Corporate Vice President, GM of Operations & Director, Vicor
Search every verified Michael Mcnamara interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Michael McNamara, Corporate Vice President, GM of Operations & Director at Vicor, presented a rig tuning talk at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show in 2016. He described the sailor's role as making the boat go around a racetrack as quickly as possible, regardless of conditions. McNamara stated that the principle of how a boat moves is straightforward, with movement generated in the sails and transferred to the hull through the mast and shrouds. McNamara discussed several tuning techniques during the presentation. He emphasized that the boat must be upright to allow water to flow efficiently around the hull, and advised helms to keep the tiller along the centreline to minimize resistance. He explained that leech tension controls the back edge of the sail and alters the angle of attack, and that the windward telltales indicate when the leech is too slack. McNamara described getting the slot between jib and main as the "passport to windward speed," and noted that the kicker, angled at about 45 degrees, bends the mast forward to flatten the mainsail and open the gap. He concluded with the advice, "If in doubt, let it out because the front will back wind and you can deal with it — never dictate, always react."
“The job of sailors is to make the boat go around the racetrack as quickly as possible irrespective of what else is happening — our job is to make sure that we get as close to that potential speed as we can.”
“Golden rule number one is that the boat must be upright — if we don't allow the water to go round those curves we're going to get an asymmetric hull form creating different waves, creating turbulence and we're going to go slower.”
“All helms have to do is just ease their grip on the tiller — if the tiller stays down the centreline of the boat the boat is making the least amount of resistance; if the tiller moves one way or the other then we're creating more resistance than which should be.”
“Leech tension not only controls the back edge of the sail but it actually alters the angle of attack — what we're trying to do is get the sheet to about half way and then use nuances of leech tension so the telltales work at the same angle.”
http://www.dinghyshow.org.uk.
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