Flying Tiger News

The new Flying Tiger class had a strong showing at the 2008 San Diego NOOD with 12 boats on the line for the three day regatta. Conditions were exciting with a large swell and lots of wind on day 2 that made for some great surfing in this powered up boat. One thing that was clear at the end of the event is that to be competitive in this class having North Sails can help. Tom Hirsh's "Harbor Sailboats Racing" literally blew the competition away with a 3,3,1,1,1,1 scoreline for the 6 race event.

Tom and his team (of which I was lucky to be a part) used a North main and jib and a new design North Runner Spinnaker for the event. Showing good speed upwind and down in conditions that ranged for 5 to 22 knots these sails are versatile and easy to set up and trim. I felt we had a particular advantage downwind where we could work low and with speed to give us a tactical advantage. The spinnaker is easy to trim and can take a very large curl which was a help in the big swells we saw all weekend (where the apparent wind is changing rapidly).

 

• Sail at max weight, the boat is narrow and like most boats likes to be sailed flat. Hiking hard helps!

• Keep the boat moving at all times. The smaller keel and rudder need as much flow as possible to generate lift. Getting caught high and slow is bad, especially if you hit a wave or two at the same time.

• Play the traveller constantly to  keep the boat on an even angle of heel. Even though the boat has small rudder, the less you use it the faster you will go.

• Set the sails up (main especially) for lots to twist. Again to help keep the narrow boat on it's feet having a lot of twist helps. The narrow hull is easily driven allowing the sails to be set up relaitvely flat. more twist makes the boat easily to keep on the same angle of heel in waves too.