and leech tight, some kicker. Strong winds see lots of mainsheet tension, kicker, and traveller played to keep boat powered up and not broaching to windward. Good communication with helm is important - helm can feel when boat is about to break to windward, and tells trimmer to dump traveller. The earlier and better the communication, the smaller the adjustments need to be. The mainsheet trimmer can help predict the helmsman’s call by watching for gusts and noting how much helm the helmsman is using to keep the boat in a straight line. Generally if the helmsman is pulling the helm as if their life depending upon it and is grunting, chances are they should ask for the main to be eased.

Ideally the mainsheet trimmer should adjust the ‘angle of the attack’ of the mainsail with the traveller and not adjust the mainsheet upwind. We have found on some X332s that this is very hard work unless they have the uprated ‘race’ traveller, you may find that adjusting the mainsheet is the only way to adjust the sail effectively.

Tactician monitors close tactical situation and discusses route to mark with helm, also identifies mark visually and gets next course to steer. All other crew on rail.

Helm calls 'ready to tack' or similar. Crew move from rail positions to tacking positions: bowman goes towards mast, whoever is winching moves to windward winch, sets up sheet around winch, and gets winch handle from keyboards, who moves to hatchway. Trimmer moves to leeward side in corner of cockpit, facing the windward winch, and takes new sheet; keyboards prepares to release leeward sheet.

Helm calls 'ready about'. When ready, crew reply 'ready'. Mainsheet trimmer then eases mainsheet slightly, and if possible sets windward traveller position for after the tack (this is only critical in light winds when the traveller is cleated to windward and needs to be released so it is free to be reset on the new tack). Ideally the main stays powered up until the last possible moment, and then is adjusted during the tack (see later) but this takes practise so is better to be ready early until you are confident.

Helm calls 'lee-oh', and pushes tiller away. Turn is smooth, fairly sharp, and slightly overdone so that boat sails free about 5 degrees immediately after tack to pick up speed. As boom crosses centreline, people need to move across the boat to the new windward side. Bow crosses in front of the mast, and 'skirts' the genoa, lifting it over the lifelines if necessary. Improved manoeuvre is for bow to lie on new windward side in front of shrouds, and grab genoa above their head as it flutters past. Pulling down, they set the front of the genoa, it never crosses the lifelines and so doesn't need skirting, and means the cockpit have only the back half of the genoa to winch in. Mast crosses over the cabin top, ducking under the boom. Other railbait cross cabin roof under boom as well to avoid crowding the cockpit. Keyboards and genoa trimmers are already in cockpit; get there by coming in between genoa winch and coachroof, or, if you're further along rail, over coachroof and into leeward side of cockpit. Mainsheet crosses in front of tiller and traveller, helm crosses behind. Navigator keeps out of way below or astern. Mainsheet should move across and make sure that the traveller is in the right place and that sheet is eased ‘an armful’.

Keyboards waits for genoa to luff, lets it back a fraction, then frees it and checks sheet runs freely through block as it tacks, this done keyboards should now head for the rail and join foredeck and mast who should be in place looking sexy. Trimmer pulls in sheet as fast as possible - the faster it's done, the less there'll be to winch at the end, and then the grinder winches it in the rest of the way. With trimmer in corner of cockpit, there's a lot to brace legs against and pull. Grinder stands over winch, one foot on side deck, both hands on winch handle. It should end up winched in fully just as mainsheet trimmer hardens in main, but this is hard to achieve in practice with the #1 or #2. Wincher ensures winch handle back in pocket as returns to rail. Trimmer then adjusts genoa for fine set, whilst rest of cockpit crew get up onto rail, and then joins them.

As boat settles onto new heading main trimmer hardens in main, pumping air across the sail to accelerate boat out of tack. Traveller position adjusted, and then both helm and trimmer focus on driving the boatspeed back up to the target speeds. Navigator checks tacking angle, local tactics, and runs through new options with helm.

Its important that once your job is done that you head back to the rail so the boat can sail as fast as possible. This is particularly important in a stronger breeze because we need the weight to keep the boat flat. This takes cunning choreography and practise to get this right.

Tactician or genoa people pass spinnaker up to keyboards who passes it to mast who passes it to foredeck. Foredeck clips on spinnaker bag at bow, rigs sheets and guys and halyard. Approaching mark on final tack, foredeck rigs pole uphaul and downhaul lines, attaches pole end to guy, attaches pole to mast. Ensure leeward genoa sheet is over the pole.

"There are two places that a spinnaker is under control: in the bag; or hoisted and trimmed. The aim is to get between the two as swiftly as possible"

Bear away set

Helm bears away round mark, main trimmer eases main slightly prior to bear away and continues easing until a run or near run is reached. Cockpit crew take positions for hoist: genoa trimmer becomes spinnaker sheet trimmer, genoa grinder does guy trimming, keyboards will release genoa sheets. Note that the spinnaker trimming roles may be taken by different people. On the command 'hoist' given by helm, mast hauls on halyard as fast as possible, and it's smoked through the jammers by keyboards. Foredeck checks to ensure spinnaker goes up out of bag. As going up, genoa grinder sheets in guy to pull spinnaker to end of pole, and pole back as far as necessary to make it in line with the boom if the boom were extended forwards. Once up mast yells 'done' and spinnaker trimmer sheets in spinnaker. Genoa sheets have to be cleared off winches by keyboards to allow this to happen.

Keyboards then releases genoa halyard; mast and bow haul genoa down to deck - depending on conditions genoa may be tied down or left along deck. If the genoa halyard is released as soon as the spinnaker is up, the genoa will fall part way down the luff groove and allow air into the head of the spinnaker, so do it straight away - you don't need the bow to be ready.

This is the standard set.

Gybe set

Sometimes we need to gybe round the mark and set the spinnaker, so the procedure is different. Bow sets up pole on the leeward side as we approach the mark, with the end of the pole down on the deck in the bow and the inboard end attached to the mast, with the genoa sheets over the pole and in front of the topping lift. Trimmer keeps guy in tight to keep pole at front of boat. As the boat rounds the mark, sheets are eased and the main gybed. As this happens, the genoa is pulled over the pole (ease the sheets a lot to make it simple) and gybed, and the pole hoisted fast on the uphaul to set it. If the sheet trimmer hoists it, then mast can be hauling the spinnaker halyard hard, along with keyboards, so that the spinnaker appears. Done well, the spinnaker is up and drawing very early. A warning - the guy should be kept in tight until the pole is up, otherwise the pole end slips aft along the deck and under the guard wires, and then can't go up.

For subsequent spinnaker hoists, if the spinnaker is in the forward hatch and not the bag, the same procedure is followed except the spinnaker is hoisted straight from hatch. Bow needs to ensure pole uphaul/downhaul not in way of spinnaker halyards and sheets. This is not easy, and it is worth spending some time in the marina setting this up and seeing what should be under/over what.

Spinnaker is trimmed as follows: pole is roughly in line with boom extension, but back as far as it can without leading edge of spinnaker collapsing, and adjusted vertically so that spinnaker clews are level. To move pole backwards downhaul has to be released by keyboards as guy winched in by grinder. To move pole forwards, guy is eased and downhaul pulled on. Pole must not rest against forestay - guy trimmer's responsibility. Once guy set, spinnaker trimmer eases sheet until luff just curls, then keeps it so that it's on point of collapse. Trimmer and helm communicate to allow helm to react to wind shifts, increases and so on. If the sheet trimmer cannot trim the sail they should request that the guy be adjusted. If the guy trimmer thinks that an adjustment is needed they should run it by the sheet trimmer and helm. The sheet trimmer should sit where they can see the spinnaker luff. There should be enough turns around the winch to give feel and control (no wind – one, to max 3-4 turns). If its breezy the spinnaker trimmer will have a grinder to do the hard work on the winch.

To prevent broach, strong wind in spinnaker reacted to by helm bearing away and spinnaker eased, main eased; if necessary, spinnaker sheet (not the guy) can be let go completely to allow spinnaker to flap. Helm steers boat under the spinnaker, and mainsheet keeps on hand on the kicker to dump it if necessary.

If the spinnaker goes up twisted, do the following to remove the twist. First, try to set the spinnaker - you're aiming to get the bottom part full so that the air pushes the twist up to the top and the head of the spinnaker can twist free. Pull in both sheet and guy tight, loosen then both, pump them back and forwards, pull spinnaker to windward - anything to get air into the bottom. If that fails, bow pulls on luff of spinnaker to try and pull twist upwards. If that fails, release halyard a few feet. If all else fails, drop spinnaker onto foredeck, and pull out the twist from the bottom,

End to end

Helm steer boat onto dead run, calling 'stand by to gybe', mainsheet pulls in mainsheet some. (In more of a breeze the main should be brought closer to the centre line during the gybe, but released swiftly as soon as the main has gybed.) Guy pulled in, spinnaker sheets eased so that spinnaker square on boat. Helm gybes boat, main trimmer pulls boom across, and says 'gybe-oh'. Mast and bow unclip pole from mast, bow clips it onto the old sheet and moves it across boat, mast unclips old guy and aattaches it to mast. When secure, yell 'done'; helm steers onto new course, guy and sheet adjusted as necessary.

Good in light/medium airs, from run or broad reach to same.

Dip-pole gybe

Requires twin sheets and guys on spinnaker, but is better gybe in stronger winds and is our default one. Bow checks lazy sheet is on top of the pole. Lazy guy taken forward by bow, who sits in pulpit facing aft. Cockpit crew need to ensure that lazy guy can run freely else bow gets tugged back a lot. Spinnaker trimmer takes lazy sheet and pulls it tight, taking strain off guy. Helm bears away, mainsheet gybes main. Guy trimmer releases guy - spinnaker trimmer now trims spinnaker on both sheets. Mast trips pole end, releasing guy. If it won't go, as long as guy is loose it's not a problem. Keyboards dumps pole uphaul and pulls on pole downhaul, swinging pole down and forwards to bow. Bow takes out old guy if it's still there, drops new guy in, yells 'done' and keyboards then pulls pole back up on new side. Bow has to ensure that the guy is dropped into the spinnaker jaws the correct way round so that it's not twisted. Once up, guy is tightened and lazy sheet loosened, and spinnaker is trimmed as usual.

It's our standard gybe because it works in any wind, the spinnaker can be kept flying all the way through, and is pretty much under control all the time.

Leeward drop

Headsail halyard reattached by bow, clear of pole and uphaul/downhaul. On helm's command of hoist, mast hauls up genoa, assisted by keyboards, who winches final bit home. Mast moves aft to grab sheet, sits under genoa and yells 'ready'. Bow sits next to him, between bow and near forehatch which is now open. Keyboards releases spinnaker halyard and releases it pretty fast, keeping spinnaker out of water, whilst guy trimmer allows guy to run forward. Mast and bow bundle handfuls of spinnaker down and straight down forehatch, which is then closed leaving sheets, guys and halyards attached. Keyboards ensures enough slack in halyard, tensions genoa halyard for beat, whilst genoa trimmer sheets in genoa and helm hardens up for beat. Pole is then removed onto deck, uphaul and downhaul unattached by bow.

Variation is to drop the spinnaker into the cockpit and down the main hatch (where it will need repacking). Guy (and lazy sheet) released fully, and sail bundled down main hatch. This is done with a less experienced crew or when it's windier, or when we don't know which gybe we'll be hoisting the spinnaker on next and so need to pack it.

Note -some terminological confusion about the following drops - we'll use the terms below. We need to practice these two particularly.

Racing drop

Genoa up. Sheet pulled in tight, guy held in same position. Keyboards releases halyard completely and lets it run out until head of spinnaker is near water, when halyard is jammed hard. If foot of spinnaker is tight, it floats away from boat, empty of wind, like a flag held horizontal, and the sudden jamming halts its drift towards the sea. Mast and cockpit crew smoke in armfuls from the foot and down the main hatch, gathering it fast before it falls into the sea.

Looks spectacular, is a rapid drop, and is supposed to work well in all but light winds - the stronger the better.

Floating gybe drop

Used when we need to gybe round a bow and come back on the wind. Genoa up. Pole removed first, spinnaker trimmed as usual. Boat gybed, then bow takes guy on windward side of boat. On 'ready', bow pulls spinnaker luff tight with guy and spinnaker sheet let go to collapse spinnaker. Keyboards releases halyard and mast and bow pull spinnaker down to windward of the genoa, down into hatch. Once spinnaker coming down, cockpit crew harden boat up onto wind - done well, the genoa acts as a net to leeward to catch the spinnaker, and it all drops onto the deck and down the hatch. Allows us to drop spinnaker very late and round the mark effectively.

If the spinnaker has been dropped and is not ready to be hoisted it should be repacked straight away.

Miscellaneous Stuff

• If you feel cold, sunburnt, thirsty, busting, seaskick, say so, so it can be sorted.
• All ropes have something on the end of them. Keep that in mind as you pull and watch as the bowman goes up the mast by the ankle…
• If you see something you think is wrong, say something because you’re probably right.

© Mad Hatters 2001