One interesting tip I took away from the advanced sailing class I took this year at the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center was that when you are sailing in very light air, you actually want a shallower draft in your sails. Increase the outhaul, tighten the vang, move your cars to reduce as much draft as possible.

The reason for this is that in very light air, bulges in the sails, while technically create more lift, actually create a larger surface area (more drag) for the air moving around the curve of the sail. In very light air, this is bad because the air doesn't have enough energy to get around the deep curve of the sail and lift is further diminished and drag is increased.

It's a bit contrary to common sail theory, but it's logical when you think about it in terms of airflow.

Another good solution in very light air is to drop sails and fire up the motor. If you're racing, your competitors may not consider this sportsmanlike.

In light air, with smooth water, you are on the right track:

At a North Sails seminar, and confirmed on the racecourse, we were taught to think of your rig as a "2-speed transmission".

After a tack or other maneuver that slows down the boat, you need to downshift / power-up. Depending on the adjustments that you have available, we would:
-loosen the outhaul
-get a little slack in the forestay
-loosen the cunningham

These adjustments put more camber in the sail shape, and increase lift.

Once you get moving, and are ready to move faster - reverse the adjustments noted above to "blade-out" the sail and minimize drag.


In light air, in a chop, it helps to introduce some "twist" into the rig (add some backstay, if permitted and or bring your traveler(s) to windward side and ease the sheet a bit ~ this ensures that at least some part of each sail is in proper trim as the boat bounces around

Nice tip about twist in chop. I never thought of that but it definitely makes sense. The boat(s) I'm after typically don't have backstay adjustments, but a traveler is something i may try to add into the configuration. Being able to induce some twist is useful for a lot of conditions...