On and off for the last few weeks I've been sitting in my armchair staring absent-mindedly through the window at my GP14 hull, sat on its trolley. The view I get, eye level roughly with the gunnel, is that of the bow and along the starboard side of the boat, towards the transom.

Admittedly I have been used in the past to sailing round bottomed boats, but over the weeks I have come to appreciate what a slab sided pig of a hull shape my boat possesses. When I went out to look more closely I find that the chine, especially towards the back of the boat, is very nearly a right angle. This design probably made the hull easier to build at home in the olden days, but it must make sailing the thing quickly a bit more testing than in say, a 420.

We all know that to sail a dinghy most efficiently, you must try to keep it upright. In a GP14, it strikes me as being a necessity, if you are to keep the lee chine out of the water. It still amazes me how many boats at club level still do reasonably well sailing round the course with leeward heel. Sailing up the beat, some may argue, leeward heel gets the chine acting as an extra centre board and gives you more feel on the tiller. Well I can't deny that, and it also gives you a bit more leeway, and a bit less speed.

Sailing down wind, most importantly on a three sail reach, say, in planing conditions, the very last thing you want as a little gust comes through is a bit of chine bite. You need to be able to bear away quickly (to do this you will need the centre board to be already up a bit, bow up out of the waves), ease the sheets and have the leeward chine clear of the waves. If you have got any leeward heel when the gust arrives, the chances are that you won't be planing anyway and the gust will make the boat heel even more. By this stage easing the sheets and trying to use the rudder to bear away won't be having much effect, as your leeward chine will be acting like some fantastic sea anchor. At best the boat will slow right down, but you'll recover. At worst you'll broach, go beyond the point of no return, and pause for a moment to listen to the cheering from your comrades as they look back admiring your breast stroke. Haven't we all been there?

With the boat flat and the leeward chine clear, if you want it to, the boat will respond like a well sailed skiff, and you'll be able to free off to leeward and keep the hull beneath the rig, in a cloud of spray. Oh, I'm getting wet already.

So I would advocate that to give yourself a fair chance of good speed all the way round the race course, you should keep the boat dead upright, or maybe with a little bit of windward heel if your anticipation is good, and make chine bite a thing of the past.

Either that or file the corners off.

Happy sailing. Night Owl.