Zen and the art of the backstay

Last weekend I attended the North U Sail Trim course run by North Sails at Keyport Yacht Club, NJ. The instructor warned that this was 2-day course crammed into a single day. It did not disappoint. By 2 pm my head blew-up. It's a good job that my usual position on a racing boat is in the cockpit as the morning focused on upwind sailing and trim. I paid a lot of attention, took notes and learned a lot. In the afternoon we covered down-wind. For some reason I could not process a thing and fought off falling asleep. The foredeck is not for me I guess. Thankfully they gave out a 2 CD instruction set that I will spend some time on leading up to the first races of the season in May. It never ceases to amaze me that after 20+ years of sailing how much I still need to learn. I am first a cruiser and second a racer. Moreover, as I am a grinder so not called on often for my sailing IQ, I have not really mastered the fine art of sail trim. The back-stay in particular is a bit of a mystery to me. The thing this course rammed home is the importance of the backstay in sail trim. Specifically as you go from a low speed and accelerate to hull speed, you want more draft in your sails so you leave the backstay alone. As you get up to full speed, you tighten up the backstay to flatten the draft and put more twist in the sail. More importantly you do this before you touch the sheets and fairleads. Unfortunately my little cruiser doesn't have an adjustable backstay so I can't practice this. Hhhhm! Now that I am out of major boat projects, maybe I could fit one.