RS600

GOING ROUND THE BEND Tacking and gybing 600's drives many helms round the bend; how many times have the rest of the RS fleets learnt some new colourful language as 600's go into irons. Current Inland National Champion, RS600 sex god, Alex Newton Southon lets us all into his boat handling secrets on how he tacks and gybes. Tacking and gybing an RS600 is the most important thing to master, as around the course you can gain and lose many boat lengths per leg. The way I tack an RS600 is certainly not the only way to tack, but it suits me, every one has a different way to tack and it must suit you. But there are a few crucial things to take into account in making a good successful tack. The way I tack I feel is the safest way because it always keeps me on my feet, though it does take time to master and always needs to be practiced. Imagine you are sailing upwind flat out, and it is time to make the first tack. What I do is let the out the mainsheet by six inches to a foot, depending on wind and wave conditions, and put the mainsheet into my tiller extension hand. At this point you have to make sure the boat is completely flat, or the boat will round up too quickly, and you will get stuck in irons. With your spare hand lift yourself off the wire by the handle and at this point you will need to put the helm down. For a brief second you are standing on the wing holding the trapeze handle. As soon as the boat feels like it is beginning to be un-balanced, it is time to step into the cockpit. Often one big step puts me into the middle of the boat ducking beneath the boom. I always face forward to see what is happening. As I come in I let go of the tiller but swap hands with the mainsheet as the boom goes over. I think it is more important to hold onto the mainsheet, as that is what is going to make you capsize if you have too much on. You can alter it during the tack depending on feel. From the middle of the boat I swing around and sit down on the wing, letting the boat heel on top to bear away. I then reach in and pick up the tiller, at the same time with my mainsheet hand I clip onto the wire, then bring in the mainsheet as I jump out onto the new side. Though this sounds very complicated it quickly becomes very fluid. You have to make sure it is one fluid action or you will have trouble. A good tack should take between four and five seconds. What happens if you do a bad tack and get stuck into irons? We have all been there in despair stuck into wind, but why? If you follow these few guide lines it will help. (600 helms) 1. Relax and take one thing at a time, but it has got to be fluid. relax, (600 helms surely some mistake?-ed) 2. Always put on more Cunningham than you think to de power the mainsail. This brings the flow forward and makes the battens flick over faster by flattening the sail. 3. Before putting the helm down make sure the boat is flat. This makes the boat tack easier and swing through the wind faster. 4. Always use your body weight. As you have not got a jib it's harder for the boat to come through the wind. When you come out of the tack you must put your weight onto the new windward side, bringing the boat on top of you, making the boat bear away. When you do get stuck into wind, it is important to get out of it as quick as possible. Let your kicker off, bring the daggerboard up by 1/3 and roll the boat over to windward making the boat bear away. And never get upset or it will get worse! (often my weakness!) Gybing is easier than tacking. Before I gybe I always put loads of kicker on, because the main has got so much roach the head flicks over first and can put you in the drink. The kicker tightens up the leach and flattens off the main letting the whole main go over together. It also it helps after the gybe by not capzing you to windward. You are now going down wind and thinking about gybing. You have to pick the right time. 1. Make sure the bow is out of the water or the boat will trip over. 2. Make sure the boat is completely flat. 3. Keep the boat going as fast as you can. I now do the opposite to a tack. Hold the tiller but let go of the mainsheet. As I go into the gybe I flick the tiller extension over to the new side and initiate the gybe by tugging the mainsheet. As the boom comes over I then bear off again on the new side. Get your weight as fast as you can on to the new windward side. Once the boat is sorted reach in to get the mainsheet. Let off the kicker to go down wind until the next gybe. I am not saying that this is the only way to gybe but it helps me to keep the boat upright when its windy! Happy 600 sailing.

RS600 Tuning Guide Andy Irons: Andy has sailed an RS600 since their inception in 1994. He is the current RS600 Class Secretary and has raced in all the National Championships. This year he was 3rd at the Nationals, 2nd in the RS Eurocup, 1st at the Inlands, 1st in the GUL RS Racing Circuit and 1st in the RS600 Cutty Sark Series, so he knows a thing or two about what makes these flying machines tick. The RS600 is quite simply, one of the most exciting boats you will ever sail. Yet design development and rig technology mean that sailors from all sorts of backgrounds can learn the skills required to enjoy the high performance. A simple width and weight performance equalisation system means that the RS600 has the broadest competitive weight range of any single handed dinghy. If you weigh less than 70kgs (11st) you will have wide wings, between 70-76kgs either wide or narrow, but wide wings must be accompanied by 3kgs of lead or if you weigh more than 76kgs (12st) you will have narrow. The setting up of the boat is very similar whether you have wide (7ft beam) or narrow (6ft 4in) wings fitted. Some adjustments should be made for helm size but generally start with the standard setting. Your goal in tuning is to find that right Ôfeel' and being able to reproduce it in a variety of conditions. The boat is amazingly simple with clearly laid out controls. With a hull that weighs only 52kgs constructed using vacuum bagged epoxy foam sandwich it is also extremely strong. The carbon fibre mast is engineered to create a uniquely dynamic rig and the flextop delivers awesome gust response, again light weight is matched by incredible strength. The boat also boasts a state-of-the-art reefing system which allows the sail to be reduced by almost 20% and shortens the mast accordingly. Given its simplistic nature any tuning guide is going to be quite a short guide when perhaps compared against other classes. Like any other one-design going fast in a straight line is not normally the problem but winning races involves an aweful lot more than a well tuned boat. Time spent practising on the water is probably ten times more important than time spent Ôbimbling' ashore. However if you are new to the class there is a definite set of proceedures to follow to check your boat is in racing mode. So lets take a closer look at the two broad areas; hull and rig. Hull : These are bullet proof and almost impossible to differentiate between an old one and a new one. Obviously you want a dry hull with no leaks and as scatch free as possible. The main areas to check for leaks are: around daggerboard case, transom join between hull and deck, rudder pintle and around the U-bolts that hold down the wings. The daggerboards never fit tightly in the case, hence they wobble about all over the place and eventually wear out the back of the case. Fix either a small piece of wood or plastic to the inside of each side of the case with glue, don't make the board too tight though. The foils are resin transfer moulded and offer an incredible strength to weight ratio. All they require is repairs from any groundings and a light sanding from time-to-time. The downhaul on the rudder requires checking for wear as does the tiller extension flex joint. I would recommend a carbon tiller extension as they are much lighter and provide bags more Ôfeel' than an aluminium one. I also choose to secure the rudder assembly down to the top rudder pintle to avoid it coming off. An unlikely occurrence but has happened in certain sea states. Grip is important in this kind of boat. A loss of footing can end up with a costly swim. I prefer to wax the decks inside, with progrip on the wings. Simply wipe over all surfaces aft of the mast and reapply regularly. Some others guys prefer progripping their decks and central push-off bar as well. Both work equally well. I also prefer not to use toe-loops on the wings but others find them useful for sea sailing. If you are choosing from the options list for your new boat, definitely go for the split control lines, ie a separate eye rivetted to the wings for kicker, outhaul and cunningham, it just makes life a little easier. As does a continous kicker, also available as an optional extra. Rig : The carbon rig is probably the area that most sailors find the most difficult aspect of tuning their boat. Firstly lets look at rake and rig tension and then other ways to alter your mast and sail shape. Rake is measured from the top of the mast to the transom bar on the centreline. Do not use chainplate holes as your only measure of rake as shroud and forestay lengths may vary a little but they can be used once a benchmark has been set. In medium airs (10-18 knots) the current fashion is 6900mm (on most boats, 3rd hole down from the top of chainplates). In light airs move up the chainplate one hole. In winds over 18 knots move down the chainplate by anything up to three holes but usually only one hole again unless nose-diving is likely to be a real problem. If you are sailing with the reefed rig you will need to reset your benchmark, probably finding the shrouds are now much lower down the chainplates, maybe even on the very bottom hole. Helm size and wide or narrow winged boats should all fit into the above criterea. However if you are very light (< 10st) or very heavy (> 15st) you may need to find a slightly different benchmark. Rig tension is also something that should be set prior to launching. It can be adjusted between races while afloat but this involves a capsize usually and a swim up to the bow. The benchmark for our medium air senario is between 150-200 pounds. In light conditions try around 100 pounds and in strong conditions something above 200 pounds. I find that the flatter the water, the less rig tension I need. This may feel a little strange but seems fast. Diamond wire tension is a bigger concern to helms than it should be. The range is 30 pounds for a 10st sailor up to 100 pounds for a 15st sailor. Once set I tend to leave alone but check from time-to-time that the bottle screw hasn't worked lose during travel. Spreaders are fixed and all the same length so there is no need to worry about these. There are several other controls that should be used to control the rig. An increasingly common way to pre-bend the mast is to use the main halyard. Hoist the sail to the top of the mast then thread the cunningham through a slip knot in the halyard where it emerges from the bottom of the mast. Pull down the cunningham to extract approximately another two inches of halyard from the bottom and then cleat. This will require changing the halyard on average twice a year to avoid failure and also crushes the sail headboard after a while but the resulting pre-bend does see the sail set much better on the mast. A common failing among new sailors is to under use the cunningham and kicker. I would suggest using as much cunningham as you can pull on and then some for up-wind sailing in a breeze. The cascade kicker should be slightly under load when onshore with the sail hoisted and halyard tensioned (see above) but should be pulled block-to-block when beating in anything over 10 knots. Use these two controls to the full and see your mast now resemble a windsurfer rig but giving bags of forward power. Sail battens should be tied in securely so that all sail creases are removed but not so tight that the sail wont lie flat on the ground. Another worthy tip before going afloat is to tape up almost everything. Shroud pins through chainplates, shroud reefing points, shrouds to spreaders, all split rings on trapeze gear, tiller extension joint onto tiller, all control line to shockcord knots, sail batten ties on sail. In conclusion the RS600 is a simple boat to rig and once set up correctly really doesn't need a lot of maintence. Unfortunately this means the rest is down to the helm and to master this boat requires lots of on-the-water practise. The RS Association is directing more resources and attach increased importance on training for sailors who want to both tune and master the handling techniques of their RS boat with help from fleet experts and qualified racing coaches.

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