Racing a Solo as a Lightweight

Steve Cockerill

I have always thought of myself as a lightweight whilst racing the Solo. In 2022 I was 74Kg which was not the lightest or heaviest I have been over my 35 years of Solo sailing. Actually, the Solo is quite forgiving for lightweights as its not really a boat for 'bow- down' windward beats, drag racing to the corner. Sailing to windward is not as compromised in the Solo as it would be in say a Laser or Aero where vang sheeting when overpowered seriously compromises pointing. Height is king in the Solo fleet which makes the shifts drive the tactics around the course.

Once you start sailing on waves and big winds, only those lightweights who have a good technique and good equipment will hang in against the bigger teams. The hull needs to have its weight centralised as much as possible. I also changed my battens for Carbon Battens and used the D+ no sleeve as it has minimum weight and even changed my forestay for the lightest weight possible under the rules as all of these will help stop the boat bobbing in the waves upwind.

I also used for the first time an E&V rudder blade that was just over 1Kg. We have been testing this with Mark Harper for the winter series of 2022/23 at Dell Quay to test its longevity in extreme conditions before we put it on the market. That's a nice saving of at least 0.5Kg at the end of the boat! It will be on the market quite soon.