GHMYC Home        EC-12 Page      EC-12 Geneology

Some years back I took the North U Fast Course. I will never forget – actually I looked it up to see if my memory was correct – a certain statistic. Take all those vector arrows referring to the forces acting on the sails and keel and add them up. For the typical keelboat the resulting forward force – what is actually moving the boat through the water – is 11 pounds. Eleven pounds! For a boat weighing several tons. I don’t know whether Larry Robinson has figured out the corresponding number for an EC12, but it must be a matter of a few ounces. A few ounces! Imagine, then, how easy it is to slow it down!

The secret of boat speed for an EC12, therefore, is don’t slow the boat down. Everything you do is directed toward that end. Start with building the boat – you must keep weight out of the ends and down low. The hull must be fair and smooth, and then the surface must be polished. The rig must have as few protrusions as possible. The sails must be adjustable and in good shape.

When sailing you must watch the sails like a hawk. At all costs avoid stalling – sailing too far off the wind and allowing it to hit the sails too much broadside. You really need telltales to determine whether or not you are stalling because the sail looks just fine; the windward telltales will flutter. But also avoid luffing; that’s easier to see because the luff of the jib will break and then start to flutter. It isn’t uncommon to see boats stall. One thing that happens is, as the boat accelerates, it "winds up," or at least it wants to, which means that the apparent wind moves forward, permitting the boat to sail closer to the true wind. If you are determined to steer your boat in a straight line, you won’t let it come up and you will gradually stall the sails, all the while thinking you are doing what you should because you aren’t steering the boat, or telling yourself some other nonsense that otherwise perfectly rational people tell themselves when the are losing but think they should be winning because they’re such hot shot sailors.

What all this comes down to is reducing drag. If I can learn what "vortex drag" means, anyone can grasp the concept of drag well enough to sail an EC12. With there just being a few ounces of force pushing the boat in the desired direction, it won’t take much drag to slow it down. That’s where Larry Robinson’s stress on balance is so important. You want the sails positioned fore and aft and trimmed in such a way that the boat almost sails itself, and you can avoid using the rudder, because almost every movement of the rudder will produce a modicum of drag. A little bit of weather helm going upwind is ok because it helps the boat seek the wind and avoids the dreaded stall, and it also creates with the keel an airfoil shape which helps the boat lift upwind.

I’m sure all this applies to other classes as well, but it is particularly important when sailing an EC12 because of its weight and therefore its momentum. Basically, whoever maintains the most momentum toward the finish line, wins, so don’t squander it by sending vortexes – or vortices – and other forms of turbulence all over the course.

A final thought on starting. If, at 30 seconds or less before the bell, there is a boat between you and the line, that boat will sail whatever course will make it impossible for you to approach any closer to the line than you already are, whatever the cost to that other boat or whatever rule it might break, regardless of the intentions of its skipper, and you will start 15 seconds after everyone else, in bad air and with no way on.

Last time this page was updated: Wednesday, July 02, 2003