All of what Don states is VERY pertinent to make a boat 'point' and arrive at the destination or mark 'faster'. There is no need to analyze the trigonometry to make all this happen. Just go as FAST as you can in the right direction is all it takes to 'win'; pinching is NOT the fastest even if it visually/intuitively 'looks like it should'.
Allow me to add/amplify what Don stated and give a teeny bit more of how to read the tell-tales so that you when 'beating' are going at the FASTEST possible when using tell tales. All this assumes that you are already in good trim (by the basic reading of the tell tales), the helm pressure is very slightly 'weather helm' and the rudder is held at about 4 degrees (so the boat balances 'also' on the rudder as well as the keel ... and the sails are properly shaped.
The following will more finely 'tune' what you are doing and add a wee bit more of how to use/read the tell-tales. Once you 'feel' or sense that just about everything is OK, you can 'enhance' pointing by:
1. for MAX. speed keep BOTH the windward and leeward telltales flowing straight back
2. for Max. POWER and acceleration, bear off a wee bit so that the windward side tales stream straight back BUT the leeside tales start to 'rise' or 'flick -up' occasionally
3. for EXTRA pointing ability in flat water you want the windward tell tales to be 'flicking up' occasionally ... even streaming 'up' more than streaming 'straight back'.
4. For easier control of trim and to visually keep your *steering groove* in a more precise manner ... apply a ROW of tell tales on the jib/genoa about 6-8 small tales running in a line from the luff to about 30% back from the luff towards the mid cord of the sail, apply to both sides of the sail at about 6 to 8 ft from the foredeck. After you trim/shape your sails by the standard set of tell tales ..... forget them !!!! Steer the boat only by watching the row of 'steering tales' ... and then follow the above. Your aim now, once youve accelerated (#2 above) is to keep the steering row straight back ... or when in FLAT water to see the windward side tales occasionally 'flicking up'. What will happen is that you will then 'naturally' be following a gentle "S" course (called 'scalloping' upwind).... sometimes the tales go straight back (full speed) alternating with the windward side 'flicking up' (pointing max at speed) ... that gives you MAX. speed (in moderate conditions with moderately flat water) at the highest possible course angle. DO NOT STEER a 'straight course' ... always continually 'test' the steering tales by slightly and slowly changing the rudder angle to be sure that the windward side tales are 'occasionally flicking up' on a regular basis (on boats that normally sail with 'large' amount of heel the windward tales may be pointing almost 'straight up'). 'Scalloping' is by slowly alternating between FULL SPEED (all tales straight back) and POWER POINTING (lee side straight back, windward side flicking 'up') --- your course will be a gentle "S" .... and you will be pointing like a banshee.
Pinching vs. Power-pinching.
Pinching is NOT fast but sometimes *power-pinching* can be of benefit .... (and of course its a 'mathematical trick') that uses the boats momentum to eek out extra boat lengths on a race course. Sailboat racing is a 'game of inches' and every few inches you consciously gain can make the difference between a perennial middle-of-the-pack-resident and being really competitive, etc. Youve probably heard or read that one should follow a "VMG" or velocity made good course - if you have a GPS that enables that VMG function you already know how to use VMG. If not ... and due to 'mathematics' again, and due to the fact that VMG 'goes out the window' at near the end of a 'leg' here's a method to power-pinch to gain those extra boat lengths and NOT adversely affect VMG when beating:
1. It is accepted that mainsheet tension affects draft and twist .... youve been fighting to get the fastest shape/trim since you read Don's and other books using tell tales, etc. Now, at near the end of a 'leg' and before you tack ... forget all you ever read before and pull the mainsheet in with EXTRA hard tension. I do this routinely in the last 4-5% of a leg (where VMG absolutely does NOT mean a damn, mathematically). When you do this the leech of the mainsail will 'hook up to weather' the overall draft in the sail will deepen, the boat will go over on a much greater heel .... and the boat will start to climb 'to weather' at a much closer angle than before because the mainsail "looks like an aircraft wing with its FLAPS DOWN coming in for a landing" ... a good SLOW speed, high LIFT shape !!!!! Do this for several/many boatlengths BEFORE the layline. What happens is that the boat will radically SLOW DOWN but will point incredibly 'high' ... and what you SAVE in distance on the NEXT LEG after tacking (if all goes 'right') will be many/several 'boatlengths' in the 'new' direction (less total distance sailed !!!) ...
VMG only 'really counts' on the initial parts of a 'leg', at the end of a leg VMG has no bearing and can be ignored ... and thats when you can benefit from POWER-PINCHING.
BTW ... doing this power-pinching just before tacking will enhance 'roll tacking' as the boat will be well powered-up, pointing VERY high, heeled way over onto her 'ear' .... and the 'rebound' from the heeling as the boat again 'stands up' when you pass the eye of the wind will tend to THROW the sails over to the other side, and the air flow will stay attached much LONGER to the sails during the tack ...... but you need to then immediately change to an acceleration shape/trim 'on the other side of the tack'. You definitely need a loose (or no) 'topping lift' to do this, and you will soon 'stretch out the leech' sooner because of the immense load you put along the leech - so if this power-pinch method 'works' for you, plan on new sails much sooner than normal.
I can 'roll tack' a 24000 lb. boat this way.
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