PAGE 24 • SUMMER 2006 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SAILING ASSOCIATION
INSTRUCTOR TIP
By Capt. Paul Miller, California Sailing Academy
Using Tiller and Crew Weight to Enhance Performance
Part 4 of a 4-part series on proper sail trim and shape
M
any accomplished sailing instructors are strong
advocates of teaching their students to sail on a
tiller boat before allowing them to progress to a
wheel-helmed sailboat. Some of these “purists” assert
that while students can become accomplished
helmsmen/women by sailing exclusively behind a wheel,
the only way to learn to sail is through the experience
afforded on a smaller tiller boat.
While it is difficult to contest the fact that the
fundamentals of sailing are best experienced on smaller
boats — where small differences in crew weight, wind
speed and rigging tension are readily observed, one can
certainly find examples of excellent sailing schools and
instructors who teach using only wheel boats. Indeed,
On smaller boats, crew position can be an important adjustment
many of today’s customers demand (via their
to make when steering.
pocketbooks) to learn on larger boats … they are not When sailing in light air, move the crew to leeward for heel,
interested in going out on the “small boats,” where small bring up the traveler to sail closer to the wind, ease the
can mean a sailboat less than 34 feet with a wheel! sheets, clew outhaul, halyards, downhauls, cunningham,
Whether you personally favor learning on a tiller or a
and vang to power up the sails into a fuller shape.
wheel boat, remember to use your tiller or wheel not only Since, in general, beginning sailors tend to overtrim the
for steering, but as communication between the boat and sails, my favorite expression with regard to sail is: When
the helmsman. in doubt, let them out!
When driving to windward in a breeze, listen to and feel Paul Miller has been the owner and operator of the California
carefully what the boat is telling you. If the tiller is Sailing Academy and Coast Guard School at Marina del Rey,
pulling strongly to the leeward side, the boat is Calif., since 1968. He graduated from the United States Naval
attempting to climb to windward. Move the crew to Academy and did his graduate studies at George Washington
windward, ease the traveler, ease the mainsheet, tighten University. As an officer, he returned to the Naval Academy as
the clew outhaul and possibly tighten the jib sheet if that an instructor and sailing coach. He and his wife Jeanne are full-
sail is not driving. time instructors at the California Sailing Academy.
AMERICAN SAILING ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 12079, MARINA DEL REY, CA
PRESORTED
90295-3079 TEL: 310/822-7171
STANDARD
U.S. POSTAGE
WWW.AMERICAN-SAILING.COM
PAID
ANAHEIM, CA
PERMIT NO. 514
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