I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that over my career. It is by far the concern most often expressed by people looking for help. So let's take a look at tips, tricks, and what it takes to get your boat sailing its best upwind.

We'll start by skipping the most obvious, blown out sails. While these can certainly have a large effect on your performance, if they are the problem there is only one solution... replacing them. So the most basic answer as far as we are concerned for this article, and really the only answer, is understanding what things on a boat you can do to improve performance, and then implementing them in a controlled manner where you can verify the results.

I start by asking the person "What do you think are the two most important things you can do to improve your pointing", and usually I get an answer that is mostly a blank stare and something mumbled about never having really thought about it. After teaching and coaching for over 30 years I can tell you that by far the answers for most people are straight forward; trimming the main leech tighter and doing a much better job concentrating on their driving! And concentration is the most important. The biggest percentage of people that have trouble point simply don't point their boat high enough, often enough. As I heard a competitor say once a long time ago, "If you aren't pointing high enough, just push the tiller away from you", and for far too many people that is answer.